Experiment and
Connect

Curriculum

We don’t believe science is something that should simply be taught. Our goal is to bridge the gap between what students are actually interested in, what’s going on in the scientific community and educational standards that exist. Through emerging curriculum InSciEd Out supports educators to plan and customize curriculum based on children’s interests and passions. Our research-based approach quantifies the return that children thrive and learn best when their interests are captured.

The Building Blocks

Each module in the InSciEd Out Library is strongly focused on inquiry based learning, in science and across other curricular areas, through integration of the Essential Features of Inquiry* and the 5E Instructional Model*. In addition to a focus on active, engaging, hands-on learning experiences, each module incorporates a guided experiment to build student skills in scientific experimentation and the scientific process, in addition to building scientific knowledge. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) was introduced as the initial model system of choice within the internships and embedded in each education module. These guided experiments help to familiarize students with that model system, and are frequently supported by volunteer scientists, so they provide another point of contact with the scientific community. Each module then ends with an extension experiment.


Deeper Dive

The extension experience is the endpoint for each InSciEd Out module in our library and is the starting point for students to engage in novel scientific experimentation in collaboration with active scientific community partners. Extensions begin with a lesson co-taught by a classroom teacher and a scientist, in which students distill the key ideas from the module, facilitates student decision making to which ideas hold personal meaning, and generate an investigable question. The partnering scientist guides the student to ensure the question to be answered is as of yet unanswered. Novelty is a tenet of science often lost in the classroom experience. The process of answering an unknown question situates students as producers of science, contributors to the scientific knowledge base, and possibly as authors on scientific publications. 

Curriculum Library

The InSciEd Out pre-K through 12 curriculum is standards-based and supported by local science volunteers. Dive into our curriculum library to get a first-hand look at how InSciEd Out is applied in the classroom.

My Mind, My Body:
Drugs & Alcohol
Grade 5

Habitat
Grade 2

Experiment Design
Grade 3-5