"Developed by UChicago STEM Education, Activate Learning PRIME (PRIME) is the product of a rigorous iterative development process by an author team comprised of both content and classroom specialists and is designed to be educative for elementary school teachers, as well as for students. The program engages children in learning science by doing science, with a focus on developing discourse and critical thinking skills alongside disciplinary content knowledge and science and engineering practices to help students make sense of engaging hands-on explorations. The goals of the program are to preserve the curiosity and open mindedness that children bring to their environment and to link hands-on explorations in the real world with accurate science content through thinking, reflection, and discussion. Throughout the program, students ask questions, explore materials, share and refine ideas, solve problems, and, ultimately, use critical thinking to make informed decisions.

One of greatest strengths of the program is its emphasis and organization around “big ideas”: clusters of lessons (usually 2-6 lessons) within a unit or topic work together to develop and support deep understanding of one or two clearly and explicitly stated “big ideas;” taken together, these big ideas students focus on understanding the most important concepts, rather than on memorizing smaller bits of information with limited attention to why these facts are important or how they connect to one another and to the larger topic."

Program also offers kit materials, digital edition, and Professional Learning Support Services