Alaska Science Teachers Association – Science Standards for Alaska
Learn New Science Standards for Alaska
through this WEBINAR SERIES
January 27-February 12 from 3:30-5:00
Awareness of Science Standards for Alaska
Introduction with Dept. of Ed and ED staff
By Teachers for Teachers
Opportunity for questions with presenters provided
Note: Recordings have transcription attached
January 27 for Introduction Recording
February 3 for Grades K-2 Recording February 5 for Grades 6-8 Recording
February 10 for Grades 3-5 Recording February 12 for Grades 9-12 Recording
Link to Register Here
No cost to participants.
Link for Description
Introduction
Science and technology have been essential to the people for Alaska in its past, its present, and will be increasingly important in the future. Providing a firm foundation in science education for all students in Alaska is a bright opportunity and essential challenge. The State’s science standards provide the foundation for defining what students should know and be able to do in terms of scientific knowledge and skills.
Relationship of Science Standards for Alaska with NGSS
Science and technology have been essential to the people for Alaska in its past, its present, and will be increasingly important in the future. Providing a firm foundation in science education for all students in Alaska is a bright opportunity and essential challenge. The State’s science standards provide the foundation for defining what students should know and be able to do in terms of scientific knowledge and skills.
The Science Standards for Alaska are largely the same as the NGSS. The Writing Committee strongly supported the general architecture and approach of the NGSS, and made no changes to the scientific content. The revisions made by the Writing Committee included:
• Adding many examples of how the standards could be made more relevant for students in Alaska by showing applications of scientific principles and skills in an Alaskan context
• Rephrasing several content standards statements to make them clearer and/or more age-appropriate
• Fewer than a handful of NGSS content standards were combined, moved to a different grade, or deleted.
The Science Standards for Alaska contain two main parts: Performance Expectations and Foundational Statements. These are also found in the NGSS. In addition, the NGSS standards have a third part, called “Connections” that provide information for how the science content standards are related to each other and to other widely-used content standards in reading, writing, and mathematics. The Writing Committee recommended not incorporating the Connections information as a part of the state-adopted science content standards because such connections are likely to change more rapidly than the science standards. The Writing Committee endorsed DEED providing such information, along with other support materials as supplemental to the actual state science standards.
More Information and guidance for the Science Standards for Alaska is available on Department of Education and Early Development Website
Teacher Toolkit for Science Standards for Alaska
3 DIMENSIONAL TEACHING & LEARNING IN ALASKA
Science and Engineering Practices
what scientists/engineers and science/engineering students do
Asking questions and defining problems
Developing and using models
Planning and carrying out investigations
Analyzing and interpreting data
Using mathematics and computational thinking
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Cross-Cutting Concepts
Themes found in all fields of science that can frame our thinking
Patterns
Cause and effect
Scale, proportion, and quantity
Systems and system models
Energy and matter
Structure and function
Stability and change
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The new approach in science education, now adopted by the State School Board, promotes the interweaving of the two dimensions above with the Disciplinary Core Ideas assigned to each grade.
Some excellent resources for familiarizing yourself with this strategy can be found on the Science Standards page of the Department of Education and Early Development web page.