Slides of Dr. Sudha Sunder of KDSL Global, presented in Qatar on March 1, 2017 in Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel

1. Welcome to
Alpha Publishing & Gold International
Bookshop
Professional Development Day

2. STEAM
and
21st Century Skills in the Science Classroom
(Next Generation Science Standards)
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

3. Objective of the session
(Know, Understand, Do)
What do students Know, Understand and Do with scientific knowledge?
• To Know
• The Three Dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards
• Understand the role of :
• Engineering Design Process and the role of sustained Inquiry in the classroom
• Do:
• Three Dimensional Assessments- What and How do we Assess?

4. Target audience
• Passionate science teachers relatively new to the NGSS
• Passionate science teachers with relatively strong understanding of the NGSS ?

5. Road Map
• A common understanding of 21st century skills
• Let off some STEAM 
• Multiple Hat Syndrome- Teachers- Students- Curriculum Designers
• Certified Empowered Smart Alpha Teacher – Woohooooo!!

6. What do thinking classrooms
look like?
Dr.S Govindswamy SunderDr. Lynn Erickson

7. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

8. Hallmarks of a ‘Thinking classroom’
• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem solving
• Communication and Collaboration
• Deeper conceptual engagement versus regurgitation of factual content
• Allowing multiple avenues to demonstrate proficiency, knowledge and
understanding (differentiation is key!)

10. Table Task
• Your goal as a team is to design and create a paper plane that will fly the farthest.
• Let off some STEAM!
• Essential Question:
• What interdisciplinary STEAM aspects can we highlight through this activity?
• Non-Negotiables:
• Every member has to create one model.
• As a team, you will have to test the different models made by your team
members to choose the one that will best serve the purpose.
• At the end of 10 minutes one person from every team will come forward to fly
the plane.
• Another member will explain your STEAM connections.
• The team that creates the model that flies the farthest wins!
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

11. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder
Includes interactive, visual, and different learning strategies to meet the needs of all learners.

12. Unpacking the NGSS as a three-
Dimensional Curriculum
Framework

13. The three dimensions of the NGSS
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

14. Let’s Unpack the Standards.

15. The Three Dimensions of the NGSS
Science and
Engineering
Core ideas in
the discipline
Concepts across
disciplines

16. Integration of 3 Dimensions:
Practices
Crosscutting Concepts
Core Ideas
Next Generation Of Science Standards Architecture

17. What Students Understand
KUD Model
K- Know
U-Understand
D-Do

18. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder
Includes interactive, visual, and different learning strategies to meet the needs of all learners.

19. Concepts
• Concepts: Mental constructs that “umbrella” different topical examples and meet
these criteria: timeless, abstract (to different degrees).
• Eg: System; Habitat
• Concepts do transfer.
• A higher level of abstraction than topics because of their generalizability.
• Concepts come at different levels of generality, abstractness and complexity.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

20. What are Crosscutting Concepts
• The NRC Framework describes crosscutting concepts as :
• Those that bridge disciplinary boundaries,
• Having explanatory value throughout much of science and engineering.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

21. What are the chosen Crosscutting Concepts in
NGSS?
1. Patterns
2. Cause and Effect
3. Scale
4. Proportion and Quantity
5. Systems and System Models
6. Energy and Matter
7. Structure and Function
8. Stability and Change
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

22. NGSS Crosscutting Statements
(Energy and Matter)
• K-2- Objects may break into smaller pieces, be put together into larger pieces, or
change shapes.
• 3-5- Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.
• 6-8- Energy may take different forms (eg: energy in fields, thermal energy, energy
of motion)
• 9-12- Students understand that...Energy cannot be created or destroyed- only
moves between one place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or
between systems.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

23. Value of the Crosscutting Concepts
• Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with
connections and intellectual tools that are related across the differing areas of
disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their
understanding of core ideas.
NCR Framework p. 233.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

24. Rationale
• Selected for their value across the sciences and in engineering
• Provide students with an organizational framework for connecting knowledge
• To develop a coherent and scientifically based view of the world
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

25. Objectives
of the Cross Cutting Concepts
• These concepts should become common and familiar touchstones across
disciplines and grade levels.
• Explicit reference needs to made to these concepts
• Focusing on their emergence in multiple disciplinary contexts
• Teachers to develop explicit instructional support
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

26. How can we use this structure to focus
teaching and learning for conceptual
understanding?
Concept-based Curriculum Design
Principles
How is Knowledge structured?
Dr.S Govindswamy SunderDr. Lynn Erickson

28. What Students Understand
KUD Model
K- Know
U-Understand
D-Do

29. 30
Performance
Expectation
Scientific &
Engineering
Practice
Disciplinary
Core Idea
Crosscutting
Concept
Connections to
CCSS

30. Concepts
• Concepts: Mental constructs that “umbrella” different topical examples and meet
these criteria: timeless, abstract (to different degrees).
• Eg: System; Habitat
• Concepts do transfer.
• A higher level of abstraction than topics because of their generalizability.
• Concepts come at different levels of generality, abstractness and complexity.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

31. What are Crosscutting Concepts
• The NRC Framework describes crosscutting concepts as :
• Those that bridge disciplinary boundaries,
• Having explanatory value throughout much of science and engineering.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

32. What are the chosen Crosscutting Concepts in
NGSS?
1. Patterns
2. Cause and Effect
3. Scale
4. Proportion and Quantity
5. Systems and System Models
6. Energy and Matter
7. Structure and Function
8. Stability and Change
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

33. Value of the Crosscutting Concepts
• Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with
connections and intellectual tools that are related across the differing areas of
disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their
understanding of core ideas.
NCR Framework p. 233.
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

34. Rationale
• Selected for their value across the sciences and in engineering
• Provide students with an organizational framework for connecting knowledge
• To develop a coherent and scientifically based view of the world
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

35. Objectives
of the Cross Cutting Concepts
• These concepts should become common and familiar touchstones across
disciplines and grade levels.
• Explicit reference needs to made to these concepts
• Focusing on their emergence in multiple disciplinary contexts
• Teachers to develop explicit instructional support
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

36. In the classroom…
In the life of a student…
• Memorizing or exploring?

37. Dr. Sunder- Associate Consultant- KDSL

38. Lets do it! What is your task?
• With the given materials, your job is to design and build a model of a structure that is
as tall and as strong as possible.

39. Materials
• 22 Straws
• 10 Marshmallows
• 10 Toothpicks
• Tape, Scissors
• Tallest and Strongest for Japan– with an Aesthetic Design!

40. Engineering Design Process
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

41. Crosscutting Concepts

42. INCREASING SOPHISTICATION OF STUDENT THINKING
Earth Space Science Progression
ESS2B: Plate tectonics and large-scale system interactions
• K-2: Maps show where things are located. One can map the shapes and kinds of land
and water in any area.
• 3-5: Earth’s physical features occur in patterns, as do earthquakes and volcanoes.
Maps can be used to locate features and determine patterns in those events.
• 6-8: Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains movements of rocks at Earth’s
surface and geological history. Maps are used to display evidence of plate movement.
• 9-12: Radioactive decay within Earth’s interior contributes to thermal convection in
the mantle.

43. Making connections
To be effective, materials must engage students in science and engineering
practices, stress connections among disciplinary core ideas and practices, and
highlight crosscutting concepts (Krajcik, McNeill, & Reiser, 2008).
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

44. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder
Includes interactive, visual, and different learning strategies to meet the needs of all learners.

45. Loosen up!
“Scientific creativity is imagination in a straitjacket! Perhaps the arts can loosen
that restraint, to the benefit of all”
(Celebrated physicist Richard Feynman)
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

46. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

47. Dr.Sudha Sunder
Engineering Design Cycle in the
Classroom

48. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

49. Engineering Design Cycle – How does in the
classroom?

50. Engineering Design Process
• ASK: What is the problem? How have others approached it? What are your
constraints?
• IMAGINE: What are some solutions? Brainstorm ideas. Choose the best one.
• PLAN: Draw a diagram. Make lists of materials you will need.
• CREATE: Follow your plan and create something. Test it out!
• IMPROVE: What works? What doesn't? What could work better? Modify your
design to make it better. Test it out!
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

51. The Three Dimensions of the NGSS
Science and
Engineering
Core ideas in
the discipline
Concepts across
disciplines

52. Making connections
• Essential Question:
• What are the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of the current
Science curriculum in the light of the Three-dimensional framework of the Next
Generation Science Standards?

53. Next Steps
• Performance Indicators that asses what students Know, Understand are able to do
• Science as a creative struggle of ‘doing’ versus ‘learning’.
• Teaching for deep conceptual understanding versus regurgitation of science
factual content- Crosscutting Concepts
• 5Es Instructional Model
• Exploring Careers in Science

54. References
Erickson, H, L. (2007). Curriculum and instruction for the thinking classroom. Corwin Press, A SAGE Company, California, USA.
Erickson, H, L. (2008). Stirring the head, heart and soul: Redefining curriculum, instruction and concept-based learning. Third Edition. Corwin
Press, A SAGE Company, California, USA.
Lois. A. Lanning (2012) Designing a concept- based curriculum for English Language Arts- mee8ng the Common Core with Intellectual
integrity.
Next Generation Science Standards: Available at http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
The Common Core State Standards: Available at:
http://www.corestandards.org
http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework

55. Contact Information
Dr. Sudha Govindswamy Sunder
E-mail: winterof69ss@gmail.com
http://www.conceptbasedworkshops.org
Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder

56. Dr.S Govindswamy Sunder