Grade-3-Magnetism-All-in-One-2020v2 Students investigate a phenomenon of how the magnets on a magnetic ring toy appear to levitate and how, after compressing and releasing them, the […]

This sound energy unit guide is an update of the 2014 unit draft and focuses students on explaining the phenomenon of a singer shattering a […]

Students use their analysis of force, volume, and size to explain how they can make different sound using the same lid as a drum. They can then use these big science ideas to explain other sound phenomena they find around the school.

Get your feet wet (pun intended) with NGSS by engaging early elementary students in a 5-lesson sequence exploring where puddles go.  This mini-unit targets ideas […]

No scaffolding, just providing a blank page, for students to create their models can make some students freeze up when asked to draw about how/why […]

Print-and-stick labels to easily locate and view video examples from the AST website while you read the AST Book

In this 2nd grade unit, students construct their explanations about a puzzling and historic phenomenon: Why did a town next to a mountain (the town […]

Unit guide for STC Land & Water Kit revised to meet Next Generation Science Standards. It reframes the kit around the 2014 Oso Landslide (north […]

Students investigate a phenomenon where a kitten, “Creamsicle”, with cream fur is born to orange fur parents.  Readings and activities support students in making sense […]

Throughout this unit, students investigate the properties of ice cream as a solid and liquid to help address standards about properties of matter and how […]

This is a tool you would use after eliciting students’ ideas at the beginning of a unit. We use this to document how prevalent different […]

Design an experiment about sound This template can be used by students to 1) help give them choices about what kind of investigation to do, […]

Here’s a template in Word that has most of the features we use in both initial models and final models. Note the differences and the […]

Unpacking topics like “earthquakes,” “solubility,” or “cellular respiration” begins with identifying all the big ideas mentioned in the Next Generation Science Standards. It means seeing […]

Scaffolding for ELLs and others on writing causal explanations.
Developed by colleague Melissa Braaten of University of Colorado

Writing Springboard scaffolds students to push for writing “why” level evidence-based explanations.

Plan-Do-Study-Act tool for improving rigorous and equitable discussions.

Studio Days are a form of job-embedded professional development that take place during a school day. School teams develop a vision of “what is possible” […]

The “Structured talk for how and why reasoning” change package provides an overview of the practice and how it supports student reasoning, tools teachers have used, and practical measures teacher have collected to deepen and localize the practice.

Peer review and critique routine that engages students in providing written feedback to peers and then partner talk to revise work in light of peer feedback.

Science Journal Rubric

Questions to consider when designing tasks or scaffolds for students’ written explanations.

A reflective tool that helps you make instructional decisions that respond to and build on student activity.

Unit guide for the STC Circuits Kit revised to meet Next Generation Science Standards

Features of the Magnet Model: • Manipulate parts. This magnet board allowed students to manipulate characters and slide them around on the board to illustrate their ideas while they narrated their science story. A variety of magnet characters were available … Continued

Introduction to Volume – Data Sheet

Technique that supports students in articulating and potentially revising their reasoning.

This is a draft to an elementary Food Chemistry unit plan.

Highlights the kinds of contributions students make in a discussion and how they relate.

Individual and group accountability creating a written artifact of group talk.

A blank table for students to learn about and record their ideas about the NGSS crosscutting concepts.

A blank table for students to learn about and record their ideas about the NGSS crosscutting concepts.

5point observational tool for four science teaching practice and two ELL practices.

This is a template to help high school (or middle school) students to get practice at identifying a claim, selecting evidence, and writing up the reasoning for the link between the two. The sentence frames in the left hand column … Continued

These sentence starters help students coordinate evidence with their ideas as they explain the phenomenon.

Interdisciplinary literacy tools are vital means of achieving equity in STEM. CAP Writing is a tiered approach to literacy for reluctant writers. Designed to engage authors using essential questions about content, audience and purpose, users then navigate their thinking and … Continued

5th Grade Unit Guide Complementing STC Motion & Design kit – Skateboard Jumping Phenomenon

5th Grade Unit Plan for Microworlds – Food Poisoning Phenomenon

Magnets & Motors curriculum guide designed for use with 6th graders. Phenomena: Junkyard magnet and shake flashlight

4th Grade Unit Plan for Sound Energy – Singer Shatters Glass Phenomenon

Abiotic vs Biotic Factors Data Sheet

This protocol was developed to scaffold equitable partner talk for how/why reasoning. It reinforces a culture of student talk in which ideas about science are worth probing, expanding, critiquing, and revising. This protocol has been particularly useful for teachers who … Continued

Includes links to complete 138 page unit guide as well as folders of downloadable and editable documents

This tool helps students in small groups discuss a text. It also helps them learn how to do this more independently over time if it is used routinely. The beginning assumption in using this tool is that you have given … Continued