The Montana Groundwater Academy (MGA) addresses these high school level Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations: 

• Earth’s Systems. HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. 
• Earth and Human Activity. HS-ESS3-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
• Earth and Human Activity. HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems. 
• Engineering Design. HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

The MGA program emphasizes these scientific practices and crosscutting concepts: 

Scientific practices

• Developing and using models
• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Using mathematics 

Crosscutting concepts

• Patterns
• Cause and effect
• Systems and system models
• Energy and matter flow
• Structure and function