The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. The NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students. A goal for developing the NGSS was to create a set of research-based, up-to-date K–12 science standards.

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 NGSS and other Framework-based standards ask educators and students to approach teaching, learning, and monitoring student progress in new and different ways, grounded in students making sense of phenomena and solving problems using the three dimensions of science together.

APPENDIX F – Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSS A Science Framework for K-12 Science Education provides the blueprint for developing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

NGSS Appendices A through M provide background and detail about the standards, along with some implementation models. Other NGSS support documents are available here. Appendix A: Conceptual Shifts Learn more about the conceptual shifts that make the NGSS new and different.

Looking for NGSS-aligned lesson plans? To identify and shine a spotlight on emerging examples of lessons and units designed for the NGSS, Achieve launched the EQuIP Peer Review Panel for Science (PRP).

Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

Construct models to explain changes in nuclear energies during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay and the nuclear interactions that determine nuclear stability.