Salton Sea, Wikipedia.The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Wikipedia
Surface elevation: -226.4′ Area: 343.2 mi² Length: 34.8 mi Width: 14.91 mi 

A fundamental principle in the CA NGSS is that students must use the three dimensions to understand specific phenomena, and that phenomena drives science learning. The word phenomenon (plural phenomena) in science means any observable event that occurs in a natural or a designed system. CA NGSS instruction begins by introducing phenomena, and lessons progress as students apply each of the three dimensions to understand and explain the phenomena. In the process, students add to their library of what they know (DCIs), extend their ability to do science (SEPs), and broaden their way of thinking (CCCs).

Students are not expected to fully explain phenomena in a single class session or even a single grade level—this may be a major shift for many students . Students are, however, expected to make progress towards understanding a phenomenon by authentically engaging all three dimensions of science. Progress in science includes everything from recognizing a pattern [CCC-1] and asking a new question [SEP-1] to developing a sophisticated model [SEP-2] that explains [SEP-6] a phenomenon and successfully predicts new ones. Even when students do explain a phenomenon at one level of sophistication, they often revisit the same phenomenon at a later grade level and are then able to explain it at a deeper level.

Observable phenomena sometimes introduce a specific problem that motivates specific engineering solutions (investigative problems). All phenomena ideally should be relevant to students’ lives, cultures, and experiences. Sometimes instruction draws attention to specific events that occur in everyday life (e .g ., smells traveling across the room). In some senses, the distinction between anchor, investigative, and everyday phenomena is subjective and relates to the scale [CCC-3] of the phenomena within the lesson and within students’ experience. Students apply the three dimensions of the CA NGSS to all phenomena, regardless of their scale or role in instruction.

Students need first-hand experience with phenomena before they can explain them . A textbook that states a scientific principle and then provides an example phenomenon is not honoring the importance of having phenomena motivate scientific inquiry. “It is the phenomenon plus the student-generated questions about the phenomenon that guides the learning and teaching”.


Extracted from, California Science Framework 2016, Chapter 1 Overview of the California Next Generation Science Standards, pp. 10-11.