In March 2020 the COVID-19 Pandemic caused schools in every state to close their doors. Remote instruction effectively became a national policy for the rest of that year. In an effort to support educators while they shift to remote learning, OpenSciEd created a handful of remote learning resources. These resources include guidance on how to adapt OpenSciEd’s units for remote learning, remote adaptations of some units, and tips for staying grounded when teaching remotely.
Remote Learning Adaptations
The guidance documents on this page illustrate one way that OpenSciEd units can be used in a virtual environment. Louisiana, one of OpenSciEd’s partner states, has taken on the task of modifying our released units for a remote learning environment. In partnership with teachers, the Louisiana Department of Education arranged OpenSciEd content in a manner that stays true to the vision of the materials and provides clear guidance on how to use them in a fully remote environment. Since all OpenSciEd materials are open educational resources, all educators are able to take advantage of their thinking and modify it for their learning environment.
These adapted materials do not omit lessons from the OpenSciEd units. The modified materials assume that teachers will have synchronous virtual meetings with students in addition to home learning. Examples of specific interactive platforms to support synchronous virtual meetings are provided, which can be adapted to the tools available in your district. This guide is intended as a supporting document and should be used in conjunction with the unit’s Teacher Edition.
- Unit 6.1 Light & Matter
- Unit 6.2 Thermal Energy
- Unit 6.3 Weather, Climate & Water Cycling
- Unit 7.1 Chemical Reactions & Matter Transformations
- Unit 7.3 Metabolic Reactions
- Unit 7.4 Matter Cycling
- Unit 8.2 Sound Waves
- Unit 8.3 Forces at a Distance
Staying Grounded when Teaching Remote Webinar Series
Staying Grounded when Teaching Remote is a webinar series to support educators to stay grounded in the best practices of science teaching and learning while they shift to remote learning during school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This series focuses on routines and elements of storyline instructional models that are central to OpenSciEd, inquiryHub Biology, and NextGen Storylines materials. These webinars are a collaborative effort of the University of Colorado, The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, and OpenSciEd.
“Staying Grounded when Teaching Remote” NSELA Webinar
This webinar talks about resources to support educators in staying grounded in the best practices of science teaching and learning while they shift to remote learning during school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These resources are aligned to the routines and elements of student-driven storyline instructional models that are central to OpenSciEd, inquiryHub Biology, and NextGen Storylines materials. These resources are a collaborative effort of the University of Colorado, The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, and OpenSciEd and were informed by feedback and guidance from educators.
Remote Learning Online Tool Organizer
The Remote Learning Online Tool Organizer is a list of online tools generated by teachers using OpenSciEd and inquiryHub materials in their classrooms. This tool ties the tools to their use within the storyline instructional model. This tool was generated as a part of the Staying Grounded when Teaching Remote webinar series that focused on how to use the storyline instructional when teaching remote. It is still being revised, but is being shared now so that a broader group of educators can help us make it even better.
Fostering Productive Norms in Remote Teaching
In this Remote Learning Resource, we offer suggestions for developing and maintaining norms that promote safe student-driven learning experiences in remote learning environments. This document was informed by a webinar hosted on March 30th in which educators provided feedback and guidance on the original draft of this document. The archived recording of the webinar and the corresponding slides are available as a reference.
Leading an Anchoring Phenomenon Routine with Remote Teaching
In this Remote Learning Resource, we offer some initial suggestions for how to adapt an Anchoring Phenomenon Routine to a remote learning environment. In a regular classroom, the routine might last one or two days; as outlined here, it might span multiple days, so that students have time both to generate ideas and build on each others’ ideas.
This document was informed by a webinar hosted on April 7th, 2020 in which educators provided feedback and guidance on the original draft of this document. The archived recording of the webinar and the corresponding slides are available as a reference.
Using the Navigation Routine while Teaching Remotely
In this Remote Learning Resource, we offer some initial suggestions for how to adapt the Navigation Routine to a remote learning environment. The Navigation Routine are the “bookends” to each lesson in a storylined curriculum. The routine includes three different aspects (looking back, taking stock, and looking forward), all of which need to be considered when moving learning to a remote setting.
This document was informed by a webinar hosted on April 13th, 2020 in which educators provided feedback and guidance on the original draft of this document. The archived recording of the webinar and the corresponding slides are available as a reference.
Supporting Discourse while Teaching Remotely
Discourse is the glue that holds storylined learning together. In this Remote Learning Resource, we offer some initial suggestions for how to support remote discourse.
This document was informed by a webinar hosted on April 20th, 2020 in which educators provided feedback and guidance on the original draft of this document. The archived recording of the webinar and the corresponding slides are available as a reference.
The Problematizing Routine while Teaching Remotely
In this Remote Learning Resource, we offer some initial suggestions for how to adapt the Problematizing Routine to a remote learning environment. Problematizing is one of five routines that helps students develop and revise their thinking about phenomena. It is critical to the OpenSciEd instructional model, the inquiryHub instructional model, and the NextGen Storylines instructional model.
A key purpose of problematizing is to push students to deepen their thinking. The Problematizing Routine has three basic elements, all of which need to be adapted for remote learning.
This document was informed by a webinar hosted on April 27th, 2020 in which educators provided feedback and guidance on the original draft of this document. The archived recording of the webinar and the corresponding slides are available as a reference.
