OpenSciEd High School Curriculum: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics
OpenSciEd High School is a phenomena-based, NGSS-aligned high school science curriculum with complete Biology, Chemistry, and Physics courses. Earth and Space Science standards are integrated throughout the three-course sequence.
As a certified OpenSciEd distributor and professional learning provider, Active Learning provides the digital platform, print books, science kits, and professional learning to make OpenSciEd High School implementation smooth and successful.
All Biology, Chemistry, and Physics units and kits are available now.
A Complete OpenSciEd High School Package for Full-Fidelity Implementation
Activate Learning brings every component of OpenSciEd High School together through one implementation partnership. Districts receive print materials, digital platform supports, complete science kits, and personalized professional learning aligned with the curriculum. Individual components are also available, but the complete package is designed to help educators implement the full program with fidelity.
OpenSciEd High School Student Notebooks and Teacher Editions
Digital
Interactive teacher and student materials on the Activate Learning Digital Platform
Kits
Materials for every OpenSciEd High School investigation
Professional Learning
Full implementation support and certified professional learning
How OpenSciEd High School Supports Students and Teachers
OpenSciEd High School centers each unit on a phenomenon students work together to explain. The curriculum creates multiple ways for students to contribute while giving teachers the materials and professional learning they need to guide investigations and productive classroom discussion.
Three-Dimensional
Phenomena-Based Approach
Students explore driving questions, conduct investigations, collect and analyze data, develop and use models to explain phenomena.
Designed for Equitable Science Learning
Access high-quality, adaptable materials that support standards-based, equitable science learning.
Total Support
for Teachers
Content, structure, and support to experience three-dimensional teaching and learning with OpenSciEd.
Is OpenSciEd High School the right curriculum for your district or school?
What Is the OpenSciEd High School Curriculum?
OpenSciEd is an NGSS high school curriculum built around real-world phenomena and student questions. Its storyline instructional model gives each lesson a clear purpose: students investigate questions that emerge from the phenomenon, draw conclusions from evidence, and identify what they need to figure out next.
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EdReports "All-Green" Rated
OpenSciEd has earned the EdReports “all-green” rating for their High School Biology, Chemistry, and Physics courses.
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NGSS Alignment
The three-course sequence aligns with A Framework for K–12 Science Education and addresses the NGSS, including Earth and Space Science and engineering standards. Units can be adapted to fit state and local course sequences.
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Research-Based & Tested by Educators
OpenSciEd is research-based, taking into account how students learn, their motivations and implications regarding teacher and student engagement.
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Full Fidelity, Complete Curriculum
Activate Learning’s certified version preserves the instructional design and student sensemaking experiences of the original OpenSciEd High School curriculum.
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K-12 OpenSciEd Programs
Activate Learning offers OpenSciEd K-12 certified print and digital content, science kits, and professional learning.
OpenSciEd High School
Science Units
Certified OpenSciEd High School Materials
OpenSciEd makes its high school curriculum available as an open educational resource. For districts comparing high school science curriculum programs, Activate Learning offers a certified, implementation-ready version with print and digital materials, science kits, and professional learning. Schools and districts can choose a complete package or purchase individual components, and we partner with them throughout implementation.
Student-Centered Learning
OpenSciEd places students at the center of science learning. Students investigate phenomena and build explanations from evidence, revising their thinking through productive discussion. Activate Learning preserves these sensemaking experiences while giving teachers the materials and support they need to facilitate them effectively.
OpenSciEd Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Course Sequence
The sequence includes five Biology units, five Chemistry units, and six Physics units across three years. Earth and Space Science standards and Data Analysis are woven throughout each unit. Each unit builds students’ understanding of disciplinary core ideas while giving them repeated opportunities to use science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. All units are available in print and digital formats.
All of the OpenSciEd High School units are available in print and digital formats!
OpenSciEd High School Scope & Sequence
The example below follows OpenSciEd’s recommended sequence: Biology, then Chemistry, then Physics. Districts can adapt the units to fit their state standards and local course sequence.
Contact us to discuss alignment with your state requirements, or download the complete OpenSciEd High School Scope and Sequence.
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?
C.1 Thermodynamics in Earth’s Systems
How can we slow the flow of energy on Earth to protect vulnerable coastal communities?
C.2 Structure & Properties of Matter
What causes lightning and why are some places safer than others when it strikes?
C.3 Molecular Processes in Earth Systems
How could we find and use the resources we need to live beyond Earth?
C.4 Chemical Reactions in our World
Why are oysters dying, and how can we use chemistry to protect them?
C.5 Energy from Chemical & Nuclear Reactions
Which fuels should we design our next generation vehicles to use?
P.1 Energy Flow from Earth’s Systems
How can we design more reliable systems to meet our communities’ energy needs?
P.2 Energy, Forces, & Earth’s Crust
How do forces in Earth’s interior determine what will happen to the surface we see?
P.3 Collisions & Momentum
What can we do to make driving safer for everyone?
P.4 Meteors, Orbits, & Gravity
How have collisions with objects from space changed Earth in the past, and how could they affect our future?
P.5 Electromagnetic Radiation
How do we use radiation in our lives, and is it safe for humans?
P.6 Stars & the Big Bang
Why do stars shine and will they shine forever?
OpenSciEd Books
& Student 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 pages, it’s easy for students to put completed work into folders!
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, activity guides, and how-to videos to help 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 High School on the Activate Learning Digital Platform
Experience a truly interactive digital edition of all OpenSciEd Biology, Chemistry, and Physics materials for teachers and students.
The Activate Learning Digital Platform supports the hands-on learning taking place in the science classroom. Teachers can access OpenSciEd High School lessons, learning plans, background information, videos, teaching slides, and assessments in one place, reducing time spent finding and organizing materials.
The platform is designed for student safety and accessibility and offers embedded translation for 140+ languages, text-to-speech with read-along highlighting, and sentence starters to support writing.
The Activate Learning Digital platform has earned the prestigious ISTE Seal validation for high-quality education technology platforms, so you know it's safe, secure, and user-friendly, and aligned to ISTE Standards.
The Activate Learning Digital Platform integrates with Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, and leading student information systems.
Activate Learning Virtual Investigations®
Activate Learning Virtual Investigations® now span OpenSciEd High School, from the Serengeti Game in Biology B.1 to new interactive labs in Biology B.2, Chemistry C.2, and Physics P.2.
Built for OpenSciEd, these Virtual Investigations® bring hands-on labs to life while solving the real challenges of running them in a busy classroom. Students can burn fuels safely with no open flame, build a Kelvin water dropper that sparks reliably every time, and tow foam blocks with live spring scale readings to test what really affects friction. Use them as a high-fidelity support for the hands-on work, or for absent students, make-ups, and short class periods.
Built on the Activate Learning Digital Platform, Virtual Investigations integrate seamlessly into each OpenSciEd unit, so students can investigate and record their reasoning on the same page.
Virtual Investigations® are only available on the Activate Learning Digital Platform.
Certified OpenSciEd High School Professional Learning
OpenSciEd asks teachers to support student questions, discussion, and sensemaking in ways that may differ from more traditional science instruction. Activate Learning’s curriculum experts provide certified professional learning and implementation support, helping educators understand the instructional model and put it into practice in their own classrooms.
What High School Educators Say About OpenSciEd Implementation Support
OpenSciEd High School FAQs
The OpenSciEd High School curriculum is a phenomena-based, three-dimensional science program in which students work through connected storylines to explain real-world phenomena. Teachers facilitate investigation and discussion as students build explanations from evidence.
OpenSciEd High School includes five Biology units, five Chemistry units, and six Physics units. Earth and Space Science and engineering standards are integrated throughout the three-course sequence.
Yes. The Biology, Chemistry, and Physics sequence addresses the Next Generation Science Standards, including Earth and Space Science and engineering standards. All three courses have earned an “all-green” rating from EdReports.
OpenSciEd’s source curriculum is available as an open educational resource. Activate Learning provides a certified, implementation-ready version with print and digital materials, organized science kits, professional learning, and implementation support.
Yes. Schools and districts can purchase print materials, digital access, science kits, and professional learning as a complete package or as individual components.
For districts adopting the complete curriculum, Activate Learning recommends a full-program partnership that brings all four components together. This coordinated approach supports implementation fidelity by giving educators the materials, digital supports, investigation supplies, and personalized professional learning they need to use OpenSciEd as intended.
Activate Learning provides certified professional learning and support from curriculum experts who help educators understand OpenSciEd’s instructional model and use the materials effectively in their classrooms.
