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Hi Adah, A couple of years ago I might have said, "Lucky you!" However, now that I have been designing lessons using the NGS standards, I find the lessons to be richer and more purposeful. Change has its challenges; this is one change I think you should embrace. Remember when you had first heard about the 5 Es? Perhaps you were like me in thinking that you already did inquiry science. After writing a few lessons using the 5 E inquiry lesson model and trying them out in class, I saw that my students were so much more engaged, and they were more on task than ever when I practiced the 5 E inquiry lesson model. Using the NGSS to frame my lesson-planning process helps me to create/construct lessons that are truly standards-based. These particular standards are worthy of the time and effort to learn to use them. Carolyn

Hi Adah, I agree with Carolyn. The new standards will take some time to get used to, but the lessons I’ve used in the past that I’ve aligned to the new standards are going to benefit my students in terms of learning Science for a long time instead of just a period of time in a single school district. From what I can tell, if the standards are implemented across all grade levels, we will be preparing students for success not only in college Science, but to choose a career that involves Science. The new standards bring clarity and understanding of expectations as well as a reason to learn the material/concept. One thing I see the new standards have in common with Common Core is the need for students to become independent thinkers, life- long learners and problem solvers. The other real benefit to students, especially in this era of transience, is they don’t keep learning one or two things over time. Ten years ago we got a lot of new students that had learned a lot about rocks and butterflies because that is what their past teachers focused on. Granted, they are fun to learn about, but not year after year. I for one am looking forward to integrating NGSS and Common Core in everything I do. The result will be richer learning opportunities for students and for me too.

Adah, I am from Texas....one of the only two states that has it's own agenda, no NGSS for them. However, I have been really studying the Standards and they are excellent. I believe that the future of science education will be guided by them, so I am already "tweeking" my lessons to be more NGSS friendly. Texas has always lagged behind on what the rest of the country does. However, I have seen them eventually alter "their" standards to match the rest of the nation. My campus has already started pushing Common Core, which s embedded in the Standards. I have also heard the teachers starting to talk about National Standards. If our country wants to teach our students for a global world, they are going to have to come up with a good set of national standards that will provide the training for our future generation. The NGSS, once we get all of the "hiccups" solved, could possibly be what is needed. Again, I feel-even though my state is not adopting them-it is important for me to align my curriculum a little more with the Standards now instead of sometime in the future.

I agree with what has been posted so far. The NGSS and Common Core Standards (CCSS) will raise the bar, if used correctly. I am beginning to align my lessons to address the CCSS, and already I have seen a change. Students are becoming better critical thinkers and communicators. I am just starting to align to the NGSS, and what others have posted is correct. While I always considered myself a forward thinking educator - demanding more than "fill in the blank" and "bubble in the correct response" type of thinking, the NGSS will move my forward thinking teaching even "more forward" - towards really helping students prepare for a STEM related career. My concerns are in how science will be assessed within the CCSS and NGSS "era". If the State continues to use "memorized" content information questions and fill in the scantron type of responses, then the great teaching inspired by the NGSS and CCSS will slip away from the more hearty NGSS and CCSS lessons to address the expectations of the assessment. So while the standards tell us what to teach, it will be the assessments that determine what is really taught in the classrooms.

It seems to me that the NGSS are more or less just a "new wrapper" for the set of information and skills students have long been asked to master in science. As we are continually reminded, neither the CCSS nor the NGSS are curricula in and of themselves; therefore, it seems to me that teachers in states that have not adopted either one of these could still benefit from becoming acquainted with them.

I am in a non common core state, but continue to educate myself on NGSS and use the NGSS to develop my curriculum to insure that my students are not missing out on a potential future opportunities.