Freshman general science students already know the atom is composed of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons with electron circling the nucleus. This hands-on modeling lab allows students to visualize and discover the electrons mass is far less and negligible compared to the nucleus. They probably have been told this in previous science classes through memorization.

All students should have opportunities to investigate issues related to their personal interests and community priorities. Teachers value these goals but often lack materials that follow students' meaningful questions about phenomena while meeting standards. This article highlights strategies for developing materials that address standards rigorously and engage diverse student interests and community priorities. The strategies include choosing meaningful phenomena, building relevance, supporting understanding of how human systems shape phenomena and problems, and enabling equitable participation through educative guidance in materials. We illustrate these strategies by highlighting how a consortium of educators and researchers created the OpenSciEd instructional materials for high school, presenting examples of how they are reflected in courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. These materials use a storyline model centered on students’ questions about phenomena and addresses all high school NGSS performance expectations. The article also discusses how teacher teams can adapt these strategies to their local contexts, using resources like student surveys, Universal Design for Learning, and community-based investigations to make science education more inclusive and relevant for students from nondominant groups and communities.

Teaching Through Trade Books

Editor's Note

This paper discusses two teachers’ experiences implementing a phenomenon and problem-driven curriculum for the first time in two kindergarten classes. It describes how teachers shifted their teaching to support students’ collaborative sensemaking about phenomenon. It also discusses how the teachers helped students overcome anxiety about uncertainty when figuring out phenomenon and during an engineering design challenge. Throughout the paper teachers offer detailed descriptions of the adjustments they made to their instructional methods and how those changes in pedagogy impacted students during the curriculum. Impacts to students’ overall sense of academic agency are also discussed. Finally, the paper addresses real-world concerns facing teachers transitioning to phenomenon and problem-driven instruction, including the amount of class time allocated to science learning and the amount of content required by the Next Generation Science Standards.

This article discusses strategies for teachers to find and use local phenomena in designed science units. The Next Generation Science Standards promote grounding learning in observable phenomena that students investigate using science practices. However, phenomena in designed curricula may not necessarily connect to students’ lived experiences. The article outlines an approach called phenomena adaptation—adding or swapping in phenomena proximal to students’ worlds. First, teachers deeply explore their lens of place to generate related phenomena. Second, a preassessment elicits students’ experiences of local, meaningful places, which are refined into observable phenomena. Third, teachers build a library of potential phenomena using a Related Phenomenon Chart to continually gather students’ related observations. Equipped with this collection, teachers select phenomena that can be productively explained by the science ideas in the designed curriculum materials. Adaptations involve adding phenomena through discussions or transfer tasks, or swapping designed phenomena to situate learning in place. Phenomena adaptation leverages high-quality designed materials while providing culturally sustaining opportunities for students to engage in meaningful scientific investigations connected to their lives and communities.

The presented unit explores the often-overlooked potential of integrating science, social studies, math, and ELA through the lens of a kindergarten unit centered around the creation of a dog park. Emphasizing collaborative decision-making and communication, the unit aligns with NGSS, C3 Framework, and common core standards, fostering 21st-century competencies and social-emotional learning. The four-week curriculum engages students in exploration, including map analysis, material assessment for dog park surfaces, and the construction of shade structures. Notably, the absence of predetermined “right answers” prioritizes skill development over final outcomes, fostering critical thinking and argumentation among students. Field tests revealed heightened student engagement, creativity, and extended learning beyond the classroom, indicating positive behavioral impacts and heightened parental involvement. Incorporating three-dimensional learning, the unit facilitates sensemaking of scientific concepts while nurturing interdisciplinary connections. This integration model, accessible via a public Google folder, exemplifies the potential of cross-disciplinary teaching, nurturing a deeper understanding of real-world applications and community engagement among young learners.