Science Conferences: A Pathway for Enacting the NGSS Available to Purchase

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is the latest initiative to promote authentic scientific work in the classroom. Previous reform efforts have not caused the change in teacher practice and student learning that was hoped for, despite their ubiquity and accessibility. The culprit may be the culture of school that is often recalcitrant to change. This article argues that the NGSS may be the most scientifically aligned reform but may be doomed to failure unless it can be connected with the culture of schooling. The central idea offered here is to incorporate the professional practice espoused in the NGSS by using a cultural emblem of school science—the science fair. The trick is to transform the science fair into a science conference.