The document emphasizes the need for a shift in K-12 science education towards real-world studies and hands-on learning, highlighting the importance of understanding how students learn. It discusses the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) framework, which aims to engage all students in science and engineering practices while providing foundational knowledge for future careers in these fields. Additionally, it outlines the integration of STEM concepts into conservation education, encouraging students to address real-world problems through practical projects.

1. Introduction to STEM and the
K-12 Science Framework

2. Remember the traditional high school science classes and labs. We need to
get away from this picture. We need real world studies. Conservation
Educators use the outdoors as their learning laboratory.

3. Connecting to the research:
Research on How People Learn (HPL)
Key Key Findings for
Key Findings for Students
Findings Teachers
Surface student
Students come to the classroom with
HPL 1 preconceptions and
preconceptions about how the world works.
adjust instruction
Understand the content
Students must have a deep foundation of
and conceptual
HPL 2 usable knowledge and understand facts in
framework of
the context of a conceptual framework.
instructional units
Students must be taught explicitly to take
Teach students to think
HPL 3 control of their own learning by monitoring
about their thinking.
their progress.

4. Focusing on How People Learn: Finding #2
• Educators need to connect to the research to
understand how students learn science best.
• The Conservation Education tools provide the
conceptual framework that teachers need to
develop instructional units for student learning.
• A conceptual framework is a logical process that
educators can follow that takes students through
a learning experience.

5. Next Generation Science Standards
K-12 Framework

6. The Vision of the Framework
“(All) students, over multiple years of
school, actively engage in science and
engineering practices and apply
crosscutting concepts to deepen their
understanding of the core ideas.”

7. Next Generation Science Standards
K-12 Framework Focus
“The Framework principally concerns itself with
the first task – what all students should know in
preparation for their individual lives and for
their roles as citizens in this technology-rich and
scientifically complex world.”

8. Goals for Science Education
The Framework’s vision takes into account
two major goals for K-12 science education:
(1)Educating all students in science and
engineering.
(2)Providing the foundational knowledge
for those who will become the scientists,
engineers, technologists, and technicians
of the future.

9. The Purpose of the K-12 Framework is to guide the
development of the
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
through three dimensions
Practices of
Science and Curriculum
Engineering
Instruction
Core Ideas
(Disciplines)
Assessment
Crosscutting
Concepts
Professional
Development

10. NGSS Three dimensions: Practices,
Crosscutting Concepts & Core Ideas
defined:

11. Value of the NGSS for Science
Education: Three Dimensions
Intertwined

12. Implementing Next Generation Science
Standards means educators will shift how
they teach Science:
 Instruction is organized around a limited number
of core ideas = depth and coherence, not breadth of
coverage.
 Core ideas should be revisited in increasing depth and
sophistication across years. Focus on connections:
 Careful construction of a storyline – helping learners build
sophisticated ideas from simpler explanations, using evidence.
 Connections between scientific disciplines, using powerful ideas
(nature of matter, energy) across life, physical, and earth science
 Instruction should involve learners in practices that develop,
use, and refine the scientific ideas, not activities that just
“explain” the science for students.

13. NGSS provides a
9-12 Progression of Learning
from Kindergarten to 12 th
6-8
Grade
3-5
AFWA’s Conservation Education K-12
Scope and Sequence provides the
K-2 progression of ideas or core
concepts through the grade levels.
For more information, see AFWA’s website:
http://www.fishwildlife.org/files/ConEd-K-12-Conservation-Scope-
and-Sequence.pdf

14. NGSS Framework Discipline Focus
• Life Science
• Earth and Space Science
• Physical Science
• Engineering, Technology, &
Applications of Science

15. How Discipline Core Ideas that Relate to
Conservation:
• Life Science • Physical Science
– Ecosystem Dynamics – Energy
– Biodiversity and • Engineering &
Humans Technology
• Earth and Space Science – Engineering Design
– Natural Resources – Interdependence
– Human Impacts – Influence on Society
– Global Climate Change and the Natural World

16. New Standards New Opportunities
The NGSS Framework sends a clear message that our students
need to become involved in helping to solve real-world
problems.
Photo: Andrew Brilliant
Photo: Lorena Marchant

17. What is STEM and how does it
connect to the NGSS Standards?
S = Science
T = Technology
E = Engineering
M = Mathematics

18. What is STEM and how does it
connect to Conservation Education?
Conservation professionals utilize Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics on a daily basis.
In school, students can participate in STEM-focused conservation
education projects such as:
•Collecting water quality data at a local stream and determining ways to
protect and/or improve the stream health.
•Creating a GIS map to represent data collected in the field and reporting
on findings related to that data.
•Designing and installing rain gardens or features to improve wildlife
habitat.
•Determining the best way to manage invasive species based on re-
generation and growth rates.

19. How do we address STEM and NGSS
Standards?
•The PEI/AFWA Conservation Education guides highlighted
throughout the remainder of this Moodle tutorial assist conservation
educators and teachers in
designing real world field
studies and problem solving
projects.
•These STEM learning
opportunities engage students
in the enterprise of science
and engineering, preparing the
next generation for complex
and critical thinking essential
to facing present and future
challenges.