WSST Conference 2020

Chemistry, under the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), should focus on helping students make sense of the world at a molecular level. This presents significant challenges as atoms and molecules are far removed from experience and behave in ways that cannot be intuited from macroscopic experience alone. In this workshop, we will consider how students should be supported in developing the resources necessary to predict, explain, and model phenomena at the molecular level. Four questions will guide our discussion:

1. What do we want students to know and be able to do as they progress through a course in chemistry?
2. How will we know students have developed a robust and useful understanding of chemistry?
3. How should concepts be scaffolded and interconnected to promote molecular-level understanding?
4. What role should curricular materials play in an NGSS-aligned chemistry course?

Evidence from analysis of our NSF funded learning environment design project (DRL 1906293) will be used to guide our discussion. Workshop participants will focus on answering our four focal questions for their own institutional settings. In addition, they will have the opportunity to work with the materials developed for a transformed chemistry curriculum including formative and summative assessments.