This toolkit contains two additional framing sections following this introduction that lay important groundwork to help teachers successfully enact the MDPs in support of student motivation and engagement in science. First, we discuss the reciprocal relationship between motivationally supportive teaching and equitable science instruction. Then, we provide guidance on general classroom organization, routines, policies, and climate considerations that provide a vital foundation for supporting student motivation.

The next five sections are devoted to the five MDPs. Each MDP section includes the following resources:

• Overview - A summary of the MDP with relevant definitions and guiding principles
• Look-Fors - Descriptions of classrooms that are more and less aligned with the MDP, to help teachers visualize what the MDP looks like in practice
• Planning Tool - A set of metacognitive/self-reflective questions that teachers can pose to themselves to help them consider specific strategies for enacting the MDP in an upcoming lesson
• Activities - Instructional strategies and activities that align with the MDP
• Talk Moves - Sample sentence/question stems and discourse moves that teachers might say to students when enacting this MDP

The final section describes connections between enacting the MDPs and delivering instruction based on the NGSS. Specifically, we outline the reciprocal relationship between supporting student motivation and implementing phenomenon-centered science instruction, integrating crosscutting concepts, and promoting the eight science and engineering practices from the NGSS.

This toolkit is intentionally organized as a reference manual, rather than something to be read sequentially from cover to cover. We encourage readers to hopscotch throughout the document, using the Table of Contents and the section links provided in footers to navigate to sections that are most relevant to them and particular lessons or motivational challenges they may be tackling.

As a suggested starting point, we have provided an MDP Planning Tool at the end of the document that lists two key reflective questions for each of the five MDPs. Consider these questions in light of an upcoming lesson and skim the toolkit as needed to review the MDPs and resources on NGSS and equity to gather ideas for motivationally supportive strategies to incorporate into the lesson.

Finally, we encourage readers to use this guide as a starting point and a source for ideas, not as a mandate or prescription. We provide multiple examples, options, and/or variations to try to be as comprehensive and specific as possible. However, this does not mean that all of the provided strategies are necessary to enact the MDPs, nor that the provided strategies are the only way to do so. We encourage teachers to use their professional discretion to select what will work best for them and their classrooms, and to modify and innovate on these strategies. Toward that end, we have incorporated blank space for notes, reflections, and new ideas throughout the sections. We hope that this active reflection and innovation will help teachers develop their own “toolkit” of motivationally supportive teaching strategies.