| Abstract: | Effective professional development that influences teachers’ classroom practices starts with what teachers know, understand, and do in their classroom. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenge teachers to make changes to their classroom; to help teachers make these changes, it is necessary to know what they are doing in their classrooms just prior to NGSS adoption. An online survey was distributed to high school chemistry teachers to understand their teaching practices before NGSS was adopted as state standards. This article presents the findings of the survey in terms of the chemistry content, science and engineering practices, and engineering content currently taught in chemistry. Gaps in the current teaching practices as they relate to the standards at the time of the study and NGSS are discussed, which show a challenge for the transformation of science education, which the implementation of NGSS hopes to achieve. Implications for professional development are included. |
