3D Science QuestionsAn NGSS classroom needs to effectively engage students in the three dimensions of NGSS – practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas – by creating a next generation inquiry environment, where the role of the teacher is not sage on the stage, as it is in the traditional model of instruction, but instead to tune the inquiry environment so that students develop science and engineering practice skills and take intellectual risks.
Structure of Questioning
Sometimes using questions simply results in a back-and-forth interchange between teacher and students in which the teacher is the questioner and the student is the respondent. Try holding back from asking questions at the start, thus encouraging students to take some responsibility for carrying on the discussion, rather than simply being targets of teacher questions. Science and Engineering Practice- ASKING QUESTIONS AND DEFINING PROBLEMS If Students are Asking Questions They Are LEARNING!Avoid focusing on "Right Answers"
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices focus on Engaging in Argument from Evidence. Argumentation is the process by which evidence-based conclusions and solutions are reached. In science and engineering, reasoning and argument based on evidence are essential to identifying the best explanation for a natural phenomenon or the best solution to a design problem. Scientists and engineers use argumentation to listen to, compare, and evaluate competing ideas and methods based on merits. Scientists and engineers engage in argumentation when investigating a phenomenon, testing a design solution, resolving questions about measurements, building data models, and using evidence to evaluate claims. Types of Instructional Questions
Focus/Essential Questions
Essential questions delineates what students are trying to figure out. Resource California Academy of Sciences
The files and links below provide examples of Focus/Essential Questions.
Examples of questions are aligned to Disciplinary Core Idea, NGSS Course Bundles, or NJ Science Curricular Framework Units.
NJ Science Curricular Framework www.nj.gov/education/modelcurriculum/sci
Navigate to grade level and unit. Download either a word or PDF of the Unit.
Promoting Students Questions by Scaffolding: Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Guiding/Refining QuestionsA question can trigger a high level of cognitive thinking with relatively simple questions such as ‘why’, ‘how’, or ‘how about ...,’ etc. However, if a question does not have specific content, it is likely to be vague and pointless. On the other hand, if a teacher only asks about a specific content, such as “What is speed?” it is likely to be a closed question.
A question that combines the two aspects such as “Why do you think + speed is different from velocity?” becomes more effective for students to engage in high level cognitive thinking. Example Topic- Weathering of Rock and Water Cycle
Questioning and Responding
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For a comprehensive description and analysis of how to use the Question Formulation Technique in the classroom please see Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions, 2011 Harvard Education Press. http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/144/MakeJustOneChange
Finding Phenomena Resources
- Science News https://www.sciencenews.org/
- Earth Science Week
- Project Phenomena https://sites.google.com/site/sciencephenomena/
- The Wonder of Science https://thewonderofscience.com/phenomenal/
- KQED Quest https://ww2.kqed.org/quest/
- Teach Engineering https://www.teachengineering.org/