OpenSciEd Developers Consortium

OpenSciEd

The OpenSciEd initiative was launched by a consortium of funders led by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to address a critical need in science education: the need for high quality instructional materials that are standards-aligned and practical for broad implementation. In its first phase, OpenSciEd is producing a comprehensive, three-year middle school science program that will be freely available under an open source license.

OpenSciEd Developers Consortium

OpenSciEd instructional materials and accompanying resources for teacher professional development are being created and field tested by a consortium of five nationally-recognized educational research and development organizations with the support of a broad network of leaders in science education.

The Consortium includes BSCS Science Learning, Boston College, the Dana Center at The University of Texas-Austin, Digital Promise Global, and Northwestern University. These organizations and a network of expert individuals collaborate on all areas of work, under the direction of a steering committee made of educational leaders from ten OpenSciEd partner states .

BSCS is responsible for the leadership and coordination of the Consortium, whose work is organized across specialized centers.

Work of Consortium

The Consortium’s goal is to create high quality instructional materials that are designed for next generation science and practical for teachers to implement in a diverse range of classroom contexts nationwide.

As a first step toward this goal, The Consortium created program design specifications and a three-year scope and sequence. These foundational documents now help guide the Consortium in developing the full middle school science program—which includes student materials, teacher guides, and resources for teacher professional development including classroom videos. The resulting program will implement the entire set of NGSS for grades 6-8 and meet the review criteria for Achieve’s EQuIP rubric.

This is a highly collaborative project, and the Consortium is committed to working closely with classroom teachers, specialists, and education leaders in the design and implementation of all materials. Each unit undergoes an 18-month development process that includes professional learning, robust field tests, revisions, and external reviews.

Professional Learning

The Consortium designs professional learning around goals to promote the shifts in science standards. Teachers learn how to support productive science discussions and coherence in student learning, for example, as they navigate effective OpenSciEd unit instruction. After internally designing and delivering professional learning institutes for the first sets of units, the Consortium has now prepared science education leaders across the ten partner states to facilitate institutes moving forward.

Robust Field Tests

The Consortium field tests all units, measuring success through both student and teacher surveys. For example, do students feel they are able to contribute their own ideas? Are teachers able to use their students’ questions to drive learning? This survey data, which has been largely positive across the ten partner states, informs unit revisions and the focus of future professional learning institutes. More than 220 teachers and 5,600 students across all ten partner states have participated in the field testing process.

Revisions and External Reviews

The Consortium revises all units based on data from the field test and external reviews, including an EQuIP review by Achieve.

The first three units were released in August 2019, with three additional units scheduled to be released every six months. The complete middle school program will be complete by winter 2022. See the official unit release schedule HERE .

Project Milestones