I just attended a 3 day workshop at the California Academy of Sciences on the Next Generation Science Standards. Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed (I feel like I’ve only just truly adapted to the 1998 standards), I think that the new standards are going to improve my teaching, and have an overall positive effect on biology teaching (and learning) in general.
I particularly like the cross cutting concepts (CCCs). These are like themes that cut across all of the sciences. I’ve been feeling like the course I teach to the 9th graders at Berkeley High School is too fact-based, too low down on Bloom’s Taxonomy. This might give me the motivation I need to start teaching more thematically.
Look for more posts on the next generation standards in the weeks to come…especially once I start experimenting with them when school resumes in September.