Response to First Draft of Next Generation Science Standards

AAPT Sponsored Discussion Group Response to Achieve on the Next Generation Science Standards First Draft 

 

A response to the first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/) was based on the discussions at a meeting of experienced high school physics teachers and representatives from the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Department of Energy on May 29, 2012.

Eighteen professionals gathered at the American Center for Physics, College Park, MD, to participate in a discussion on the Next Generation Science Standards and provide feedback to Achieve.  Seven of the participants are currently teaching high school, one is a university faculty member, six are disciplinary society staff members and one is a retired physics teacher.  Others are a National Science Digital Library editor, science fellows in the federal government, and a teacher-in-residence at a university physics department.  Most of the participants have their highest post-secondary degrees in physics, one in chemistry, one in engineering, and five in education.  Five currently are teaching high school physics, nine had taught high school physics in the past, two taught other disciplines, and two have never taught at the high school level.  The average number of years experience teaching high school physics was almost 15; the range was from one to 44 years of experience.  Other K-12 teaching experience included middle school and high school math and language arts, high school chemistry, grades 2 – 12 science, special education, elementary education, and middle school education.  About one-third of the participants had experience with science standards reviews at the state or federal level.

A response produced by this group was sent to Achieve on May 31, 2012.  A summary of this response is available [NGSS Draft Summary].  For further information or if you have comments, please contact Beth Cunningham at bcunningham@aapt.org or Robert Hilborn at  rhilborn@aapt.org.