First science curriculum adoption since 1997, thanks to bond voters
Students in 4J elementary and middle schools will learn hands-on with new science materials this fall, thanks to school bond voters and the teachers and community members who participated in an extensive curriculum adoption process. Eugene School District 4J has adopted new science curriculum for elementary and middle schools for the first time in nearly 20 years. The new curriculum will better help teachers teach and students learn science in a hands-on way.
New science kit materials are being delivered and prepared for classrooms this summer. Nearly 50 pallets of new elementary science kit materials are being delivered early this summer and being prepared for teachers’ use. Additional pallets of middle school materials will be delivered directly to schools.
These aren’t stacks of textbooks—4J’s science curriculum in grades K–8 is kit-based, with science learning kits with hands-on learning materials, laboratory equipment, and texts targeted to each grade level. Each science unit for physical science, earth and space science and life science is designed to engage students in active science inquiry.
The new materials for grades K–8—FOSS Elementary science curriculum for elementary classrooms and IQWST Activate Learning for middle school classrooms—will replace science kits that have been in use since the district’s last elementary science adoption in spring 1997. The new materials are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Oregon’s adopted state academic standards for what students should know and be able to do. The curriculum is being purchased for about $1.5 million, mostly using bond funds approved by voters in 2013.
High school science curriculum updates will be considered next. The high school science curriculum adoption team will pilot curricula in physical science, earth science, space science, biology, chemistry and physics next school year (2016–17) and provide a curriculum recommendation for adoption.
More about the new science curriculum
