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OpenSciEd High School Now Available!

OpenSciEd and Activate Learning have partnered to offer educators high-quality, NGSS-aligned, science curriculum for middle and high school students.

As a certified OpenSciEd distributor and professional learning provider, we provide the digital platform, print books, science kits, and professional learning to make OpenSciEd High School implementation smooth and successful.

All of the OpenSciEd High School units are now available in print and digital formats!

Available as a package or
for individual purchase

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Print

Student Notebook, Student Edition, and Teacher Edition

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Digital

Interactive Teacher and Student content available on the Activate Learning Digital Platform

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Kits

All materials necessary for all OpenSciEd investigations

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Professional Learning

Full implementation support and certified professional learning

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Three-Dimensional
Phenomenon-Based Approach

Students explore driving questions, conduct investigations, collect and analyze data, develop and use models to explain phenomena.

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Designed for Equitable Science Learning

Access high-quality, adaptable materials that support standards-based, equitable science learning.

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Total Support
for Teachers

Content, structure, and support to experience three-dimensional teaching and learning with OpenSciEd.

Need more info to decide if this the right curriculum for your district or school?

Curriculum Details

The OpenSciEd Instructional Model uses a storyline approach, each lesson motivated by questions generated by students following their interactions with phenomena.

In each unit of study, students explore the questions they have, make conclusions based on those investigations, and then strategize to come up with the next set of questions to investigate.

  • Research-Based & Tested by Educators

    OpenSciEd is research-based, taking into account how students learn, their motivations and implications regarding teacher and student engagement. 

  • NGSS Alignment

    Aligned to the Framework and NGSS. Units can be adapted to fit your state's sequence.

  • Certified Materials

    Activate Learning has completed a rigorous review process to ensure quality and efficacy of the OpenSciEd materials.

  • Full Fidelity, Complete Curriculum

    We are dedicated to staying true to the full fidelity of the original OpenSciEd curriculum that's been researched and field-tested.

  • Middle and High School Programs

    Activate Learning offers certified print and digital content, science kits, and professional learning for OpenSciEd Middle School and High School.

OpenSciEd High School
Science Units

Certified OpenSciEd High School Materials

Activate Learning is a certified provider of OpenSciEd High School print and digital curriculum content, science kits, and professional learning. We partner with districts to provide full implementation support.

Student-Centered Learning

With OpenSciEd we place students at the center of their learning. When teachers implement student-centered instruction, students engage in making sense of phenomena around them as described in A Framework for K–12 Science Education. Student-centered instruction actively engages students in sensemaking, with teachers facilitating their learning.

Our certified OpenSciEd materials do not remove any student-centered activities or replace student sensemaking experiences with teacher demonstrations!

Instead, we provide the support to teachers to facilitate meaningful experiences and productive discussions to deepen students’ science understanding.

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science

Across three or four years of high school, students conduct sequenced activities, investigations, readings, discussions, and lessons that build student understanding of core disciplinary ideas, crosscutting concepts, and multiple scientific practices.

OpenSciEd High School provides five units of Biology, five units of Chemistry, and six units of Physics, providing three full years of high school science. Earth and Space Science standards and Data Analysis are woven throughout each unit.

All of the OpenSciEd High School units are now available in print and digital formats!

OpenSciEd High School Scope & Sequence

Below is an example unit sequence based on NGSS guidelines, however, all units can be adapted to fit your state's unique sequence.

Contact us to learn more about aligning the OpenSciEd High School curriculum to your state standards.

B.1 Ecosystems Interactions & Dynamics 

How do ecosystems work, and how can understanding them help us protect them?

B.2 Ecosystems: Matter & Energy 

What causes fires in ecosystems to burn and how should we manage them?

B.3 Inheritance & Variation of Traits 

Who gets cancer and why? Where should we focus efforts on treatment and prevention?

B.4 Natural Selection & Evolution of Populations 

How is urbanization a driving force of evolution? Should we design urban spaces more hospitably for non-human species?

B.5 Common Ancestry & Speciation

How did polar bears evolve and what will happen to them as their environment changes?

Digital
Platform

Experience a truly interactive digital edition of OpenSciEd High School materials for teachers and students.

With the Activate Learning Digital Platform, students and teachers enjoy an interactive, engaging online experience with the OpenSciEd High School curriculum.

The platform is designed for student accessibility and inclusion and offers AccessiBe customizable web accessibility tools, embedded translation for 130+ languages, text-to-speech with read-along highlighting, and sentence starters to support writing.

Featuring an intuitive user experience, teachers have everything they need to Plan, Teach, Assign, and Assess lessons in a platform that is integrated with leading SIS rostering and Learning Management Systems. And with Lesson Launch, teachers can quickly view slides, handouts, student edition, and materials in one place!

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OpenSciEd High School
Science Kits

Science equipment and materials are an essential element to investigation-centered learning.

Activate Learning offers certified science kits to support every investigation included in the published units for OpenSciEd High School.

  • All products are rigorously tested for safety and quality assurance.
  • Materials are prepped for teachers, saving teachers valuable time and reducing the need to print, cut, and laminate game boards and pieces.
  • Classroom kits are delivered in stackable, protective, reusable totes, making it easy to stay organized and get to what you need quickly.
  • Teachers will be able to scan the QR code on the outside of the tote to access the Activate Learning Kit Companion to easily find everything in their shipment, quickly access important Safety Data Sheets, and view how-to videos to set up materials.
  • Teachers get access to real people for help and support with any questions about the kits, materials, or curriculum content.

Connect with us to learn more about science kits and materials from Activate Learning.

 

OpenSciEd Science Kits for Middle School Science by Activate Learning
OpenSciEd High School Biology Student Notebook

OpenSciEd
Books & Notebooks

  • Activate Learning offers four-color print Teacher Editions for each published unit of the OpenSciEd High School science curriculum.

 

  • Say goodbye to printing with our printed Student Notebooks for OpenSciEd!
    • All handouts, reference sheets, and readings, with plenty of room for students to capture their responses to questions and discussion prompts.
    • Pages for a personal glossary are provided in the notebook.
    • Multiple copies of the Project Tracker are enough for the whole unit.
    • Four-color print pages, perfect bound notebooks are lightweight and easy to use.
    • And with perforated, 3-hole punched pages, it’s easy for students to put completed work into binders!

 

Certified
Professional Learning

Activate Learning curriculum experts provide extensive OpenSciEd High School implementation support and certified professional learning on the latest, most innovative strategies and techniques to engage students.

Comprehensive professional learning resources provide the necessary content, structure, and support to experience three-dimensional teaching and learning with OpenSciEd.

OpenSciEd Professional Learning Workshop for Teachers by Activate Learning

Testimonials
Kind Words from Administrators & Teachers.

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We have recently implemented OpenSciEd Middle School Units in all of our middle school classrooms.  This past summer, as the Science Instructional Coach in Colonial, I worked alongside the Activate Professional Learning Group to implement professional learning for the units in our district and state.  In addition, I worked with many of the facilitators from Activate to provide professional learning opportunities in our district for our teachers. 

We are so thankful for the work and efforts of the Activate Professional Learning Facilitators.  I love how this group of Activate facilitators along with Tracy, the lead of the Activate PL Group, created personalized learning opportunities for the instructional coaches and teachers in this state, and specifically for our district! The Activate group is friendly, personable, understands the workload and stresses of teachers, and adapts the professional learning to our needs. Thank you Activate for helping us along with our successful implementation of OpenSciEd Curriculum!  

Kimberly Mulvena, Science Instructional Coach
Colonial School District

I can't say enough about how wonderful the teacher's professional learning was over the last three days! We chose the right teachers to help with the facilitation, and Activate Learning chose the right facilitators to help mentor the teachers and co-present. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was like all the stars lined up. I loved hearing how much the teachers loved being in the training. Most of them were not getting paid to attend the training, and they were saying the teachers that didn't come to the training are not going to be able to teach this in the fall. This group of teachers are going to be the teachers that rally for professional learning and this program.

Tonyea Mead, Education Associate, Science
Delaware Department of Education

Activate Learning was able to recommend a customized OpenSciEd/ IQWST implementation. Both curricula share the same pedagogy and even some of the same authors, providing a seamless experience to teachers and students through Activate Learning's Interactive Digital Platform. 

Activate Learning is a great support system for me, for the district, for the teachers, and for the kids. It's a one-stop-shop for everything the we need to support our science program and science instruction in our district. 

Erin Babin, Ed.D., Curriculum Specialist
Ascension Parish Schools, Louisiana

Additional
Reading

Developing Science Identity in High School Students Using Investigative Research Projects

The Future of High School STEM Education: Rethinking the High School Science Course Sequence

A Blueprint for Success: Colonial School District Reimagines Science Education with OpenSciEd and Activate Learning