The Makings of a High-Quality Science Curriculum

When it comes time to adopt a new program in your school or district, the process can feel quite overwhelming. You want to make the right decision for all—all educators, students, and parents.

While successful implementation of any program relies on the teacher, selecting the right curriculum with the right tools can make all the difference. Starting with the research can help you define your expectations for what high-quality curriculum should include and help reduce the stress of making the right choice.

At Great Minds®, research-based pedagogy and practices are at the core of every curriculum we offer. Let’s dive into how this is accomplished with PhD Science®.

Realizing the Vision of the Framework

As you research science programs, you'll likely notice that a majority of states reference being aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or the National Research Council (NRC) A Framework for K–12 Science Education. PhD Science was developed to embody the spirit of the Framework and align to the NGSS. Even if your state doesn’t embrace this set of standards, we have alignment studies available that will allow you to see how well PhD Science matches your specific state standards.

You may be wondering what the NGSS even are and how they were developed. The NRC of the National Academy of Sciences developed A Framework for K–12 Science Education. The Framework served as the foundational research that ultimately led to the development of the NGSS. The goal was to apply research to determine what science all K–12 students should know and incorporate how students can learn it most effectively. Notice it wasn’t just about what science students should know—Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs)—but it was about how students can learn the science most effectively. It was understood that students learn best when knowledge and practice are intertwined.

PhD Science writers took careful consideration to ensure that the program captures both the vision and spirit of the Framework. The Framework values were applied in the creation of all elements of the program, including its anchor phenomena. Students engage in discourse within every module (you may think of this like a unit) as they aim to make sense of the phenomena and draw connections to related phenomena. Students do hands-on investigations to make the learning stick.

Phenomenon-Based Instruction

You may have noticed the mention of phenomena above. Scientific phenomena are observable events that can be explained or predicted through scientific understanding. In addition to the anchor and related or student-generated phenomena, there are supporting or investigative phenomena that serve to help students make sense of the anchor phenomenon. And with instruction anchored in phenomena, it only makes sense to also offer phenomenon-based assessment (we’ll explore this more later).

PhD Science is developed with the understanding that all students come into the classroom with different experiences and, subsequently, with different background knowledge. The curriculum provides tips for teachers to support and guide students with phenomenon-based instruction no matter the starting point. Students and even teachers aren’t expected to have all the scientific understanding starting out a module. As hands-on investigations and explorations of concepts through trade books take place across a module, understanding will shift and deepen. Student thinking is captured throughout a module with three different types of anchor visuals—a driving question board, an anchor model, and an anchor chart.

Along the way, students will engage with and develop the practice of backing up their claims with evidence and solid reasoning. The claims, evidence, and reasoning structure not only supports the NRC Framework, but it also supports the Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards of English Language Arts/Literacy (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices). Students will learn to defend their claims through scientific discourse with the support of instructional routines. Socratic seminars are another way that PhD Science assesses student knowledge development.

Student-Centered Instruction

You likely have already figured out that PhD Science is rooted in hands-on investigations and making student thinking visible through anchor visuals. These routine practices support student observation, imagination, and reasoning. A key instructional routine within PhD Science is Notice and Wonder. That is one of the first ways that students will begin to make sense of the anchor phenomenon. They’ll examine artwork to share what they notice and wonder.

Students may shift their thinking from the beginning of a module to the end as they make sense of the world around them with sound evidence. There certainly will be even more shifts as students mature and their understanding deepens grade level to grade level through the use of carefully crafted storylines. Consider these shifts as steppingstones to student understanding.

Since much of the instruction is student-driven and leans into instructional routines, it is important for teachers to understand what is developmentally appropriate. These decisions were taken into consideration with the development of PhD Science. While all grade levels include the anchor visuals, Levels K–2 include physical anchor models in some cases. Levels K–2 also contain further visuals through Knowledge Deck^TM posters and cards. There are applicable tips for scaffolding of the instructional routines within the side margins of the Teacher Edition. Even things like the engineering design process (EDP) become more complex as students advance from Level K to Level 5.

Differentiation Supports

You may be picking up that PhD Science has high expectations for all students at all grade levels K–5. This is something that all Great Minds curricula value and prioritize. We embrace all students in our approach by developing curricula according to the Universal Design for Learning Framework and the inclusion of robust teacher supports. We recognize the diversity in today’s classrooms, so the teacher support in PhD Science includes teacher notes for English Language Development. In addition, diverse cultures were taken into account when crafting our phenomena and choosing artwork and texts.

Recognizing that there is never enough time in the elementary classroom for the planning, preparation, and teaching of all the content areas, we go above and beyond in ensuring our educators are fully supported. Outside the Teacher Edition, more supports are available in our free digital Teacher Resource Pack. To assist with planning, the PhD Science WORD-K learning cycle incorporates student actions in the SEPs with the teacher actions in the 7E (or 5E) instructional model. You may already be familiar with the 5Es—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The 7E phases expand this with Elicit and Extend.

Our support continues for educators with numerous professional learning opportunities from professional development (PD) to coaching to an asynchronous series and from private, in-person to multi-district, virtual. We can meet you wherever you are.

Program-Based Assessments

And before we wrap up, let’s conclude with how students can show what they know. Throughout lessons, teachers will be able to spot check student understanding with Checks for Understanding. As large chunks of lessons are completed by concept, students will have an opportunity to show their growing knowledge through Conceptual Checkpoints. Each module concludes with a phenomenon-based application through a lively, discussion-centered Socratic Seminar and a paper-based, three-dimensional End-of-Module Assessment. In addition to these assessments, a Science or Engineering Challenge is in every module. These serve as performance-based assessments throughout PhD Science and further support knowledge building of the concepts.

PhD Science embodies sound research and energizes elementary teachers and students with rigorous engagement around authentic phenomena.