Crosscutting Concepts: Strengthening Science and Engineering Learning

Maybe you have a good grasp of disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices―critical parts of the Next Generation Science Standards―but you are looking for more resources about integrating crosscutting concepts (CCCs). Or maybe you understand CCCs but want to know more about how to make them part of your students’ toolkit for exploring science phenomena or engineering problems, both now and in the future. Regardless of your needs, Crosscutting Concepts is your guide. It shows how to design and implement three-dimensional instruction for all students by understanding the potential of CCCs to strengthen science and engineering teaching and learning. Crosscutting Concepts helps you do the following: • Grasp the foundational issues that undergird crosscutting concepts. You’ll find out how CCCs can change your instruction, engage your students, and broaden access and inclusion of all students into your science classroom. • Gain in-depth insights into individual crosscutting concepts. You’ll learn how to use each CCC across disciplines, understand the challenges students face in learning CCCs, and adopt exemplary teaching strategies. • Discover how CCCs can strengthen the way you teach key topics in science. These topics include the nature of matter, plant growth, and weather and climate, as well as engineering design. • Understand related implications for science teaching. These topics include student assessment and teacher professional collaboration. Throughout Crosscutting Concepts, vignettes drawn from the authors’ own classroom experiences will help you put theory into practice. Instructional Applications show how CCCs can strengthen your planning. Classroom Snapshots feature practical ways to use CCCs in discussions and lessons. Useful for teachers at all grade levels, this book will enrich your own understanding while showing you how to use CCCs for both classroom teaching and real-world problem solving.

Okhee Lee is a professor and Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education (effective September 1, 2025) in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She is widely known for advancing research, policy, and practice that simultaneously promote science and language learning for all students, particularly multilingual learners. Lee was a member of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Writing Team and served as leader for the NGSS Diversity and Equity Team. She was also a member of the Steering Committee for the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University. Her research involves integrating science, language, and computational thinking with a focus on multilingual learners. Her latest work addresses justice-centered STEM education with multilingual learners by integrating multiple STEM subjects, including data science and computer science, to address pressing societal challenges using the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the early 1990s, her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Lee brings research and policy to practice. Her team developed a yearlong fifth-grade science curriculum called Science And Integrated Language, or SAIL, that translates contemporary science standards into classroom practice with multilingual learners. The curriculum is in a field trial at New York City Public Schools with funding from the National Science Foundation. Using the SAIL curriculum, Lee’s team published teacher resources in collaboration with the New York State Education Department. In addition, her team published teacher resources in collaboration with the National Science Teaching Association and made them available across the country and internationally.

Jeff Nordine, PhD, is professor of science education at the University of Iowa. Prior to joining the University of Iowa, Nordine was deputy director and associate professor of physics education at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Kiel, Germany. He has been an award-winning physics teacher and dean of instruction for mathematics and science in San Antonio, Texas, and he was the chief scientist for the San Antonio Children’s Museum (The DoSeum). His research focuses on the design and enactment of coherent science learning environments that support students in using core science ideas to make sense of phenomena/problems and to guide future learning in their lives outside of school.