Date of Award

5-28-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Teaching and Learning

First Advisor

May Jadallah

Abstract

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for the use of classroom discourse and investigation into the relationships between their dimensions of science education. This study investigated how upper elementary students use the dimensions when responding to interview questions involving real world data. Results indicate a strong relationship between these responses and the demonstration of the scientific practice of constructing explanations and designing solutions. To support this practice, students primarily drew upon the scientific concepts of cause and effect: mechanisms and explanation and systems and system models. When these concepts were utilized at or above grade level, as determined by the NGSS progression matrices, they routinely resulted in a scientific explanation or solution that was also at or above grade level. Additionally, when students used multiple scientific concepts when giving a response, they repeatedly demonstrated scientific explanations or solutions at or above grade level. This research reinforces the importance placed on the relationship between crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices found in the NGSS. This work has been accomplished with support by National Science Foundation Grant #1316660.

Comments

Imported from ProQuest Mullins_ilstu_0092N_10560.pdf

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2015.Mullins.S

Page Count

65

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