Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Curriculum & Instruction
Our vision for K–12 science education is that every student experiences the joy and wonder of science, learns how science can be used to solve local and global problems, sees the pathways they can take into science-related careers, and feels welcomed and valued in science classrooms. This vision is grounded in decades of research on effective teaching and learning.
We recognize that many students—particularly those from low-income backgrounds, as well as Black, Latino/a, and Indigenous students, and students in rural communities—have had less access to high-quality K–12 science education and have been underrepresented in STEM opportunities. Addressing persistent disparities in K–16 science education remains a critical priority.
Developed by leading science researchers and educators, the Model Science Curriculum Frameworks are designed to align with how students learn best. The frameworks are phenomena-based and center on student-led questioning, investigating, and problem-solving, with teachers supporting students as learning facilitators rather than lecturers. This approach fosters a classroom culture where everyone matters and is heard, building unique skills for educators and students and empowering them in their education journey.
Guided by the belief that high quality educational materials should be available to everyone, the Department worked with OpenSciEd to create open-source instructional materials, also known as open educational resources. These materials are freely available for educators and students to use, share, and adapt to meet local needs. They are designed to accommodate diverse student needs, cultures, languages, and community contexts.
- All Standards, All Students: The science program ensures that all students are provided appropriate learning opportunities for all of the standards. This includes but is not limited to, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, English Language Learners, and students who have been identified as gifted.
- Explaining Phenomena or Designing Solutions: The units focus on supporting students to make sense of engaging and authentic phenomena or design solutions to real-world problem.
- Three Dimensional: The units help students develop and use multiple grade appropriate elements of the Science and Engineering Practices (SEP), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCC), which are deliberately selected to aid student sense-making of phenomena or designing of solutions.
- Integrating the Three Dimensions for Instruction and Assessment: The units require student performances that integrate elements of the SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs to make sense of phenomena or design solutions to problems, and the learning tasks elicit student artifacts that show direct, observable evidence of three-dimensional learning.
- Relevance and Authenticity: The units motivate student sense-making or problem-solving by taking advantage of student questions and prior experiences in the context of the students’ home, neighborhood, and community as appropriate. F. Student Ideas: The units provide opportunities for students to express, clarify, justify, interpret, and represent their ideas (i.e., making thinking visible) and to respond to peer and teacher feedback. G. Building on Students’ Prior Knowledge: The units identify and build on students’ prior learning in all three dimensions in a way that is explicit to both the teacher and the students.
References
National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Science and Engineering for Grades 6–12: Investigation and Design at the Center. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades: The Brilliance of Children and the Strengths of Educators. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
- Critical Features of Instructional Materials Design for Today's Science Standards
- EQuIP Rubric for Science Professional Learning and Facilitator's Guide: A free tool offers guidance and a series of ten modules designed to help district and school leaders provide NGSS professional learning opportunities based on the EQuIP Rubric for Science, Version 3.0.
- NGSS Lesson Screener: The NGSS Lesson Screener is intended to more quickly review a learning sequence to see if it is on the right track. It is intended to be used in more informal reviews (no scoring) and is only for evaluating instruction that extends over several class periods or days.
- EQuIP Rubric for Science: The EQuIP Rubric provides criteria by which to measure the alignment and overall quality of lessons and units with respect to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The purpose of the rubric and review process is to:
- Provide constructive criterion-based feedback to developers
- Review existing instructional materials to determine what revisions are needed
- Identify exemplars/models for teachers' use within and across states
- Examples of NJSLS-S Designed Instructional Resources. This website provides examples of high quality lessons and units. The objective is not to endorse a particular curriculum, product, or template; rather it is to identify lessons and units that best illustrate the cognitive demands of the NJSLS-S.