OpenSciEd is a set of Creative Commons licensed, standards aligned curriculum and teacher professional learning materials that will be available for grades K-12. Using a storyline model that gives students the responsibility of “figuring out” science phenomena by engaging in science practices and classroom discussion to achieve consensus, OpenSciEd “empowers educators to go beyond traditional science teaching methods.” This instructional model is ambitious for teachers, who must serve as facilitators and continually adapt instruction in response to directions students take. Because of this instructional shift, districts must also shift in how they adopt and implement science curriculum.
Among the aims of the OpenSciEd Research Community, led by Digital Promise with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is to develop and disseminate resources that support advancement of OpenSciEd-enabled research. Toward this goal, Digital Promise has released Practitioner-reported Needs for Enacting, Implementing, and Adopting OpenSciEd Curriculum Materials, a report that synthesizes perspectives from OpenSciEd practitioners on their needs. The report identifies:
The Digital Promise team surveyed and interviewed teachers and leaders with diverse backgrounds and identities about their experiences with OpenSciEd. We then represented their insights in a series of maps (included in the report) that show relationships and dependencies among the supports teachers need and how they enable desired outcomes. Our high level map (pictured) illustrates seven themes that emerged from our analysis, and how these themes enable each other and three outcomes of interest to teachers, schools, and districts.
Together, the maps illustrate how districts can not only give teachers access to meaningful professional learning opportunities, but also support teachers’ agency, collaboration, and management responsibilities. Moreover, these supports are foundational to meeting other needs related to classroom enactment and assessment.
For instance, one district leader elaborated on the importance of prioritizing teachers’ voices in how OpenSciEd is implemented and enacted district-wide:
“So these are the things that we’re saying everybody is absolutely going to do, because we all believe that this is good for students. And then what are some of the things that you can have some flexibility around, or some autonomy. .… [Teachers] felt like they had some say in what was going to be most important. …. We all want the same thing, positive outcomes for students. And so it kind of took allowing them to have a seat at the table to make some of the decisions.”
This leader describes a district implementation approach that promotes teachers’ agency in the process rather than imposing strict guidelines on teachers in a top-down fashion. This approach balances a strong emphasis on the core principles of OpenSciEd enactment with “negotiable” elements, which acknowledge the need to rely on teachers’ expertise and judgment when making classroom decisions. This example also points to the importance of valuing teachers’ professionalism, which helps create teacher buy-in—an important component of sustained district adoption.
Our recent webinar on the report featured five distinguished panelists from the OpenSciEd community: James Ryan (OpenSciEd); Angela DeBarger (Hewlett Foundation); Tricia Shelton (National Science Teaching Association); Holly Sullivan (Richland School District 2); and Katherine McNeill (Boston College). Panelists recounted stories that illustrate some of the shifts that are occurring in OpenSciEd classrooms and districts.
For instance, districts are implementing new approaches to support teachers, such as virtual mentoring sessions and coaching cycles. In addition, many students are eager for new instructional models and sometimes push teachers even further to support their process of “figuring out” and collaboration. These examples point to ways that OpenSciEd creates pressure for broader systems change that can better enable phenomenon-based instruction.
We call on district leaders, researchers, and innovators to help realize OpenSciEd’s ambitious vision to enable all students to engage deeply in practice-based science. Read the Practitioner Needs report and share your feedback.
View the slides from the webinar
