The Next Generation Science Standards may just change the way that science is taught in the classroom. While the structure of most science lessons won't likely change—educators will be better prepared to teach the subject in today's classrooms.

“The Next Generation Science Standards (or NGSS) represent one such attempt to bring K-12 science education into the 21^st century,” says Time.

“The Next Generation Science Standards come at a time of upheaval in education, when change is certainly necessary, but the structure and content of this change remains unclear.”

The NGSS is meant to make for more informed educators by setting higher goals and showing teachers how they can meet them through positive and effective science instruction. Teachers can think of it as the syllabus they hand out on the first day that outlines what the course will consist of and the proper formula in order to get a passing grade in their class.

“The Next Generation Science Standards emphasize this key distinction by identifying important engineering and science practices,” according to the report.

“Under the NGSS, students will be expected to know and understand how scientists work. For example, what role does data play when forming a hypothesis? What does it mean to test a hypothesis? What is the difference between a single observation and a trend in data?”

The creators of these standards are aim to help educators show students that science can be used in many aspects of life itself, not just in STEM-geared professions and courses. All subsets of science will be involved in the NGSS, that is, biology, astronomy, anatomy and many more.

“This inter-connectedness is emphasized in the attention that the Next Generation Science Standards give to crosscutting concepts,” stated the article.

“An intensely narrow focus may be necessary in order to make advances at the frontier of a given field, but most individuals can benefit from learning to recognize the connections between scientific disciplines.”

It’s helping a student learn how all of the world’s people, ecosystems, matter and life beyond the planet are connected and why there is a need for balance. For more on the NGSS go here.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor