How can you design a workshop that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards?

1 Define your goals

Before you start planning your workshop, you need to define your goals and objectives. What do you want the teachers to learn and do as a result of your workshop? How will you measure their progress and outcomes? How will your workshop align with the NGSS and the local curriculum? You should write down your goals and objectives in a clear and specific way, and make sure they are realistic and achievable within the time and resources available.

2 Understand the NGSS

To design a workshop that aligns with the NGSS, you need to understand the three dimensions of the standards: science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. These dimensions are integrated in the performance expectations, which describe what students should be able to do at each grade level. You should familiarize yourself with the NGSS framework, the performance expectations, and the evidence statements, which provide guidance on how to assess student learning. You should also review the appendices, which offer additional information on topics such as engineering design, nature of science, and diversity and equity.

3 Choose your content and activities

Once you have a clear understanding of the NGSS and your goals, you can choose your content and activities for your workshop. You should select content and activities that are relevant, meaningful, and engaging for the teachers and their students. You should also consider how to balance the three dimensions of the NGSS, and how to incorporate phenomena, questions, models, investigations, explanations, and arguments in your workshop. You should aim to provide teachers with opportunities to experience science as both learners and educators, and to reflect on their own practices and beliefs.

4 Plan your structure and delivery

After you have chosen your content and activities, you need to plan your structure and delivery for your workshop. You should decide how long your workshop will be, how many sessions it will include, and how you will sequence and pace your content and activities. You should also consider how you will facilitate your workshop, what materials and resources you will need, and how you will communicate with the teachers before, during, and after the workshop. You should create an agenda and a facilitator guide that outline your goals, objectives, content, activities, and assessment strategies for your workshop.

5 Evaluate your workshop

The last step in designing a workshop that aligns with the NGSS is to evaluate your workshop. You should collect feedback from the teachers who participated in your workshop, as well as from yourself and any co-facilitators. You should use both formative and summative assessment methods, such as surveys, interviews, observations, portfolios, and tests. You should analyze the data and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your workshop, and how it impacted the teachers' knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. You should also use the results to improve your future workshops and to share your findings and best practices with other educational leaders.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?