Grades PreK–12

Pedagogy of our K–12 Science Curriculum

The 5E Model and More Within Inspire Science

Lessons based on the 5E Instructional Model

The phenomena-driven 5E lessons of Inspire Science are designed to provoke student thinking and spark their creative problem-solving ideas. Each Middle School book includes 4 units and High School is all inclusive. Each unit includes 1–4 modules, and each module includes 2–5 lessons.

Engage

Set the purpose for learning with a scientific phenomenon and essential question to investigate throughout the lesson. Help students set goals for the skills they will develop with the “I will” statement.

Explore

Use interactive content to help students understand the concepts more deeply, so they can answer the Essential Question.

Explain

Connect literacy and science through inquiry by providing students with an array of print and interactive resources to conduct research and explain their understanding. Students develop research skills while deepening their understanding of core science topics. They learn to connect this learning back to prior experiences and the essential question.

Elaborate

Help students reflect and refine their thinking by revisiting past answers to see how their thinking has changed and explore new options for further refinement of their thinking through investigations, modeling, research and communication with arguments from evidence.

Evaluate

Guide students to demonstrate their understanding by answering the essential question and phenomenon questions and completing a final performance task, eAssessment questions, and an “I Did” statement.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated options, strategies, and suggestions are embedded throughout every Inspire Science program, including:

  • Page Keeley Formative Assessment Probes to identify student misconceptions;
  • Personal Tutor videos that offer in-depth explanations of science concepts;
  • Reading Essentials levelled text to support struggling readers; and
  • Dinah Zike’s Foldables® to support kinesthetic learning with engaging graphic organizers.

Formative Assessment

The Page Keeley Formative Assessment Science Probes present the lesson phenomenon in an engaging way to promote student thinking and discussion. Teachers can determine students’ current understanding to focus instruction and support as well as establish a benchmark for learning progression throughout the lesson.

Teacher support includes:

  • A detailed account of the purpose and usefulness of each probe;
  • Teaching and learning implications that are clearly stated;
  • Scientific explanations that help clarify the specific content at hand;
  • Suggestions for combining the probe with science and engineering practices;
  • Research-based, common misconceptions that are identified to help build an understanding of the commonly held ideas that students have in science; and
  • Explanations that describe the best answer choice
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Interactive Simulations

Inspire Science includes hundreds of interactive simulations to enable students to build confidence and motivation as they deepen their understanding of science through real-world applications. PBLs integrate science with engineering content to help students develop:

  • Problem-solving skills
  • An understanding and application of the engineering design process and
  • 21st century research competency.

Collaboration Kits for Grades TK–8

Encourage hands-on inquiry and engage students with lab kits that provide hands-on, real-world learning activities. A variety of kit options are available for each Inspire Science title, allowing you to choose the items that best fit your classroom.

STEM Connections

With Inspire Science, students are introduced to a STEM Project focusing on a Science or Engineering Challenge that is integrated throughout instruction. Students assume the role of a scientist or engineer and are charged with the task of designing a solution to the STEM Project.

A variety of resources including Teacher and Student rubrics, STEM Career videos, and STEM Career Connections are readily available to foster your students innate curiosity. Check out this video to see one example.

LearnSmart® with SmartBook® Adaptive Learning Technology

LearnSmart with SmartBook determines precisely which learning objectives a student has grasped and which ones he or she is struggling with, then highlights the most critical content for that student to read at that moment. When knowledge gaps are identified, LearnSmart provides the learning resources students need to build content retention. Learn more about LearnSmart.