Graduate Research Papers

Availability

Graduate Research Paper (UNI Access Only)

Keywords

Chemical reactions--Study and teaching (Secondary)--Iowa; Chemistry--Study and teaching (Secondary)--Standards--Iowa;

Abstract

In August of 2015, the state of Iowa adopted a new set of science standards called the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Four years prior to that, the state formed a task force to look into these standards and compare them to the state’s current standards, the Iowa Core. In 2014, a Science Standards Review Team was created to review and improve on Iowa’s science standards looking at the current state standards, other state standards, and public feedback to make a recommendation to the State Board of Education (State Board of Education, 2015). After review, the state of Iowa decided on the adoption of the performance expectations from the standards known as NGSS. A focus on science curriculum reform in the United States is due to falling behind the rest of the world in science education (Mead & Mates, 2009). The development of more depth of content versus the breath (going deeper instead of covering more topics) in science and engineering, and across science disciplines became the focus of this curriculum reform (National Research Council, 2012). A shift from memorizing facts to an application of learning in science education has begun to take place within the United States. NGSS is focused around a core idea within a given science discipline, engagement of skills & prior knowledge, and an overarching understanding of science and engineering used to form “three dimensional” learning (National Research Council, 2012). Few resources are available to help teachers develop curriculum to fit these new standards, therefore the need to help teachers with the implementation across the state of Iowa is great. The purpose of this project is to develop a NGSS aligned curriculum unit centered on the topic of chemical reactivity with relations to the periodic trends, outer electrons, and chemical properties.

Year of Submission

2017

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Science Education Program

First Advisor

Dawn DelCarlo

Date Original

2017

Object Description

1 PDF file (93 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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