Curriculum+Packages

=This page contains information about Science Curricula=

Life Science and Biology
BioComm (Reviewed by Heather Malin) This curriculum package allows students to see how biology functions within the community that they live in. The package includes labs, readings, and different activities. There are eight different units involved in the package that assist a biology teacher in teaching the material to their students. The book also includes recommended material kits to assist in necessary for each unit done in the classroom. The basic package includes just a book but there are additional materials that are recommended to be used or even necessary to be used in the classroom.

TEACHINGpoint - [] (reviewed by Ryan Kelleher) Teaching point allows teacher the opportunity to use an already established curriculum. Most schools adopt one of these curriculums as the base of there classes. the topics are broken into subjects and then sub sections of that subject. The grade range from first grad all the way up to collage.The website gives you a description of the course and the table of contents of the units found in these lessons for a year. These curriculum packets come with everything you might need a teachers addition, students addition, notes, labs and more. This allow the teachers to focus on the content and not the curriculum. The price range for these curriculum range from 200 dollars to 800 dollars depending on how much help you want. I find this is tool is helpful to help come up with ideas rather than relying on only the curriculum packet.

Active Biology (Reviewed by Josh Egner) This published curriculum package seems like a great investment for any biology teacher. The first thing I really liked was each chapter begins with a scenario that relates the chapter to everyday life. This is crucial in teaching students as well as keeping them interested. After the scenario is set up, there is a chapter challenge. This is a challenge that the students will be able to do by the end of the chapter. This is pretty much the objective of the chapter. Another great attribute to Active Biology is the Bio-words section. This provides the key terms in bold with definitions for the students. The teacher edition of the book is $88.50 while the student edition is $30.80. I would recommend this curriculum package because of how it does a great job at relating biology to everyday life however I would only buy the teachers edition and use those ideas for certain lessons instead of purchasing a book for each of my students.

Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center @ [] (reviewed by Bob Verdon) This Minnesota grade 4-12 school has a 30 year track record of providing environmental based education. Being interested in 'outdoor experiences' in teaching and environmental education based initiatives I found this site interesting since they have a proven 30 year track record and provide Science curriculum based information which I could use in my own teaching. There model is focused on experiential, hands-on learning experiences. Children construct their own knowledge about the scientific process and tie all the lessons into ecological principles. The themes of their 9th grade science curriculum are: natural resources, ecosystems, naturalsystems, biodiversity, ecological adaptations, population ecology, human culture and history, personal growth, team building and outdoor recreation. Most of these themes can be tied into themes from Pa standards for Biology and I will look to incorporate these principles into my teaching.

BSCS (Reviewed by Tamara McCombs)

The program within the BSCS Curriculum Package I reviewed was "A Human Approach" which involves students in conceptual biology using a human perspective. It organizes content around six unifying themes and uses inquiry and hand-on activities. It employs the "5-E Learning Cycle"- Engage, Expolore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The program encourages depth of content and focuses on humans. There are six aspects that they claim to set this programs apart from all others:
 * unifying themes- six core units are centered around six major biological concepts
 * subthemes- "science as inquiry" subtheme (science as a process and the changing body of science) and "science and humanity" subtheme (human culture, history of science, ethics, human technology)
 * instructional model- the 5E's - based on how students construct knowledge and ideas
 * cooperative learning- increases student responsibility for their learning and mimics collaboration that scientists use
 * assessment- variety of assessments that are learning experiences in themselves (experiments, written tests, debates, presentations, etc.)
 * educational technology- DVD's, SciLInks, Probe ware, and computer simulations designs to enhance learning and understanding

This curriculum package seems to be an excellent way for students to approach science and that will assist them in acquiring many vital skills.

FAST (reviewed by Rachael Shearouse)

The FAST curriculum is broken down in to three parts: local environment, matter and energy in the biosphere, and science changing over time. The curriculum is heavy on applying science and observing the natural world. It is heavily project, laboratory, and diagramming based. It was developed to increase higher level thinking in the science classroom and to give students the opportunity for more hands on learning. The curriculum is inquiry based and is developed to challenge the students. The program has successful results in developing critical thinking skills, laboratory skills, and an understanding of more scientific concepts.

TEACHINGpoint - [] (reviewed by Emily Detter)

I reviewed the curriculum package for a high school honors biology class. The curriculum is a full year, standard-aligned curriculum. It was written by a very well known educator by the name of Charles Zaremba. The curriculum comes with twelve complete chapters that include lesson plans that very with teaching strategies, a pacing guide, class notes, student work books, 34 labs which require inexpensive materials, two unit tests for each unit along with quizzes that relate to the tests, and finally it includes two final exams that can be given at the end of the year. This site allows you to either download the materials which would include the lessons and notes, or you also have the option of ordering the entire package which includes that books and work books along with everything else that was previously mentioned. The reviews that I read on this site were very good and by reading through the site and the outline of the curriculum, I would recommend this curriculum package and would most likely use it in my own classroom. It seems to be very well thought through and student friendly.

TEACHINGpoint (reviewed by Jamie Huber)

The curriculum package I reviewed was the TEACHINGpoint package for Environmental Science. This package is for your regular or honors high school environmental science course. The package consists of twelve units broken down into chapters that are congruent with the unit. For each chapter there are complete lab exercises for hands-on learning, editable powerpoint presentations, and unit tests. The package also contains lesson plans, pacing guides for each lesson, and the package is aligned to the Pennsylvania standards. The course itself seemed very in-depth on the topic of environmental science with what was included in the curriculum package, and left some room for the teacher to suppliment other activities of their design into each lesson or unit to expand on what was being offered in the package. The package and the materials can be downloaded from the TEACHINGpoint website or the package can be ordered in its entirety as a hard copy style resource. What I liked about the package that I checked out was that the materials required for the lab exercises was easily accessible and can most likely be found at a grocery store or a hardware store. The curriculum had some good reviews on the website and from what I looked at seemed to be a very well prepared package to depart from the usual textbook style instruction. website: http://www.teaching-point.net/catalog.html

GEMS - Reviewed by Shannon Jones GEMS develops and publishes science and math curricula and offers professional development and maintains international support for teachers. They offer seminars and activities that incorporate National and State standards. Before going into the site you can watch an online orientation video to see what GEMS has to offer. You can choose from a list of 70 GEMS teaching guides and handbooks, kits, curriculum sequences, and after school activities. For Biology they offer about 15 topics to choose from and offer a lot more for other content areas. When you choose a topic, you are given an overview of the GEMS major points for the students to understand. It gives you an allotted time for each unit. For example, the topic Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect will take roughly eight 45-60 minute sessions. They suggest a book and a list of materials students would need and what is needed to teach the unit. This site is very thorough and is a great resource to use for an entire curriculum or if you just need assistance on teaching a single lesson.

BSCS Biology: An Ecological Approach (Reviewed by: Justin Tice)

The website for this particular curriculum package producer is very easy to follow and easy to use. The specific curriculum package that I chose to investigate was titled; Biology: An Ecological Approach. This particular Curriculum package was designed for first year high school biology students and incorporates the major ideas covered under an ecological framework. This particular package focuses on student-centered learning activities and an active learning approach to successfully reach students in an authentic way. The website boasts a rich curriculum that is full of lab activities that develop students' inquiry skills. The key features of this particular package that are hihghlited by the website are: Although this weaving of major biology concepts into an ecological theme sounds like a good idea, it feel as though it might narrow the effectiveness of some of the activities within the curriculum package.It is hard to truly evaluate the package with only an online review however, I feel that the website seems to utilize the most current theories of student knowledge construction in developing their packages.
 * "Guideposts" that ask students interactive questions to begin the process of investigation
 * "Pioneer" sections with brief vignettes about people, technology and ideas that parallel the topic under study
 * "Biology Today" sections that explore topics of biological interest with important societal implications
 * "Knowledge Check" questions that permit teachers to assess student understanding of major concepts
 * NSTA SciLinks Web resources are printed in the text, directing users to recommended Internet sites
 * Laboratory investigations and class projects that give students hands-on experiences
 * Computer-based learning written into the student text as activities, includes the BSCS award-winning interactive CDROM, "The Commons: An Environmental Dilemma," and ecological simulations designed by BioSim, ADA Technologies

Active Science ~Biology (reviewed by Don Detwiler)

The Active Science: Biology program is designed to combine science content with a pedagogical approach that ensures increased student motivation, understanding and performance. The topics included in the design of the course are selected based on the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study and then modified into the Active Science format. The Active Science group offers curricula in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and earth and space science. Their format follows the 11 step process which they claim is designed to increase student motivation, understanding and performance. The process works like this. Chapters are introduced with a Scenario that the authors feel the students can identify with, this is followed by a chapter challenge in which the students are asked to use the chapters material to complete a task. This is followed by a Criteria and a "what do you think?" section in which the students discuss what they feel the chapter is addressing and decide on how they will be held accountable for the chapters material. In the "for you to do" section, students will learn by doing, in that they will create situations and complete tasks associated with the content material. The next four sections; Bio talk, Bio words, reflection, and biology to go help the students fully understand the content material and connect the challenge with the "for you to do" sections activities. The closing activities are called Inquiring further and Biology at work combine t reinforce the chapter material and connect back to the chapter challenge. On the whole this is a progressive system based on active inquiry of the topic material and reinforced with the student’s completion of the chapter challenges. The publishers say that research tells us that the best way to learn is by doing.

Active Biology (reviewed by Kristin D'Arienzo) Active Biology is based off the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) which was redone to incorporate the active learning format in order to emphasize what they want students to really know and be able to do. Each chapter contains a wealth of resources that apply the content to something in the real world. There are many resources that help not only the students but the teachers as well. Each chapter contains activities for the students to participate in, getting them more involved in their own learning. There is a large difference in price between the student package and the teacher package, with the teacher package being $88.50 and the student package only at $30. But this is understandable because the teacher package comes with a lot more material for use in the classroom. Overall this is a good resource for curriculum guides but I would not choose it in my classroom.

Chris Torres ( Elements of Biology 6-Pack DVD) This curriculum pack is developed by Discovery Education ; this DVD curriculum would be ideal for visual learners. It addresses grades 6-12. This curriculum addresses 6 key aspects of Biology: cells, organization in living things, genetics, organisms and their environment, biomes, and biological evolution. I found this product to be a little pricey. Without actually watching the videos it is hard to judge just how “useable” they are. I would assume because it is a Discovery Education product it would be safe to say that it is a good product. I would probably use this resource as a supplemental piece in a lesson.

BSCS: Evolution Resources (Review by Amber Anderson) The BSCS is a website devoted to the effectiveness of science teaching with an emphasis on building a strong curriculum that effectively provides the knowledge of biological concepts to intermediate and secondary level students.

** Active Biology (reviewed by Brooke Lininger):   **
[] This curriculum package, designed for high school students, is opportunity for students to apply concepts of biology to real world scenarios. Each chapter follows an eleven step process which begins with an application scenario related to the chapter topic, followed by a student challenge that encourages students to think and conduct an experimental application themselves. The next several sections engage students in thought exercises, present important vocabulary and concepts, and provide students with additional hands on activities that test the ideas being presented. The chapter cincludes with additional practice (homework), and real world applications of the concepts covered. Judging from the sample chapters available for review on the website, each chapter is very well constructed to present a topic, stimulate students' thinking and provide large amounts of application, and apply the topic to real life scenarios. This curriculum pacakage appears to be a valauble resource for the science teacher, as thoroughly constructs high quailty lessons, which can be very useful for teachers. However, I had two concerns about this package 1) while it is designed for high school students, some of the activities and illustrations seemed a bit juvenile, more on par with junior high/middle school science in my opinion, or perhaps lower level high school classes, and 2) using a curriculum package that is this complete in its design would probably be somewhat stifling to many teachers who would rather personalize lessons more. Overall, it appears that this is a well desgined package, that when used in the right context would probably be very beneficial to students, as it promotes a great deal of "thinking outside the box."

Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics
It's About Time: Active Chemistry (reviewed by Brittany Baccaro)

This Curriculum package is specific for chemistry in high schools. It has a course over view where you can look at the topics to be covered, guides to success and chapter concepts. It also has chapter activities as well as challenges and assignments that a teacher can do with their students. The curriculum can be correlated to each individual states standards. You can find a list of materials that would be needed in each chapter for each activity that would be used. This source seems like it could be very useful in teaching chemistry mainly because of all of the hands on activities that help relate the key concepts. It is also very useful that the activities identify which standards are being met by performing the activities. I could definitely see myself using this source in my classroom to help me think of demonstrations for each concept I am teaching.

Introductory Physical Science (reviewed by Trina Carito)

This curriculum is depended on a text which includes several reference tools. These tools include, diagnostic analysis software, assessment package, teacher's guide and resource book, as well as the text. This text is designed to enforce a very hands on, laboratory based curriculum. Students will be exercising many experiments to help them learn physical science. This package would be a great tool for those students who are textile learners. Every lesson can utilize an accompanied lab, however there is room to modify lessons so as to account for the audio and visual learners; the package is not limited to textile lessons. The teacher's guide gives suggested lesson discussions and breaks down calculations. This guide also provides the background information to better prepare teacher's for delivery of their lessons. The assessment package includes different forms of chapter tests. One includes more concrete questions, while the other is more abstract. They include several types of questioning forms, and there are also assessments available to test on labs. This resource can be found at [].

HS Chem Solutions and AP Chem Solutions (Thomas Kotch) []

While essentially billed as a teaching resource, the HS and AP Chem solutions packages are, in fact, complete curricular packages and can be used as a stand alone resource for chemistry instruction. Both packages provide “ a program of lessons that provide a thorough and comprehensive coverage of chemical concepts,” as stated on the company website. The HS package is suited to a complete year of chemistry and contains 93 slide-show lectures, student notes, handouts, worksheets, and labs. In addition, instructor notes and solutions are included. The AP series covers the topics to a greater depth and is consistent with the requirements for success on the AP Chemistry exam. I have used these products to augment my direct instruction and lab sessions and I found them to be very clear and complete. There are a few typos in the first edition but for subsequent editions the company has claimed to have fixed them. These curricula are presented entirely electronically (2CDs) and are very affordable (Approximately $100.00 each).

Twin Rivers Chemistry Curriculum--Sara Shatt

I chose to review the Twin Rivers chemistry curriculum package. This package is very inclusive and highly useful to students and teachers. The curriculm package begins with the overall unit outcomes. These outcomes are very well stated and related to the state standards. Beyond that, this curriculum package provides suggested instructioal tools as well as a general schedule by which teeachers can base their curriculum. There is a week by week breakdown of lessons and topics which should be covered, and at the same time linking it back to the standards. Along with the course goals, there are specific unit outcomes and the means by which you should achieve these outcomes. This curriculm package also includes sample test questions and highlights the key ideas that should be conveyed in each lesson. Over all this curriculum package is very inclusive, but is a little lengthy (225 pages).

Active Chemistry (reviewed by Whitney Twining)

Active Chemistry is a curriculum package that really activated and involves the students. They connect chemistry to students by giving real life example and performing exciting demonstrations and experiments. It include a very interesting instructional model called: 7E. The seven E's represent: engage, elicit, explore, explain, elaborate, extend, and evaluate. These E's are followed throughout the package. They start every topic by engaging the students and then build from that. Example are given on how to follow the E's through activities and chapters. Their table of contents shows the outline of the course. They have a very interesting approach to difficult topics and ways to introduce a new lesson or chapter. All lessons are linked to the NSES. They introduce the topic of the periodic table by first having students organize a grocery story and then connect that to elements. The package can be found at, [].

Earth and Space Science
This curriculum package looked very interesting to me because of all the things that it offered. Within the program there is a teacher lesson manual, assessment book, student notebook teacher guide, visual aids, teacher masters, and reference materials. For the students there are student science notebooks, gear kit, and student reference books. The lessons and activities are all correlated to state standards with customized local standard correlations available. The activities are engaging and hands on. They are focused on Big Ideas and contain reflective discussions that help children integrate their experience and build science knowledge. The //Science Companion// curriculum, developed by the Chicago Science Group (CSG) is a hands-on learning program that takes advantage of children’s curiosity about how things work in the world. The purpose of the curriculum is to provide children with the opportunity to explore their natural curiosity about their world, and teach them science processes as they explore, quantify, and interpret what they see. Students are asked to draw, write, discuss, and reflect upon what they have done. This program balances discovery-based learning with teacher-directed instruction. The only downside for me with this curriculum package is that it is for grades K – 6. From personal experience in a 9thgrade general education Earth Science class, some of the 6th grade stuff may still be useful for some students, depending on where they are with their prior knowledge.
 * Science Companion** [|http://www.sciencecompanion.com] (Bryan Freeman)

FOSS Curriculum (Steven Beautz)

FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for grades K–8. FOSS is also an ongoing research project made for improving the learning and teaching of science. FOSS has set out to achieve three important goals scientific literacy, instructional efficiency, and systematic reform. FOSS helps all educators teach and manage inquiry-based science. FOSS for middle school consists of: Teacher guides for middle school courses, Equipment kits for middle school courses, Lab Notebooks for students,Resources books for students, and CD-ROM for middle school courses. Seems to have a lot of good information for teachers mostly for middle school. Features of the program include:
 * • Research-based and nationally field-tested**
 * • Students learn science by doing science**
 * • Classroom-tested**
 * • Integrated reading, writing, and mathematics**
 * • Assessment system**
 * • Interactive technology**
 * • Program support**

CE3 (reviewed by Sal-Lee Patti) http://www.spatialsci.com/ce3/ CE3 is a middle school curriculum that incorporates technology into lessons like google earth to engage students and strengthen their science and technology background. This curriculum is broken into 3 modules (Volcanoes, earthquakes, and plate tectonics) and then each module has three investigations. the three investigations break done the information with a different goal for each. For instance, the module of volcanoes is broken down so that the 1st investigation motivates students, the second allows them to construct knowledge, and the third allows them to use the knowledge in practical applications. They give you all resources and information needed for each module. Teachers sign up on the site to be allowed to use the resources. Along with the curriculum there is also a teachers section on the website with helpful links like a chat forum for CE3, resources, references, and tutorials. After looking through the modules, I thought that they were interesting and taught concepts well.