INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP FOR SCIENCE PRACTICES (ILSP)

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Science Practices Continuum - Supervision

This continuum is intended for teachers and administrators to use in guiding and monitoring science practice-based instruction. The
levels reflect increasingly sophisticated instruction of the practices and are not grade-level specific; teachers can teach in developmentally
appropriate ways at any of these levels. Appendix F in the NGSS provides significantly more detail for each practice (that should be
integrated as both students and teachers develop greater fluency with each practice). The practices are grouped into the “Investigating”
“Sensemaking” and “Critiquing” practices.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

1. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides
Asking provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
questions for students to ask to ask questions. Students’ ask questions. Students’ ask questions. Students’
questions. questions are both scientific questions are typically questions are typically
and non-scientific questions scientific (i.e. answerable scientific (i.e. answerable
(i.e., not answerable through gathering evidence through gathering evidence
through the gathering of about the natural world). about the natural world).
evidence or about the Students do not evaluate the Students do evaluate the
natural world). merits and limitations of the merits and limitations of the
Investigating Practices

questions. questions.
3. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides
Planning and provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
carrying out for students to design or to conduct investigations, design or conduct design and conduct
conduct investigations. but these opportunities are investigations to gather data. investigations to gather data.
investigations
typically teacher-driven. These opportunities enable These opportunities enable
Students do not make students to make decisions students to make decisions
decisions about about experimental about experimental variables,
experimental variables or variables, controls and controls and investigational
investigational methods investigational methods (e.g. methods (e.g. number of
(e.g. number of trials). number of trials). trials).
5. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides
Using provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
mathematics for students to use to use mathematical skills use mathematical skills or make decisions about what
mathematical skills (i.e., or concepts but these are concepts that are connected mathematical skills or
and
measuring, comparing, not connected to answering to answering a scientific concepts to use. Students use
computational estimating) or concepts a scientific question. question. mathematical skills or
thinking (i.e., ratios). concepts to answer a
scientific question.
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2. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides

Developing and provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
using models for students to create or to create or use models. The create or use models focused create or use models focused
use models. models focus on describing on predicting or explaining on predicting or explaining the
natural phenomena rather the natural world. Students natural world. Students do
than predicting or do not evaluate the merits evaluate the merits and
explaining the natural and limitations of the model. limitations of the model.
world. Students do not
evaluate the merits and
limitations of the model.

4.
Sensemaking Practices

Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides

Analyzing and provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
interpreting for students to analyze to work with data, which work with data to organize make decisions about how to
data data. Students may could include organizing or or group the data in a table analyze data (e.g. table or
record data, but do not grouping the data. However, or graph. These graph) and work with the
analyze it. these opportunities do not opportunities support data to create the
support students in students in making sense of representation. Students
recognizing patterns or data by recognizing patterns make sense of data by
relationships in the natural or relationships in the recognizing patterns or
world. natural world. relationships in the natural
world.

6. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides

Constructing provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
explanations for students to create to create scientific create scientific explanations construct explanations that
scientific explanations. explanations but students’ but students’ explanations focus on explaining how or
explanations are descriptive are descriptive instead of why a phenomenon occurs and
instead of explaining how or explaining how or why a use appropriate evidence to
why a phenomenon occurs. phenomenon occurs. support their explanations.
Students do not use Students use appropriate
appropriate evidence to evidence to support their
support their explanations. explanations.
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7. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides

Engaging in provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
argument from for students to engage to engage in argumentation engage in student-driven engage in student-driven
evidence in argumentation. where they support their argumentation. The student argumentation. The student
claims with evidence or discourse includes evidence discourse includes evidence,
reasoning, but the discourse and reasoning to support reasoning that links the
is primarily teacher-driven. their claim. Students also evidence to their claim, and
agree and disagree, but critique of competing
Critiquing Practices

rarely engage in critique. arguments during which

students build on and
question each other’s ideas.

8. Teacher does not Teacher provides Teacher provides Teacher provides

Obtaining, provide opportunities opportunities for students opportunities for students to opportunities for students to
evaluating, and for students to read text to obtain scientific read and evaluate text to read and evaluate text to
communicating for scientific information, but do not obtain scientific information. obtain scientific information.
information information. evaluate this information. Students do not compare or Students compare and
Students also do not combine information from combine information from
compare or combine multiple texts considering multiple texts considering the
information from multiple the strengths of the strengths of the information
texts considering the information and sources. and sources.
strengths of the information
and sources.

Classroom Culture Prioritizing Science Practices

Less ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------More
Connected to the Natural World
Focused on Scientific Evidence
Student Directed and Collaborative
Informed by Critique