Science Techbook - Grade 8
Core Code Alignment
Science
Integrated Science
08050000010: Integrated Science (Grade 8)
Integrated Science
08050000010: Integrated Science (Grade 8)
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.
Educators Using These Materials
No educators found.
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 | ||
| There are many opportunities for students to engage with each of the 3-Ds for each of the strands. A concern is most units build off each other, meaning there may be difficulties if not completing the entire sequence of each unit. Some activities & lessons, have suggestions for approaching learners as well as tips if your students haven't practices certain skills yet. This is more present with the more challenging skills like mathematics and computational thinking. | ||||||
| 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 three dimensions are well woven together and throughout the lessons provided. Good graphic organizers that were often very clever and engaging and integrating the 3-Ds into one. | ||||||
| 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 purchasing certain modules for the best coverage of standards. | ||||||
| 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. | ||
| Excellent Accuracy. Due to variations on the standards, some of the science represented may be misleading. For example, one lesson sound waves are represented in lessons to show amplitude variation as a transverse wave, however since SEEd standards require the structure to connect to amplitude, the representations here would be misleading to teachers & students. | ||||||
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 quality of the phenomenon in different units and sometimes it is a stretch to allow a connection to all the standards in the unit. The lessons do consistently connect phenomena to all of the activities and lessons while also connecting it to explaining additional phenomenon associated with specific standards. Some phenomena were not culturally relevant to all students. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| Excellent for scaffolding general student needs, especially if consistently implementing all their provided resources & units. Scaffolding is limited if not fully implementing curriculum. Some units have items in the activity planning resources there are suggestions to be utilized with struggling students or if your students don't come in with particular understanding of some aspects of the 3 dimensions. For example, suggestions for what to do first if your students didn't have practice with mathematics and computational thinking yet or suggested demonstrations to help students who didn't come in with prior knowledge are sometimes in the activity planning resources. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| Well planned out. For most 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 between students. 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 extensive online listing of completing a unit. The Activity Resources also provides slides to facilitate this. 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. Resources do have a PDF available that has pintables along with teacher notes. | ||||||
| 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 | ||
| Many of the assessments were building projects or solving problems which were great are good for assessing the three dimensions. This can be a problem for some teachers being the primary summative assessment method. Some assessments seemed like a random assembly at the end of the unit. Rubrics were always provided, but were not consistently clear and accessible for many students. The teacher view provided answer keys & likely student responses for all lessons and activities to support checking for understanding throughout. | ||||||
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 | ||
| Some units were better than others, but they did 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 to even if they weren't familiar. Some of the anchoring phenomenon for the unit, though effective, will likely loose interest with students for the extensive connections and time needed to complete the unit and all the standards. | ||||||
| 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 struggled 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. Good variety of graphic organizers that are printable and editable. | ||||||
| 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 is not user friendly it will only ready the entire page, including headers. There is not an ability to read specific text. The automated translator similar limitations. Extension activities are provided. | ||||||
| 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