Many considerations must be taken into account when designing instructional materials to create a product that lives up to the expectations of students, teachers, schools, and districts.
There are the obvious and necessary elements that must be addressed, such as standards, scope and sequence, instructional model, and pacing. OpenSciEd instructional materials are thoughtfully constructed with all of these considerations and constraints in mind. Yet, these elements are not enough. Instructional materials must have a classroom vision, an image of how students will engage with the content and what type of discourse students will engage in, and a sense of what a teacher needs to make standards come alive.
OpenSciEd’s beliefs about science learning and vision of the classroom are embodied in our Design Specifications. Specifications describe what we want science learning to look like for every student, and therefore guide our materials development process and implementation support. The topics addressed range from equitable science instruction and the centrality of asking questions to meeting the practical needs and constraints of a classroom. These specifications are based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the resulting Next Generation Science Standards, including the emphasis on three-dimensional learning that integrates science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas.
Elementary Science Design Specifications
Middle School Science Design Specifications
High School Science Design Specifications
Professional Learning Design Specifications
These design specifications inform the development of a variety of professional learning experiences for teachers, including educative elements embedded within the curriculum and in-person professional development. They were created to guide the development of a set of OpenSciEd resources that offer a coherent and ongoing system of support as teachers engage in this important work. The resulting professional learning materials are designed to prepare teachers with the practical elements of enacting a curriculum for the first time and provide a vision for the long term goals of the OpenSciEd Project and the implementation of A Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Elementary Science Design Specifications Credits
General Credits
This document is a refinement of both the OpenSciEd Middle School and High School Design Specifications. These refinements were made to optimize these specifications for the elementary school context and reflect research at that level.
The chapters in this volume are based on those originally developed by collaborative teams for the Middle School Design Specifications. For that process, each team had one or two designated leads and several members selected for their expertise by OpenSciEd Developer Consortium and State Steering Committee members. Their work was coordinated by Daniel Edelson and Audrey Mohan of BSCS Science Learning and the team members are noted below. Final editing was conducted by OpenSciEd.
Elementary School Design Specification Team: Revising Authors
Center to Support Excellence in Teaching, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
- Janet Carlson
- Sharon M. Parker
- Daniel Pimentel
- Monica Sircar
- Preetha Menon
- Polly Diffenbaugh
Elementary School Design Specification Team: Reviewers
- State Steering Committee members (all chapters)
- Cory Buxton, Chapter 4
- Heidi Carlone, Chapter 3
- Brian Reiser, Chapter 13
- Amy Stephens, Chapters 3, 4, 5
- Anthony Torres, Chapter 12
Middle and High School Design Specification Credits
Chapter 1 Instructional Model
- Brian Reiser, Lead
- T.J. McKenna
- Cynthia Passmore
- Pam Pelletier
- Mark Windschitl
Chapter 2 Equitable Science Instruction for All Students
- Philip Bell, Lead
- Megan Bang
- Cory Buxton
- Michael Heinz
- Okhee Lee
- Deb Morrison
- Alberto Rodriguez
- Enrique (Henry) Suárez
- Gina Tesoriero
- Carrie Tzou
Chapter 3 Assessment to Inform Teaching and Learning
- Amelia Gotwals, Lead
- Dante Cisterna
- Savitha Moorthy
- Emily Pohlonski
- Megan Schrauben
- Tamara Smolek
Chapter 4 Designing Educative Features
- Elizabeth A. Davis, Lead
- Katherine McNeill, Lead
- Janet Carlson
- Kris Grymonpré
- Katherine Barnett Rivas
- P.Sean Smith
Chapter 5 Asking Questions and Defining Problems
- Barbara Hug, Lead
- Idit Adler, Lead
- Christina Krist
- Samantha Lindgren
- Brian MacNevin
- William Paddock III
- David Stroupe
Chapter 6 Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Barbara Hug, Lead
- Idit Adler, Lead
- Christina Krist
- Samantha Lindgren
- Brian MacNevin
- William Paddock III
- David Stroupe
Chapter 7 Developing and Using Models, Constructing Explanations, and Designing Solutions
- Cynthia Passmore, Lead
- Ron Gray
- Samuel Hindi
- Sinead Klement
- Mechelle La Lanne
Chapter 8 Analyzing and Interpreting Data and Using Mathematical and Computational Thinking
- Michelle Wilkerson, Lead
- Corey Brady
- Shafiq Chaudhary
- Victor Lee
- Ananda Marin
- Mayumi Shinohara
Chapter 9 Arguing from Evidence and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Leema Berland, Lead
- Leah Bricker, Lead
- Amy Deller-Antieau
- María González-Howard
- Breigh Rhodes
- Christopher Wright
Chapter 10 Crosscutting Concepts
- Ann Rivet, Lead
- Dora Kastel
Chapter 11 Classroom Routines
- Brian Reiser, Lead
- T.J. McKenna
- Cynthia Passmore
- Pam Pelletier
- Mark Windschitl
Chapter 12 Integration of English Language Arts and Mathematics
- Audrey Mohan, Lead
- Michael Novak, Lead
- Daniel Edelson
Chapter 13 Meeting Practical Needs and Constraints of Public Education
- Audrey Mohan, Lead
- Michael Novak, Lead
- Daniel Edelson
Chapter 14 Guidance on Modifying Instructional Units
- Audrey Mohan, Lead
- Michael Novak, Lead
- Daniel Edelson
