Science Techbook - Grade 6
Core Code Alignment
Science
Integrated Science
08050000005: Science (Grade 6)
Integrated Science
08050000005: Science (Grade 6)
Recommendation
Recommended Primary
Evaluation
It does cover a large portion of the Utah SEEd Standards and Integrates the 3-Dimensional Learning. Using all of the components of the program including data collection and other tools and parts of the program, you would have to be pretty committed to utilizing the units and following them through to the end. It would be difficult to just use parts of the resources rather than the whole program. This resource assumes a one-to-one computer to student ratio.
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Rubric : Science 2025
Compliance with State Law (Required)
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitive Materials and Prohibited Submission 53G-10-103, R277-628 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Prohibited discriminatory practices 53G-2-103-5, 53B-1-118 and 67-27-107 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools. 53G-10-202 | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Free from advertising, e-commerce, or political interest | This item has not been graded. | |||||
Standards
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presence of Three Dimensions of Science: Builds understanding of the science and engineering practices (SEPs), disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs). i. Provides opportunities to develop and use specific elements of the SEP(s) ii. Provides opportunities to develop and use specific elements of the DCI(s) iii. Provides opportunities to develop and use specific elements of the CCC(s) | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the Criteria Indicators are met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| After the student objective, the Science and Engineering Practice(s) and Cross-Cutting Concept used in the lesson are stated. Within the lessons, students are asked to ask questions, make predictions, create and use a model, etc. There are lots of opportunities for students to engage with each of the 3-Ds for each of the strands. Example: For the Forces module, there were lots of opportunities to be able to create models, ask questions and plan and carry out investigations. There is a strong emphasis on having students come up with their investigations. | ||||||
| Integration of Three Dimensions of Science: Materials integrate elements of the SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs for student sense‐making: Three dimensions of science (SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs) are integrated (consistently utilized in conjunction with each other) to help students make sense of phenomenon and solve problems. | Three dimensions of science (SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs) are consistently integrated. | Three dimensions of science are integrated in certain portions of the instructional material. | Three dimensions of science are rarely integrated in the instructional material. | Three dimensions of science (SEPs, CCCs, and DCIs) are separated and not integrated for student sense making. | ||
| The 3-Dimensions are integrated together using graphic organizers in a clever way. | ||||||
| Alignment to Standards: The DCI Concepts (science content) in the instructional materials align to the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards | DCI concepts (science content) in the instructional material align to 100% the SEEd Standards for the Grade/Course. | DCI concepts (science content) in the instructional material align to 75% the SEEd Standards for the Grade/Course. | DCI concepts (science content) in the instructional material align to 50% the SEEd Standards for the Grade/Course. | DCI concepts (science content) in the instructional material align to less than 50% the SEEd Standards for the Grade/Course. | ||
| Utah doesn’t align with NGSS. The Techbook goes across the different standards for multiple grades. The purchase would need to be across grade levels or purchase a Utah "bundle" for combining modules from different grades. | ||||||
| Scientific Accuracy: Uses scientifically accurate and grade‐appropriate scientific information, phenomena, and representations to support students’ three‐dimensional learning. | Instructional materials are scientifically accurate and grade appropriate. | N/A | N/A | Instructional materials are NOT scientifically accurate and grade appropriate. | ||
| On waves, the curriculum often represents sound with a transverse wave. One lesson connected a graph of longitudinal data that makes it look transverse. This is common; however, Utah has added to our standard the need to connect the structure of waves to the behavior that NGSS doesn't have. | ||||||
Pedagogy
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus on Phenomena (Science) or Problems (Engineering): Making sense of phenomena and/or designing solutions to a problem drive student learning. i. Student questions and prior experiences related to the phenomenon or problem motivate sense‐making and/or problem solving ii. The focus of the lesson is to support students in making sense of phenomena and/or designing solutions to problems iii. When engineering is a learning focus, it is integrated with developing disciplinary core ideas from physical, life, and/or earth and space sciences | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the Criteria Indicators are met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| The level of engagement and integration varied by module. The curriculum consistently connected it to all of the activities and lessons while also connecting it to explaining additional phenomenon associated with specific standards. | ||||||
| Scaffolding: Identifies and builds on students’ prior learning in all three dimensions i. Provides supports to help students engage in the practices and gradually adjusts supports over time so that students are increasingly responsible for making sense of phenomena and/or designing solutions to problems (Required) ii. Explicitly identifies prior student learning expected for all three dimensions iii. Clearly explains how the prior learning will be built upon | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met (i MUST BE MET) | Only Criteria Indicator i has been met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| Sufficient scaffolds are provided for learning in general. The Activity planning resources there are sometimes suggestions that could be utilized here with struggling students or if your students don't come in with particular understanding of some aspects of the 3-Dimensions. There might be some teacher supplementation needed depending on student level. A lot of the modules build off each other and there is not a lot of prior scaffolding leading up to each. Ex. One part in asking questions said to have a “testable” question- students would need prior support for this. | ||||||
| Teacher Supports: Supports teachers in facilitating coherent student learning experiences over time i. Provides strategies for linking student engagement across lessons (e.g. cultivating new student questions at the end of a lesson in a way that leads to future lessons) ii. Providing strategies for ensuring student sense‐making and/or problem‐solving is linked to learning in all three dimensions (e.g. Claim Evidence Reasoning-CER Framework for communicating sense-making, teacher probing questions) iii. Provides additional resources for student learning (e.g. Models, simulations, and/or data sets for students investigation) | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the Criteria Indicators are met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| For some activities in some of the lessons, there are suggestions for approaching learners as well as tips if students haven't developed certain skills yet. This was more common with some of the challenging ones like mathematics and computational thinking. For effective use, teachers would need to make sure they are committed to leading the suggested interactive nature of the lessons & lesson sequence rather than assigning what is student self guided. The provided teacher slides and PDF's help and provide more flexibility if the teacher wants students maximize interactions with each other. The lesson sequences are effective in leading from one piece to the next, which would require for many units a commitment to the complete lesson sequence. Resource does have a PDF available that has printable resources along with teacher notes. Teachers are not limited to just the online student version. This would allow the teacher to lead and make it easier for students to be engaged with each other through the process rather than getting lost in the online listing of everything. The Activity Resources also provides slides to facilitate this. | ||||||
| Assessments: Includes formative, summative, and guidance measures for interpreting student performances that assess three‐dimensional science learning. i. Embeds formative assessment processes throughout conceptual development that surfaces student understanding to inform instruction ii. Embeds summative assessment processes following conceptual development that evaluate student learning and measure understanding iii. Includes aligned rubrics or scoring guidelines that provide guidance for interpreting student performance | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the Criteria Indicators are met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| Some of the assessments were building projects or solving problems. Others seemed like a random assembly of concepts combined together at the end of the unit. The rubrics are above level for most students. The teacher view provided answer keys & likely student responses. There is a quiz builder provided teachers can create their own content and students can access all of the content in one location. A live quiz function allows the teacher to use/embed live quizzes in their lesson for immediate student feedback. | ||||||
Accessibility
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relevant and Authentic: Engages students in authentic and meaningful scenarios that reflect the practice of science and engineering as experienced in the real world. i. Students experience phenomena or design problems as directly as possible (first-hand or through media representations) ii. Includes suggestions for how to connect instruction to the students' home, neighborhood, community and/or culture as appropriate iii. Provides opportunities for students to connect their explanation of a phenomenon and/or their design solution to a problem to questions from their own experience | 3 of the 4 Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the 4 Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the 4 Criteria Indicators are met | None of the 4 Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| The curriculum does try to have both virtual experiences as well as provide in person experiences. Most often the real world connections were also things students could connect with, even if they weren't familiar. Real world examples reflect practices and connect students to their local environment. Some of the anchoring phenomenon for the unit, though effective, could loose interest with students for the extensive connections to complete the unit. | ||||||
| Teacher Supports for Diverse Learners: Provides guidance for teachers to support differentiated instruction i. Includes appropriate reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking alternatives (e.g., translations, picture support, graphic organizers, etc.) for students who are English language learners, have special needs, or read well below grade level ii. Provides extra support (e.g., phenomena, representations, tasks) for students who are struggling to meet the targeted expectations iii. Provides extensions for students with high interest or who have already met the performance expectations to develop a deeper understanding of the practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts | 3 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 2 of the Criteria Indicators are met | 1 of the Criteria Indicators are met | None of the Criteria Indicators are met | ||
| Additional resources are available to help students who struggle with the unit summative assessment. The program also allows you to select the reading level and has translations for Spanish as well as a glossary. Variety of graphic organizers that are printable and editable. Videos are available in Spanish. Visual supports are available. Ex. Images of modeling examples are provided for clarification of expectations. | ||||||
| Accessible for all students: Engages students using methods, vocabulary, representations, and examples that are accessible and unbiased for all learners (e.g., Deaf and Blind, English Learners, Gifted and Talented, Special Education). | Instructional Materials are accessible for all students | N/A | N/A | Instructional Materials are NOT accessible for all students | ||
| There are tools like whiteboard, calculators, notebook, options for assigning, sharing, saving, & printing. This would require training for students and students primarily using the program directly. The PDF resources can be translated to 17 different languages & has an audio reader. The audio reader doesn't allow you to select specific text to read aloud. It will read everything on the page - including footnotes. The automated translator seems to have similar features. Does provide extension activities. Examples are unbiased. Videos did provide Closed Captioning option. Video segments in both high and lower quality are available for both classroom presentations and online viewing. | ||||||
| Physical Characteristics | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Technical Standards | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Ethnic Studies- (Ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum should be a narrowly tailored incorporation of age-appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs, or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus. The material should incorporate a curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics without commentary that seeks to violate the neutrality standard established in codes: 53B-1-118, 53G-2-103, 53G-2-104, 53G-2-105, 67-27-107, | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Shared Values and Character Traits | This item has not been graded. | |||||
UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807