Day-4

Cross-Cutting Concepts

The US Next Generation Science Standards, completed in 2013, describe “a vision of what it means to be proficient in science”. The standards are formulated in a framework of (1) practices, (2) crosscutting concepts, and (3) disciplinary core ideas. See also the explanations on Youtube.

A similar approach can be seen in the Dutch Kennisbasis Natuurwetenschappen en Technologie voor de Onderbouw VO, in which each of the STEM areas is described in terms of the framework displayed below (see also pp. 7 ff of the document).

In your working group, explore the application of such a framework for Computing:

• does it fit in the Dutch STEM description? Which categories are missing?
• try to fill in the framework for a specific Computing area.

Examples

In the Dutch STEM knowledge base:

• Light, sound, radiation (part of Physics): pp. 46-48
• Technology: 155-160

Description format

Knowledge base STEM for lower grades of secondary education

1. What it is about
2. High-level learning goals
3. Relevant contexts
4. Characteristic ways of working (activities), grouped by:
   • developing and applying models
   • researching
   • designing
   • information skills
   • reasoning skills
   • numeric and mathematical skills
   • evaluating and judging
5. Content (learning goals)
6. Characteristic ways of thinking (key insights, cross-cutting concepts), grouped by:
   • patterns
   • scale, ratio, quantity
   • cause and effect
   • system and system models
   • conservation, transport and life cycle of energy and matter
   • structure and functionality
   • stability and change
   • sustainability
   • risks and safety