Resources

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on education. Science teaching, in particular, has faced specific challenges given the field’s emphasis on high-quality instruction that has students “ do” science collaboratively rather than just read about it or hear about it in a lecture.

This brief provides:

• A summary of survey data collected by WestEd relating to how the pandemic has affected science education in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Early Implementer districts and other locations around the country. A total of 342 K–8 teachers from 31 states in 2020 and 352 teachers from 15 states in 2021 responded
• Findings regarding student-centered science instruction and equity during the pandemic, including student learning and engagement, time spent on science, NGSS three-dimensional instruction, and scientific discourse
• Descriptions of how some teachers innovated to provide engaging, high-quality science instruction to their students despite the challenges caused by school closures
• Lessons learned and recommendations for ensuring high-quality NGSS-aligned science instruction and learning moving forward

A companion brief, Teaching K–8 Science Through Distance Learning: Specific Challenges and Successes During the COVID-19 Pandemic, describes the more specific challenges and successes reported in our survey.