OVERVIEW: We are at an exciting spot in the implementation of NGSS where we are seeing some high-quality three dimensional instructional materials being released. The American Museum of Natural History (and other partners) has developed a unit titled Disruptions in Ecosystems that provides five chapters to immerse students into understanding life science and human activity MS performance expectations in NGSS. Each chapter provides a phenomenon for students to investigate.
PURPOSE: This unit obviously has potential as being helpful for any middle school science teacher/system that is looking for a well-designed NGSS ecosystems unit. However, this unit also provides a model for what good NGSS instructional materials might look like.
AUDIENCE: middle school teachers, science PD providers, curriculum directors, curriculum writers, etc
LINK: Here is the link on the NGSS site where you can get Disruptions in Ecosystems as a zip file and also see how this unit rated on the EQuIP Rubric.
https://www.nextgenscience.org/resources/middle-school-disruptions-ecosystems
Here is a video on Teaching Channel where you can see students engaging in constructing arguments using this unit.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/argument-tool-ngss
Science for All 