Crosswalk Highlights
The learning standards crosswalk between the Decision Education K–12 Learning Standards and The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) found that both standards share a strong emphasis on key skills for scientific inquiry and everyday decision-making, including:
- Thinking Critically
- Evidence evaluation
- Understanding cause-and-effect relationships
- Mathematical reasoning to develop models and analyze data
Together, the standards highlight the importance of thoroughly investigating information and accurately interpreting data to help students identify reliable and valid evidence.
Explore the Crosswalk’s Key Similarities
Below, find the crosswalk’s main areas of alignment, along with the specific standards within each content area.
Key Areas of Science Alignment:
NGSS categorizes its standards by three basic dimensions: Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts. The Science and Engineering practices emphasize inquiry and evidence-based reasoning-skills essential to effective decision-making:
- Asking questions (Science) and defining problems (Engineering)
- Developing and using models
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Using mathematics and computational thinking
- Constructing explanations (Science) and designing solutions (Engineering)
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Key Areas of Decision Education Alignment:
Valuing and Applying Rationality (VAR) aligns with NGSS by encouraging students to approach scientific problems with logical reasoning and refining ideas based on new data and perspectives. The most aligned DE standards include:
- VAR.2 Recognize, practice, and demonstrate intellectual humility.
- VAR.3 Recognize, practice, and demonstrate active open-mindedness.
- VAR.4 Recognize, practice, and demonstrate a truth-seeking mindset.
- VAR.5 Practice and demonstrate self-awareness of thought processes and behavior.
- VAR.8 Apply scientific reasoning to problem solving and decision-making.
Thinking Probabilistically (TP) overlaps with NGSS by helping students understand, quantify, and work with uncertainty, a key component of scientific inquiry and prediction. The most aligned DE standards include:
- TP.2 Strategically apply appropriate numeracy and probability techniques.
- TP.3 Use probabilistic thinking to evaluate evidence and truth claims, and to update beliefs.
- TP.4 Use probabilistic thinking when making predictions and evaluating real-world contexts.
- TP.5 Use probabilistic thinking to weigh decision options and their possible outcomes.
Structuring Decisions (SD) aligns with NGSS standards by guiding students to frame problems, gather and evaluate information, consider alternative solutions, and justify their choices—practices mirrored in scientific investigations and engineering design. The most aligned DE standards include:
- SD. 4 Gather and analyze information from multiple sources to evaluate decision options.
- SD. 5 Make predictions about the outcomes of each decision option.
- SD. 6 Explain and provide the rationale behind a decision.
Recognizing and Resisting Cognitive Biases (CB) aligns with NGSS by helping students critically evaluate evidence, question assumptions, and avoid reasoning errors that can distort scientific understanding. The most aligned DE standards include:
- CB. 1 Identify cognitive biases and heuristics and the role they play in our decision-making and our views of the world.
