How does a one-way mirror work? Though most everyone knows that one-way mirrors exist, having students model how they work turns out to be a very effective way to develop their thinking about how visible light travels and how we see images. Initial student models reveal a wide variety of ideas and explanations that motivate the unit investigations that help students figure out what is going on and lead them to a deeper understanding of the world around them.

As the first unit in the OpenSciEd program, during the course of this unit, students also develop the foundation for classroom norms for collaboration that will be important across the whole program.

This unit begins with students experiencing, through text and video, a devastating natural event that caused major flooding in coastal towns of Japan. Through this anchoring phenomenon, students think about ways to detect tsunamis, warn people, and reduce damage from the wave. As students design solutions to solve this problem, they begin to wonder about the natural hazard itself: what causes it, where it happens, and how it causes damage.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

This unit launches with students hearing about an injury that happened to a middle school student that caused him to need stitches, pins, and a cast. They analyze doctor reports and develop an initial model for what is going on in our body when it heals. Students investigate what the different parts of our body are made of, from the macro scale to the micro scale. They figure out parts of our body are made of cells and that these cells work together for our body to function.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

In this 21-day unit, students are introduced to the anchoring phenomenon—a flameless heater in a Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) that provides hot food to people by just adding water. Students explore the inside of an MRE flameless heater, then do investigations to collect evidence to support the idea that this heater and another type of flameless heater are undergoing chemical reactions as they get warm. Students have an opportunity to reflect on the engineering design process, defining stakeholders, and refining the criteria and constraints for the design solution.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there? This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

How are we connected to the patterns we see in the sky and space? Students develop models for the Earth-Sun and Earth-Sun-Moon systems that explain some of the patterns in the sky that they have identified, including seasons, eclipses, and lunar phases. They investigate a series of related phenomena motivated by their questions and ideas for investigations.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

Why are living things different from one another? This unit on genetics starts out with students noticing and wondering about photos of two cattle, one of whom has significantly more muscle than the other. Students figure out how muscles typically develop as a result of environmental factors such as exercise and diet. Then, they work with cattle pedigrees, including data about chromosomes and proteins, to figure out genetic factors that influence the heavily muscled phenotype and explore selective breeding in cattle.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

Artists are often particularly keen observers and precise recorders of the physical conditions of the natural world. As a result, paintings can be good resources for learning about ecology. Teachers can use this lesson to examine with students the interrelationship of geography, natural resources, and climate and their effects on daily life. It also addresses the roles students can take in caring for the environment. Students will look at paintings that represent cool temperate, warm temperate, and tropical climates.
In this lesson students will: Identify natural resources found in particular geographic areas; Discuss ways in which climate, natural resources, and geography affect daily life; Apply critical-thinking skills to consider the various choices artists have made in their representations of the natural world; Make personal connections to the theme by discussing ways they can be environmental stewards; Identify natural resources found in particular geographic areas; Discuss ways in which climate, natural resources, and geography affect daily life; Apply critical-thinking skills to consider the various choices artists have made in their representations of the natural world; Make personal connections to the theme by discussing ways they can be environmental stewards.

This unit explores the various ways information and ideas about climate change are presented through a variety of media. This includes the evaluation of social media posts, research into climate change issues, and an exploration of contemporary art and artists. This was designed and taught in an honors 9th grade English Language Arts Classroom by Dr. Tavia Quaid in response to student interest in climate change and to reinforce key information literacy skills.

Based out of Washington State University, Dr. Universe teams up with professors, researchers, and experts in the field, to tackle big questions. Explore animated video answers to questions posed by curious questions from students in Washington and around the world. Videos created in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting. Though not openly licensed, content is free to view online and listen to via podcast.

This sequence of instruction was developed in the Growing Elementary Science Prjoject to help elementary teachers who were working remotely.  We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept.  We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.
In this Unit of Instruction, students observe animal behaviors - both in video format and in their own neighborhoods - then create a model to explain how these behaviors help the animals meet their needs.
It is part of ClimeTime - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee.

This sequence of instruction was developed in the Growing Elementary Science Project to help elementary teachers who were working remotely.  We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept.  We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.
In this Unit of Instruction, students observe and act out animal behaviors, then observe animal behaviors for animals in their lives. They use these observations to determine what some animals' needs may be.
It is part of ClimeTime - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee. 

This sequence of instruction was developed to help elementary teachers who were working remotely.  We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept.  We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.Students make observations of the behaviors while watching short videos of Bald Eagles and Hummingbirds.  They then make observations of birds in their own neighborhood or school grounds.  They use these observations to explore th knees of these organisms and behaviors used to meet these needs.It is part of Clime Time - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee. 

COVID-19! How Can I Protect Myself and Others? will help you, and your community, understand the science of the virus that causes COVID-19 and other viruses like it. It will help you to figure out how this virus is impacting or affecting you or may impact you in the future. It will help you to understand the actions that you can take to keep yourself and your community safe.

In this project, you will discuss how people feel about the virus. You will investigate the science of this virus. You will explore public health measures, which are things that are happening in your community or may happen soon to keep COVID-19 from spreading. You will take action to support health in your community.

This sequence of instruction was developed in the Growing Elementary Science Project to help elementary teachers who were working remotely.  We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept.  We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.
Students view a couple of videos and record what they notice and wonder about how plants change as seasons change. Students take a walk with family members to search for evidence of changes due to weather in their neighborhoods.
It is part of ClimeTime - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee. 

In their continued support of climate science education, the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) created these resources to support K-12 teachers of all content areas integrate climate science and climate change into their instruction.  

This challenge will increase your students’ familiarity with action items to reduce their carbon footprint. Students will have an opportunity to integrate youth-friendly action items to their lifestyles, and engage in friendly competition and/or a cooperative challenge. Planning and carrying out action plans helps students diminish stressors in relation to climate change. It provides them tools they can use immediately to contribute to solutions. Grades 8-12

Earth Systems and Changes from Educational Service District 123, provides professional learning resources for K-5 teachers around elementary Earth Science and Climate Science related standards content.

It also provides learning to assist in the development of classroom tasks: Claims, Evidence Reasoning, and Models and Explanations, that can be used formatively to elicit student ideas and to support changes in student thinking over time.

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The Washington State Legislature has invested $16 million in climate science education since 2018. This portal contains links to professional learning resources and instructional materials developed by the ClimeTime network of educational partners who came together as a result of this funding. ClimeTime partners provide climate science professional learning to Washington science teachers, using innovative strategies and effective practices. Many projects also create instructional materials aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards, to support student climate science learning.

In the 2018-2019 school year, Northwest Educational Service District 189 brought together a design team of six Pre Kindergarten - Kindergarten educators through a ClimeTime grant to find play-based, and engaging ways to teach climate science to early learners. This course shares out the findings of the team, including some work around designing for equity and 3-Dimensional Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) alignment. You will engage in activities to use with students including a puddle walk, soil permeability tests, and lesson examples. Phenomenon based lessons will be shared as well as a list of resources and recommended books compiled by our design team.