Clinical interviews shed light on relationships between next generation science standards dimensions in upper elementary students

he Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for the use of classroom discourse and investigation into the relationships between their dimensions of science education. This study investigated how upper elementary students use the dimensions when responding to interview questions involving real world data. Results indicate a strong relationship between these responses and the demonstration of the scientific practice of constructing explanations and designing solutions. To support this practice, students primarily drew upon the scientific concepts of cause and effect: mechanisms and explanation and systems and system models. When these concepts were utilized at or above grade level, as determined by the NGSS progression matrices, they routinely resulted in a scientific explanation or solution that was also at or above grade level. Additionally, when students used multiple scientific concepts when giving a response, they repeatedly demonstrated scientific explanations or solutions at or above grade level. This research reinforces the importance placed on the relationship between crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices found in the NGSS. This work has been accomplished with support by National Science Foundation Grant...