On April 21, 2015 State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson visited McCaffrey Middle School in Galt, CA.

For the past 10 years, students have entered my 5th and 6th grade classrooms with little science experience.

My students were looking at a mole of iron (602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms more or less) and concluding that they were probably looking at one atom of iron.

You sign your daughter up to be on an elementary age basketball team. After several weeks, you ask your kid how they like playing basketball.

The last time we were all together was August of 2014. Since then, we have ‘experimented’ with implementing the Next Generation of Science Standards with varying degrees of success.

I am really enjoying the creativity that NGSS is awakening in teachers.

I just finished my first attempt at planning and implementing a Next Generation of Science Standards Lesson Series.

Along with CSTA, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is helping science educators implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

In the midst of all that is new this year - implementing Common Core for Language Arts and Mathematics, the new ELA/ELD Framework and our district’s Personalized Learning Plans - we are also hearing more about the Next Generation of Science Standards…