Getting Started with a New Science Program

Posted in: Aha! Blog > PhD Science > High-Quality Curriculum Getting Started - PhD Science PhD Science > 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.

Teach Book

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 Teach book. 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 knowledge development from the student perspective. Appendix A: Summative Assessments and Scoring Guides contains the summative assessments, scoring guidance, three-dimensional alignment, and next steps for instruction.

Lessons offer a Prepare section with phenomenon-based questions, standards addressed, and materials needed. Within the lesson parts, 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 Teach book, 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.

Additionally, the PhD Science digital experience equips educators with tools to enhance instruction and heighten student engagement. Teachers can assign assessments and monitor student progress toward objectives. Students can access assigned tasks and review assignments and scores. In addition to digital resources like digital PDFs of the Teach book and Science Logbook, investigation videos, customizable lesson slides, and more, the experience includes interactive simulations at Level 6 that allow students to investigate deeper science concepts and work with real sets of complex data.

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

Teacher Resources

Great Minds strives to bring high-quality instructional materials to all students, so it offers many resources to support educators. The Implementation Guide contains support for scientific discourse, a review of frequently used tasks, many key instructional routines, and tips on 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.
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.

PhD Science supports high-quality science instruction, offering teaching materials, resources for student-led classrooms, and professional learning opportunities to rigorously engage your students.

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Great Minds

Great Minds PBC is a public benefit corporation and a subsidiary of Great Minds, a nonprofit organization. A group of education leaders founded Great Minds® in 2007 to advocate for a more content-rich, comprehensive education for all children. In pursuit of that mission, Great Minds brings together teachers and scholars to create exemplary instructional materials that provide joyful rigor to learning, spark and reward curiosity, and impart knowledge with equal parts delight.

Topics: High-Quality Curriculum Getting Started - PhD Science PhD Science