Science education is changing for the better.
According to recent research, schools that adopt Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through the KnowAtom curriculum achieve better results through robust support and education for teachers. These research-based instructional practices give teachers a shared platform for NGSS best practices and create a dynamic partnership that brings together teachers, administrators, and curriculum and professional development providers.
All of this adds up to a clear path to putting research into effective everyday practice – and a clear win for students as well.
While elementary and middle school science professional development is a common shortcoming in many curriculum updates, KnowAtom puts teacher support at the head of the class. Research noted that professional development is critical to long-lasting changes in science education.
Designed for NGSS, KnowAtom promotes online and in-house professional development through mentors and trainers who can share their experience using KnowAtom and research-based best practices through professional development for teachers implementing NGSS. This level of internal professional development raises the bar for science education K-12 and helps teachers become true facilitators of learning.
By partnering with districts across the United States, KnowAtom delivers a meaningful platform for professional development that helps teachers internalize and share mastery-level instruction of the Next Generation Science Standards with their students.
Creating further alignment with NGSS, the KnowAtom curriculum is more about a partnership than a product. Researchers observed when teachers, administrators, and curriculum and professional development providers are connected, this dynamic partnership supports teacher and student engagement as well as meaningful improvements in science-related outcomes, both qualitative and quantitative. Working together, this partnership adds up to better instructional and classroom results.
The KnowAtom approach to professional development for teachers recognizes that teachers, administrators and professional development providers all benefit when they unite to support students and a focus on their practice, specifically K-8 science pedagogy.
The research observes that partnerships are valuable in effecting change and promoting inquiry-based science education. The new science standards require a learner-centered approach where teachers and learners partner to create new ideas, and the KnowAtom approach supports this valuable connection.
Teachers and students can reach more positive science outcomes. In fact the researchers reported test scores increases along with student engagement and collaboration when KnowAtom causes shifts in teaching methods, attitudes, and beliefs among teachers facilitating next generation science instruction.
KnowAtom successfully turns theory into everyday practice for schools across the country. By designing grade specific curriculum for the Next Generation Science Standards and expanding opportunities for immersive professional development and district level partnership, KnowAtom gives teachers the information and resources they need to invite student thinking and inquiry-based science practices into their classrooms every day.
Teachers report that students are now conducting their own investigations, solving real scientific problems and engaging in academic discussions with their mentorship – charting a clear path to academic success.
This recent research was shared in “The Effects of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) on Teaching Practices: An Instrumental Case Study Doctoral Thesis Presented to School of Education College of Professional Studies Northeastern University” by Dr. Tracy Leann Waters.