Design-Based Science

Overview and Purpose

Introduction

Welcome to the Design Based Science Course. The intent of the course will be to support science teachers to develop Design Based Science Tasks that will facilitate student use of the Next Generation Science Practices. The course is most appropriate for middle and high school science teachers in districts that follow NGSS curriculum.

By the end of the course, you will...

Identify examples and importance of the 8 NGSS Science Practices
Identify characteristics of Design Based Learning Tasks
Evaluate existing Design Based Science Tasks
Create an original Design Based Science Task which includes multiple NGSS Science Practices

Needs Assessment

Current research on science learning repeatedly emphasizes the need to focus on science practices and 21st century skills rather than on fragmented knowledge or science facts. The Framework for K-12 Science Education Policy Brief outlines how a modern science curriculum should promote students to engage in a “wide range of approaches that are used to investigate, model, and explain the world… understand the work of engineers and the links between engineering and science” (K-12 Science Education Policy Brief, 2011). In April 2013, the NGSS standards were released for use and many states readily adopted them and began the process of shifting instruction to align with the new standards (NGSS).

One aspect of the transition that might be especially challenging is incorporating the engineering practices because teachers lack experience in this area. Design Based Learning or Design Based Science (Fortus, 2004) is an educational strategy where “design is viewed as a vehicle through which scientific knowledge and real-world problem-solving skills can be constructed”. DBS resources can support teachers to incorporate the full range of NGSS Science Practices, with special attention to the engineering standards. Multiple recent research indicates that design based learning can support problem solving, (Shanta and Wells, 2022) and reduce equity gaps (Mehalik, 2013) in addition to providing a means of assessment for science understanding.

The intent of the course is to support middle and high school science teachers to develop Design Based Science Tasks that will facilitate student use of the Next Generation Science Practices.

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing the course learners will be able to...

Content Objectives:

Identify examples of the 8 NGSS Science Practices from digital resources such as videos or lesson samples
Recognize characteristics of effective Design Based Learning Tasks from digital resources such as videos or articles

Develop a persuasive summary for near peers to justify the relevance of Design Based Learning for developing NGSS practices for 21st century learning

Practice Objectives:

Evaluate two sample Design Based Science Tasks for use in the teacher-learner's classroom context.
Create an original Design Based Science Task which includes multiple NGSS Science Practices, using provided templates
Prepare a presentation for near peers about the implementation or implementation plan of the newly developed Design Based Science Task

Curriculum Map

Boldface: Overall course goal and objective most closely related to the overall goal
Yellow: Explorative learning tasks (foundational theory and resources)
Green: Evaluative task (preparation for Design task)
Blue: Design task (major course objective which develops lesson plan artifact)
Purple: Summative communicative tasks (transferring knowledge and attitudes to others)

Course Units

The first unit will be content based where you will explore theory and examples (readings, videos, images) of NGSS Practices and Design Learning in classroom practice.

The second unit will be practice based where you will be supported in developing a ready-to-use Design Based Science Task relevant to their content area.

The course will use a google doc student work packet to support learning. Make an editable copy of the view only file here.

Click the links above to get started!