SDJ Middle School Science
Science: 30 minutes total per day
Over the course of a week, lessons should provide students an opportunity to participate virtually in a balance of learning activities that build and require conceptual understanding and application of the Next Generation Science Standards (core ideas, science and engineering practice, and cross-cutting concepts).
Middle School Science Curriculum
Continue to use the current MS curriculum pacing guides and start where you left off, with the understanding that review will be necessary and online learning will not look like face to face classroom instruction (see guidelines and supports below).
Students should spend the large majority of their time on the major work of the grade. Rather than racing to cover topics in a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, the Standards require us to significantly narrow and deepen the way time and energy is spent. We focus deeply on the major work of each grade so that students are college and career ready and can gain strong foundations in thinking, learning, and doing like a scientist.
Below are the grade level priorities for quarters 3 and 4 that the teams recently identified. They include essential questions/content and lists of essential vocabulary terms. These are to help bring direction and focus to our work with the reduced time parameters.
Resources
Primary Resource: iScience
Teachers and students can continue to access the online version of iScience the same way they have in the past.
- McGraw Hill Support for Remote Learning
- 6-12 Virtual access support
- Options for remote learning choices youtube link
- Glencoe iScience Grades 6 - 8: Parent Support
Supplemental Resource: Gizmos
Teachers and students can continue to access the online version of iScience the same way they have in the past. Using Gizmos for online learning
Lab
Labs and manipulatives are an important part of the science learning experience. There are online manipulative tools available, but we also have many available through iScience and Gizmos. We need to be mindful of access/equity for students. Not all students will have access to school-like manipulatives, so what can we use as alternatives (for example, household items such as macaroni noodles).
To continue with lab experiences for students, staff can utilize:
- Virtual simulations
- Virtual lab demonstrations
- Teacher modeled lab demonstration
When demonstrating or showing videos of laboratory experiences, it is important to choose what is essential. In addition, you need to provide students with what they need to complete the lab, such as sample data, directions, safety measures, visuals, scaffolds/templates, etc.
Resources
Curated, sortable resources
- WiseLearn vetted resources and curated collections
- Education companies offering free subscriptions
- CESA Repository of Resources
Informational text and science articles
- (IXL hub for at-home learning)
Wide Open School EL Supports
Discovery Education available through classlink
- DE Virtual learning support, guide, and DEN
- DE quick lessons
- Quicksearch links: includes items specific to Math and grade level
General Tools
- Google Classroom - A free web service developed for schools to share assignments with students. This video shows how it works, and in this blog post, teacher Morgan Stipe explains how she sets up her Google Classroom with OUR
Assessment tools