Glossary

Supply examples or additional clarification and emphasis to the language of the performance expectations.

Coherence refers to conceptual building of knowledge and skills over the course of lessons, units, or years of instruction. This is in contrast to asking students to learn discrete pieces of content.

Found as part of the architecture of a standards page, these highlight some of the links between the listed PE and other NGSS PEs in the same and other grade bands as well as with CCSS ELA/Math standards. 

These are concepts that hold true across the natural and engineered world. Students can use them to make connections across seemingly disparate disciplines or situations, connect new learning to prior experiences, and more deeply engage with material across the other dimensions. The NGSS requires that students explicitly use their understanding of the CCCs to make sense of phenomena or solve problems.

Complete programs that comprehensively support the content goals of a science class over large pieces of instructional time (e.g., semesters, years). Curriculum includes all necessary components for instruction, such as lessons, assessment opportunities, and teacher guides.