part of the layout of Next Generation Science Standards located at the end of each standard; shows connections between Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics. 

one of the three dimensions of the Next Generation Sciences Standards; Abbreviated as CCCs; Singular is Crosscutting Concept (CCC); there are seven of them in the NGSS. 

one of the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards; abbreviated as DCIs; Singular form is Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI). 

part of the layout of the Next Generation Science Standards located between the performance expectations and the connection boxes; include statements from the three dimensions of the Framework related to the performance expectation. 

in this book, this term refers to A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (NRC, 2012); the document that provided the basis of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). 

statements that describe what students should understand about a component idea at the end of grades 2, 5, 8, and 12. 

attitudes and ways of thinking scientists are expected to exhibit; i.e., curiosity, desire for knowledge, reliance on evidence, willingness to modify explanations when they are not supported by evidence, honesty, cooperation in investigating questions, and solving problems. 

the method of teaching and learning science emphasized in the National Science Education Standards; a term that was often misused, resulting in the introduction of Scientific and Engineering Practices in the Next Generation Science Standards. 

a constructivist approach to science teaching and learning advocated by the National Science Education Standards. 

research-based pathways or sequences that suggest how the understanding of ideas develops as learners progress through school; a guiding principle of A Framework for K–12 Science Education upon which the Next Generation Science Standards were based. 

characteristics of science, i.e.: testable, replicable, reliable, tentative, collaborative, and evidence based. 

Next Generation Science Standards, standards based on the Framework, released in April 2013. 

National Science Education Standards, released in 1996. 

what a student is expected to know and be able to do on an assessment; or statements in the Next Generation Science Standards that integrate the three dimensions of the Framework into an assessment target. 

objects or events used to anchor NGSS units or lessons by engaging students in figuring out explanations about interesting real-world core ideas; they must be academically productive, but don’t need to be phenomenal; phenomenon is the singular form of phenomena. 

a way to study and answer questions about the natural world through collection and analysis of observation-based evidence. 

teaching and facilitating learning about science facts, concepts, and inquiry skills; includes aspects of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. 

one of the three dimensions introduced by the Framework; referred to as Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSS also referred to as: Practices, or Science and Engineering Practices; abbreviated as SEPs; the singular is Scientific and Engineering Practice (SEP); there are eight of them in the NGSS. 

an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. 

organizing structure of A Framework for K–12 Science Education upon which the Next Generation Science Standards were based. The three dimensions are Scientific and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas.