Getting Started with a New Science Program

With new technology, new programs, new standards, or other new initiatives, the professional landscape for classroom teachers is ever-changing, making it quite challenging to keep up. Whether you’re a first-year teacher or a 20-year veteran, there’s always room to grow and improve your teaching techniques. PhD Science® not only provides rich, engaging curriculum for all learners but a host of professional learning opportunities for instructors.

The best way to ensure that your students have a rich learning experience is to take opportunities to learn about the program through professional development and coaching, including virtual open enrollment (VOE) sessions. Beyond that, take the time to explore all the features and components to better teach and engage your students. Familiarize yourself with the pedagogy, standards, and pacing recommendations to ensure you teach the program with fidelity. Use this blog as a crash course in implementing PhD Science.

Teacher Edition

It’s common that the front matter and appendices in a written curriculum are skipped when teaching because they frequently don’t offer as much value to an instructor as the lessons themselves. This is not the case with the PhD Science Teacher Edition. Appendix B: Module Storyline is a can’t miss when planning PhD Science lessons. It’s a favorite of our implementers because it prepares you for teaching and shows you the lesson sets from the student perspective. Appendix A: Module Resources contains all the lesson-specific resources to aid instruction.

The lesson sets contain the Prepare section with phenomenon and focus questions, standards addressed, and materials needed. Within the lessons, embedded instructional supports and sidebar notes help progress student learning with differentiation strategies, extension opportunities, content area connections, English language development strategies, and more.

PhD Science is a definite shift from the traditional science classroom as it puts students in the driver’s seat as they build anchor visuals to support their growing understanding of key scientific concepts. It includes rich hands-on learning opportunities to ensure deeper, lasting understanding. Educators can frequently check in on how students are progressing with Checks for Understanding along with all other assessments that make up the PhD Science assessment system.

If you’re not already a PhD Science customer, you can try it out for 30 days and familiarize yourself with all the supports. Additionally, our K–2 portion of the curriculum is available as open educational resource (OER) PDFs.

Components

Beyond the Teacher Edition, there are several additional components to consider.

• The Science Logbook is used by students to document their learning and record evidence.
• Authentic trade books (core texts) support or explain the science while giving students an opportunity to practice and strengthen literacy skills.
• Materials Kits are available to make preparation for hands-on investigations easier.
  • These kits contain some items that are only available from Great Minds®, like Knowledge Deck^TM cards and posters at Levels K–2.
• Student Science Packs and Assessment Packs aid in preparation by providing color-printed copies ready for student distribution.
• PhD Projected slides assist teachers with presenting content to students.

Additionally, PhD Science in Sync®, created for hybrid or distance learning, is a continuous learning program designed to ensure that students keep building knowledge when they can’t be in class. It isn’t just a digital version of the curriculum. It’s an adaptation of the curriculum where students still experience the hands-on tasks, even if they’re not the ones truly doing it. With PhD Science in Sync, all the same science content is covered. Whether you use it for a flipped classroom, for absent students, when you have a substitute, for your own professional development, or as a remediation tool, PhD Science in Sync is designed to meet the moment.

If you find yourself wanting more information about some of these components, contact us.

Free Teacher Resource Pack

Great Minds strives to bring high-quality instructional materials to all students, so it offers its Teacher Resource Pack for free to all educators. While the pack certainly contains some resources that are only applicable if you’re using PhD Science, there are many elements in the Implementation Guide that are helpful to any educator. Check out the resources section of the guide to see how to support scientific discourse, review frequently used tasks, find key instructional routines, and learn more about guiding Socratic Seminars.

Implementers won’t want to miss out on the grade-level specific resources.

• Materials Lists let you know what materials are found in the Materials Kits per module.
• Preparation Guides further assist educators in knowing what materials are needed per lesson and what advanced prep may be required.
• Pacing Guides continue supporting teacher prep by letting educators know how many days lessons may take with suggestions on what portions to teach each day.
• Spanish Support Resources aid in equity for Spanish-speaking students. The Implementation Guide speaks even more to this equity.
• Family Tip Sheets are available in both English and Spanish.

From the Teacher Edition preparing you to teach the lessons to the Teacher Resource Pack readying you for the shifts required in a student-driven classroom to the many other components and professional learning opportunities available, PhD Science has you covered in implementing high-quality science instruction to rigorously engage your students.