This section of the site was developed to support your efforts in teaching Maryland students science. On June 25, 2013 the Maryland State Board of Education adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a set of rigorous and internationally benchmarked standards for K-12 science education. Twenty-six states including Maryland and their broad-based lead teams worked collaboratively with a 41-member writing team and partners throughout the country to develop the NGSS. Since that time, educators from around the state have met to determine the best way for Maryland teachers to transition from the existing Maryland State Curriculum to the NGSS.
The links in this section take you to the Next Generation Science Standards website where you will find comprehensive descriptions of the standards, the process of developing the standards and resources to better understand and teach them.
The NGSS are composed of the three dimensions from the NRC Framework. The National Research Council’s (NRC) Framework describes a vision of what it means to be proficient in science; it rests on a view of science as both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model and theory building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge. It presents three dimensions that will be combined to form each standard:
The practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems.
The NRC uses the term practices instead of a term like "skills" to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Part of the NRC's intent is to better explain and extend what is meant by "inquiry" in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires.
Crosscutting concepts describe concepts that bridge disciplinary boundaries, having explanatory value throughout much of science and engineering. These crosscutting concepts have application across all domains of science. They are a way of linking the different domains of science. The seven crosscutting concepts include: Patterns; Cause and effect; Scale, proportion and quantity; Systems and system models; Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation; Structure and function; Stability and change. The Framework emphasizes that these concepts need to be made explicit for students because they provide an organizational schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world.
Disciplinary core ideas have the power to focus K–12 science curriculum, instruction, and assessments on the most important aspects of science. To be considered core, the ideas met at least two of the following criteria and ideally all four:
Have broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering disciplines or be a key organizing concept of a single discipline;
Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems;
Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or be connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge;
Be teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication.
Disciplinary ideas are grouped in four major domains: physical sciences; the life sciences; the earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology and applications of science.
There are three ways to view the standards:
Ask the Science Team View Bio (s) Mary Turlow Jeremy Haack Donna Balado The MSDE Science team welcomes your feedback, questions, or comments. Please click the button below to fill out the comments form. Send feedback to the team
Mary Turlow
Jeremy Haack
Donna Balado
The MSDE Science team welcomes your feedback, questions, or comments. Please click the button below to fill out the comments form.
Send feedback to the team
Framework for K-12 Science Education (Full book)
NGSS identified Performance Expectations for the High School MISA (HS MISA)
The HS MISA is developed using a subset of the High School grade band standards.Download the PE's used to develop the HSMISA.
Literacy development is essential for students to access and learn disciplinary content and must be a shared responsibility across all daily instruction when and where appropriate. With Maryland's adoption of the Common Core standards, teachers in all subject areas will build discipline-specific literacy into daily instruction when and where appropriate.
6-8 • 9-12
Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA)
Science Safety Manual - Maryland Public Schools Science Laboratories and Indoor Air Quality in Schools Maryland Science Facilities Guidelines
Results of the 2015 Social Studies Survey Results of the 2016 Social Studies Survey Results of the 2017 Social Studies Survey
“The challenge of designing a teaching and learning cycle in science that reflects the intersection of curriculum, instruction, and assessment which is essential to ensuring student success in a global society was answered by Maryland science educators through the development of a science State Curriculum that reflects a vision of science education in the twenty-first century. The science State Curriculum communicates a definition of science that goes beyond that of a course of study or the name of a textbook. It defined science as a body of knowledge developed through the process of investigating combined with thoughtful reflections which are guided by critical thinking skills. This body of knowledge is dynamic and has a dramatic impact on every aspect of life.” -Mary Thurlow
