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S1-05: How does coding fit in the science classroom? A conversation with Aryanna Trejo of Code.org
In this episode, Eric sits down with Aryanna Trejo, a professional learning specialist of Code.org. Aryanna shares her journey from working as an elementary teacher in New York City and Los Angeles to teaching other educators at Code.org. Eric and Aryanna chat about computer literacy within the science classroom, problem-solving skills, and ways to model productive struggle for students. Aryanna also shares ways to teach coding and computer literacy in schools, no matter the classroom’s technology level. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.
Aryanna Trejo (00:00):
I would hear teachers saying things like, “Well, I just can’t do coding; this is too hard for me; the time has passed.” And I would ask them, “Would you say that to your student about math or English?” And they would always sheepishly go, “No.” And I’d say, “Well, be as kind to yourself as you would be to your student.”
Eric Cross (00:19):
Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. My guest today is Aryanna Trejo. Aryanna is a member of the professional learning team at Code.org. Before joining Code.org, Aryanna led computer science professional development for elementary school teachers, and served as an instructional coach for new educators. She also taught fourth and fifth grade in both New York City and in Los Angeles. In this episode, we discuss Aryanna’s journey to Code.org, where she helps educators connect coding to real life, how to use a rubber duck to solve problems, and how coding and computer science principles can be taught to students in areas without access to the internet…or even a computer. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Aryanna Trejo. So I was born and raised here, and I saw that you went to UC San Diego.
Aryanna Trejo (01:11):
I did, I did. I actually just put a deposit down on an apartment in University Heights, ’cause I’m moving back.
Eric Cross (01:16):
You’re coming back?
Aryanna Trejo (01:17):
I’m coming back. Yeah.
Eric Cross (01:19):
So if you need a classroom to visit….
Aryanna Trejo (01:21):
I would love to do more classroom observations!
Eric Cross (01:24):
Are we doing this? Let’s do—we’re making this happen.
Aryanna Trejo (01:26):
We are. Yeah. So I’ll be there. I’m moving there in April. I actually grew up in Orange County too, so I’m like a very diehard SoCal person.
Eric Cross (01:35):
So I feel like I know the answer to, hopefully—Tupac or Biggie? ‘Cause you’re on the East Coast, and you’re on the West Coast.
Aryanna Trejo (01:40):
Yeah. I like Tupac, but I have more Biggie songs committed to memory. Which is not a lot. I have “Juicy” and “Hypnotized” memorized.
Eric Cross (01:53):
All right. So you’re just memorizing, and you have the Biggie songs memorized, but not the Tupac ones.
Aryanna Trejo (01:58):
No, but I do love Tupac songs. You know, it’s like, Biggie has the flow, but Tupac has the lyrics. Nobody’s—they both have something really amazing about them.
Eric Cross (02:06):
You know, I can respect that you broke it down into both of their strengths.
Aryanna Trejo (02:11):
Thanks for buttering me up before this interview. And not….
Eric Cross (02:15):
<laugh> Oh, we already started.
Aryanna Trejo (02:16):
Huh? We already started?
Eric Cross (02:17):
We’re already started. Yeah. We’re already into this.
Aryanna Trejo (02:19):
We’re into it.
Eric Cross (02:21):
You were in the classroom, fourth and fifth grade, and you were doing TFA.
Aryanna Trejo (02:26):
I did. I did Teach For America. I was 2012, New York City Corps. Right after graduation. ‘Cause I graduated UC San Diego in 2012. So graduation was on June 17th, and I touched down at JFK on June 19th.
Eric Cross (02:40):
Even though I wasn’t in TFA, I know a lot of the fellows that are in it. And there’s just some phenomenal teachers in there. How long were you doing elementary school when you were teaching?
Aryanna Trejo (02:49):
Yeah, I taught for—well, I did, three years of teaching fourth grade. Then there happened to be an instructional coach opening in my fourth year. I took that, did some instructional coaching within the same network, and then I moved back to LA and I taught fifth grade for a year.
Eric Cross (03:11):
- And what was it like now? Did you go to Code.org right after the classroom?
Aryanna Trejo (03:17):
No, I didn’t. No. I transitioned after teaching fifth grade for a year in downtown Los Angeles, in the Pico-Union neighborhood. I ended up getting this email out of the blue from someone who had actually found me through the Teach for America job site. ‘Cause I was hitting the pavement; I was really looking to transition out of the classroom. And she invited me to interview with this company called 9 Dots. And they taught computer science to kids K–6 throughout Los Angeles and Compton. And I was like, “Sure, no problem. Let’s do it.” So I interviewed, I got the job, and yeah, that’s how I transitioned to 9 Dots. And then after almost four years there, I transitioned to Code.org, with the same person. Actually, she moved over to Code.org first, and then she helped me get this job.
Eric Cross (04:07):
Oh, that’s happened a lot—like, that relationship kinda carries over.
Aryanna Trejo (04:11):
Yeah. We’re meant to be coworkers.
Eric Cross (04:13):
Yeah. Are you still? Is she still there? Are you both still together?
Aryanna Trejo (04:17):
Yeah, we’re on the same team and it’s nice. I saw her last night for Happy Hour, with another coworker who’s in LA. So we’re tight. And she’s a wonderful, wonderful mentor to me.
Eric Cross (04:28):
That’s great. Did you have computer-science background, when you were doing elementary school teaching? Did you have—
Aryanna Trejo (04:34):
No. <laugh> Not at all. When I was teaching in New York City, I had like four desktop computers in my classroom, and we rarely used them. Which was such a shame. And then when I moved to Los Angeles and taught fifth grade there, we were a one-to-one school, and the joys of that are just amazing. It was just really wonderful to, you know, get the students used to typing on the computer, using different software to submit their assignments. Getting creative—as creative as you can get—with Google Slides. You know, to show off what they know. And stuff like that. That’s all I had, though. And you know, when I transitioned to 9 Dots I was like, “Sure, why not? Let’s give a shot.” And I learned a lot. It was really interesting, yeah.
Eric Cross (05:26):
And so now at Code.org you are…well, so my journey with Code.org, I’ve been in the classroom for eight years. Still in the classroom as of…an hour ago, I was there. <Laugh> And I use Code.org, and I feel like I’ve checked it periodically, and I feel like it’s evolved over the gaps. And I’ve seen it. It’s become more robust in the things that they offer, over the years I’ve been an educator. Just to kind of…could you give a thumbnail sketch? Like, what is Code.org? Who’s it for? Who’s the target audience? What resources are there?
Aryanna Trejo (06:00):
Yeah. So it’s for everyone. It is a nonprofit that provides curriculum and training and a platform for teachers and students. We provide curriculum for K through 12. It’s completely free. And it comes with lesson plans, slideshows, all that. We focus specifically on underrepresented groups. So we have targeted measures for Black students, for Native American students, for students who identify as female. That’s a huge part of our mission. But we’re really working to expand access to computer science to as many students as we can.
Eric Cross (06:41):
One of the things I’m hearing in your story is you were teaching in Compton; you were in Bronx, New York. One of the reasons why I got into the classroom is because of educators, and the impact they made on me in exposing me to science and technologies I’d never had access to. And that intentionality, that you’re going about it…are there…not just the code, but how you bring that across to different groups…are there strategies, or are there ways to connect this idea of coding to diverse groups and diverse audiences? Or is it kind of, the curriculum applies for everyone? ‘Cause in science, when I’m teaching, I’m always trying to make what I’m doing relevant to the backgrounds of my students.
Aryanna Trejo (07:28):
Sure.
Eric Cross (07:28):
So I’m teaching biology, and I’m trying to make this kind of connection. Sometimes it’s more organic; sometimes it feels kind of forced. Because it’s just not always a nice fit. But it sounds like Code.org is really about inclusion. And in the numbers that I’ve seen for representation, in especially computer science software engineers, the groups that you’re focusing on are not necessarily represented in the professional workforce. At least disproportionately.
Aryanna Trejo (07:54):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that’s correct.
Eric Cross (07:57):
And so how do you go about being intentional about reaching groups that we don’t see in, you know, the Silicon Valley software engineers? How do you start that? Like, at a young age, do you look for specific schools in specific areas to say, “We are going to bring this to the school. We’re going out to these populations of the cities”? Because we’re just not seeing…you know, on the map, we’re not seeing anybody really doing anything with coding here. Or we’re not seeing the numbers come out of these areas, out of these cities, of students who are going into STEM or going into computer science fields.
Aryanna Trejo (08:41):
Yeah. I don’t necessarily work on the recruitment side of it, is the issue, in my position. But I do work on the professional learning, that is brought out to teachers. And we have a huge focus on equity throughout the workshops that we create from K–12. It’s something we’re really passionate about. We definitely aim to prepare teachers to teach computer science. That’s a huge part of it. Knowing the content, but also thinking through, “What does recruitment look like at your school to make sure that the demographics of your classroom match the demographics of your entire school?” Also, thinking through, “How can we make sure that female students feel included in your classroom? How can we make sure that we are, giving students creativity to think about, or we are setting students up to be creative and think about the problems that are in their community, and how they can use computer science to solve them, or at least work towards them?”
Eric Cross (09:39):
So solving real-world problems and that inclusion aspect…are there things like…you were saying “female or students who identify as female”…are there things that teachers can do to ensure that they’re being more inclusive? Or to recruit, or encourage more female students to take part? One of the things I was thinking of, that I’ve seen, is I’ve seen coding kind of camps.
Aryanna Trejo (10:06):
Sure.
Eric Cross (10:08):
That were specifically for a female audience. And that seemed to help with recruitment. Is that something that you see on your side?
Aryanna Trejo (10:16):
That’s not something that we set up, no. But the curriculum that I work with is CS Principles. And it’s offered as an Advanced Placement course, as well as an AP class. So that’s a curriculum that’s designed for students who are in grades 10 through 12. And so at that point, we can really talk to teachers and ask them what the recruitment strategy is. But in terms of strategies that teachers can use to recruit those students…I mean, I’ve heard over and over from lots of different teachers who identify as female that they didn’t think that computer science was for them, until they saw a role model in that position. And so just being a role model for those students is really wonderful.
Eric Cross (11:00):
And I see it too, with—like, we do “Draw a Scientist” activity, which is like a popular science thing—
Aryanna Trejo (11:05):
Sure, yeah, I’m familiar.
Eric Cross (11:05):
But it’s the same thing, right? Like, it fleshes out. My students don’t draw themselves as scientists. They draw what they perceive, based on what television says. I imagine with computer science, it’s probably really similar, when you think about “What’s a software engineer look like?” Do students tend to draw themselves? Or is it even a mystery? Because I don’t even know what a software engineer looks like.
Aryanna Trejo (11:28):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, one of the things we love to do with our professional learning workshops is talk about understanding yourself, your identities, how they show up in the classroom as biases. And, you know, things like stereotype threat. We see that as really important to understand, and think through, and consider, before you step into the classroom. So that you’re not, you know, coddling certain groups of students because you don’t believe that they are able to be successful in computer science. Holding all the students to the same expectations and believing that they can succeed. And computer science, I think a lot of the times people have this conception of it being this utopian, bias-less, technocratic field. When in reality, everything has bias. And people talk about algorithmic bias and facial recognition, but also the people who created computers and computer languages have their own bias that comes through. And I think it’s really important to show students that. So that they can, one, know what they’re working with, and two, make sure that they can create products that reduce that bias.
Eric Cross (12:50):
It’s like…it’s not objective, just because we’re creating software. Like, once it gets to a point of being so sophisticated…I think, like, AI software, right? With facial recognition? And we’re seeing more and more articles come out about, you know, predicting trends based on historical data.
Aryanna Trejo (13:12):
Sure.
Eric Cross (13:13):
But then, the trends and things that they’re seeing tend to target things that have happened in the past. But it also doesn’t take into consideration a lot of other factors that can lead to certain groups or populations being identified. And I’ve seen some articles lately about how your code is really just representation of what you put into it. And like you just said, your bias—if you have that, conscious or unconscious—you’re gonna put that into your code. And the input is gonna be an impact, is gonna impact the output.
Aryanna Trejo (13:44):
Yeah, absolutely. Or even just—and I’m ashamed to say this, ’cause this is an idea that came to me just recently, through an article that I read—but computers themselves have bias. The hardware assumes that you have vision, that you can see the screen, that you are able-bodied, that you can use your hands to work the keyboard, the mouse, et cetera, and that you don’t have to use assistive technology. You know, there are small things like that, where we think that technology, like I said, is this utopian, futuristic science…but there are biases throughout.
Eric Cross (14:19):
You’re absolutely right. I’ve never even—I’ve never even considered that. Even though I do use assistive tech, and figure it out, I’ve never thought from the ground up, the process is built for an able-bodied, sighted, hearing person.
Aryanna Trejo (14:31):
Exactly.
Eric Cross (14:32):
To be able to engage with the hardware. And then these other things, these tertiary things that we kind of add on, so that you can do this, but it’s not designed from the ground up for people who are, you know, different audiences, physically. So I’m glad you brought that up, though. Now I’ve seen—and I haven’t done this—but I know Hour of Code is a big thing. And this is something that’s ongoing. Can you talk a little bit about what Hour of Code is? I know it’s, it’s a big thing for the classroom teachers.
Aryanna Trejo (15:08):
Yeah. So Hour of Code is really exciting, and it’s just blossomed from something small to something tremendous. This year is gonna be the 10th Hour of Code. So what it is, is it happens during CS Education Week in December, during Grace Hopper’s—or to honor Grace Hopper’s birthday. She was a computer scientist and Navy Admiral. And basically the aim of it is to get as many students on the computer doing an hour of code, and demystify what coding is. You know, to do seed-planting. To show teachers that this is something that you can facilitate for your students. And also to show students like, “Hey, computer science is something you can absolutely do. Not just for an hour, but more if you want.” So, yeah. Now it’s worldwide, and it’s really exciting.
Eric Cross (15:58):
That’s awesome. And I think about teachers and I still hear the apologetic—when I’m helping teachers in the classroom with education technology—the self-deprecating “I’m a dinosaur; I’m not good with tech,” which is never true. Like, they’re better than they even realize. And I feel like sometimes there’s still a stigma, too. It’s like <laugh> The Simpsons’ Comic Book Store Guy. The condescending tech support person—
Aryanna Trejo (16:27):
Sure.
Eric Cross (16:28):
—who has that tone. And so I feel like some people have been so negatively impacted by that person. So I know when I’m helping people, I actually try to go full-spectrum the other side. But I’m thinking about teachers’ barrier to entry. Sometimes code is like, “Whoa.” And I don’t teach computer science. Do you see those barriers to entry, or at least the perception of them? And then, what’s the reality for like someone listening, and going, “I’m a fourth grade teacher,” or “I’m a humanities teacher in ninth grade.” What’s the perception that you see, versus reality, with the teachers that you train? Is it much more accessible than we think? Or is there a level of sophistication that you have to have coming into it?
Aryanna Trejo (17:10):
No, not at all. I know computer science, and that says a lot! <Laugh> You know, I know my own corner of computer science. And you know, that’s me being self-deprecating, too. But I think learning computer science has helped me in so many different ways that I wasn’t expecting. I recently took the GRE in hopes of, you know, getting back into grad school. And I think just the way that computer science teaches you to search for bugs in your code, or errors, and kind of tirelessly look at a problem from multiple different angles, I was able to carry that into the math that I was doing. And I noticed just a huge difference in the way that I approached it, and the way that I was open to it. But you asked a great question, in regards to the barriers to technology. In my position at 9 Dots, I was working directly with teachers to lead professional development with them. Sometimes it would be a full day; sometimes it would be an hour after school. And the one thing that I always had in my back pocket that was really useful is that I would hear teachers saying things like, “Well, I just can’t do coding; this is too hard for me; the time has passed.” And I would ask them, “Would you say that to your student about math or English?” And they would always sheepishly go, “No.” And I’d say, “Well, be as kind to yourself as you would be to your student.” You know, it takes some patience and nobody’s gonna get it perfect 100 percent of the time. Have I banged my head against the wall trying to solve one tiny little syntax error in my code? Absolutely! But it feels absolutely phenomenal to fix that. And I was an English major in undergrad, and I had never done computer science before. So it’s something that becomes really satisfying.
Eric Cross (19:07):
Yeah, I imagine. I had someone—a trainer or a presenter—one time bring up the fact that our students rarely get to see us learn in real time.
Aryanna Trejo (19:19):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (19:19):
So we don’t get to ever really model failure. I mean, unless we’re in a classroom situation <laughs> in our failures, with classroom management. Then they see it, they see it! But they don’t get to see us model learning failure. And I don’t mean like failure—and yes, I know, “first attempt is learning,” and “no such thing as failure”—that’s not what I’m talking about. But just when we’re not successful with our code, and then we experience real-time frustration.
Aryanna Trejo (19:42):
Yep.
Eric Cross (19:42):
And they said that is actually a great learning experience for your students to watch you go through productive struggle. And that was really liberating for me. Because now I’m in the classroom, and I’m trying to go through it with my students, and the beautiful thing was, they started helping me. We were all trying to solve the problem. And then we had this authentic problem-solving experience. I think it was like a Scratch program, where we were trying to solve, trying to embed it somewhere, or something. And then, in the background of the class: “Mr. Cross! I got it! I figured it out!” And it was this really neat bonding experience. And I felt that—your ears get red, and you get hot, ’cause you’re not—
Aryanna Trejo (20:19):
Oh yeah.
Eric Cross (20:20):
You don’t know it! And you’re in front of 36 kids! And I said, “OK, I need to tell them how I feel.”
Aryanna Trejo (20:25):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (20:26):
So I said, “Now I feel really frustrated.” Like, “I want to go through this, and here’s my thoughts.” ‘Cause I knew that it would be helpful if they saw and would hear my thoughts. So I just did a quick think-aloud and I said, “In my head, <laugh> I want to just quit,” I said, “But I realize that this is the part where my learning’s happening. So I just want you all to hear what’s going on in my brain.” And now I feel like when I’m doing coding with my students, and it’s just basic coding, I feel much more comfortable, like, not knowing. But I needed someone to release me from that “I have to be the expert in everything” to do it.
Aryanna Trejo (21:06):
And teachers are used to being the experts. Right? And they should be. And coding is just such a different landscape. But I think once you kind of give over to the power of tinkering, I think it’s really gratifying. I love being able to…you can revise a sentence, and then read your paragraph back to yourself in English, and say, “OK, I get it.” But there’s something so gratifying about changing a line of code or a block and then being able to hit play and watch your program come to life, and say, “Hmm, that’s not quite what I wanted. Let’s try something different.”
Eric Cross (21:39):
I love your connection to tinkering. ‘Cause—I had never thought about it—’cause I love tinkering with my hands. But I always think about physical things. But coding is exactly that. It’s tinkering.
Aryanna Trejo (21:47):
It’s exactly that.
Eric Cross (21:47):
That’s exactly what it is.
Aryanna Trejo (21:49):
And a lot of it is, for me, especially when I’m trying something new, it’s guess-and-check. It’s like, “OK, that didn’t work. What if I add a semicolon here? Will it finally work? Or what if I add a ‘for’ loop? Will this get me what I want?” And it’s wonderful because you have that with students as well. Like, you have that record of their thinking, and you can ask them to go step-by-step and tell you, you know, “First, I added this, because I wanted the program to do this,” and so on and so forth. And so you have that record, but you can always get rid of it. Students often wanna get completely get rid of it. That’s something that I’ve noticed a lot as I’ve taught computer science. But, once you can get them to target the specific parts of the program, tinker with that, and continue, that’s a really wonderful learning space. There was also something you said about modeling failure. I love the fact that in computer science you can model failure for your students. You said to your students, “I’m getting frustrated.” I love that, because I never got that in math. Nobody ever showed me what it was like to be frustrated with graphing a parabola. Right? Like, my math teachers were always like, “Doot, doot, doot, here you go, you’re done!” <Laugh> And I would get so frustrated, because it didn’t come that easily to me. And I think there’s two parts to that. So there’s modeling the learning and the thinking and the productive struggle, but also there’s the identity of being a computer scientist and modeling what that looks like. So for me, when I get really frustrated with a program, I walk away. I take five minutes. I take a deep breath. I say, “I’m not gonna think about it in these five minutes.” And I come back to it. And I think once you start teaching computer science, you can facilitate that for students. And there’s so many different strategies that they can pick up. They can pick up rubber ducking, which is where they pick up a rubber duck or a similar object, and they talk to it as if they were a partner and talk through their code. And oftentimes, as you’re rubber ducking, you’re gonna find that error, because you’re explaining it to someone who’s a stand-in for a novice. And rubber ducking is a well-known strategy for computer scientists who make it their career. You know, there’s pair programming. Some students love pair programming; some students hate it. But the students start to build this identity about how they problem-solve. And how they approach failure. And I just love that.
Eric Cross (24:31):
I’m writing this down. Because the rubber-ducking strategy, I love. I just imagine my seventh graders, a bunch of 13-year-olds with, like, rubber on the desk. And not necessarily in coding, but I was thinking in my science class. And they’re working through a challenge, and they’re all looking at this duck, and they’re talking to it. But I just love the the idea of externalizing your thought process and talking through it yourself so that you can hopefully arrive at a conclusion. But it’s such a great practice, and this is something that’s been around for a long time, apparently. So.
Aryanna Trejo (24:59):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s a real thing. And you know, you can go low-fi. It doesn’t have to be a rubber duck. You can have students talk to their pencils or their imaginary friends. That’s not the issue; the issue is, you know, talking to somebody.
Eric Cross (25:10):
I know you support teachers. But I just wanted to…I was just curious about your typical day, what that’s like. And then what you do, how you support ’em.
Aryanna Trejo (25:15):
So, at my previous job at 9 Dots, I was in there with the teachers in the classrooms. I was coaching our internal staff who went out to co-teach with teachers. And I loved that. And I had such a great impact on a local scale. But now at Code.org, I have a much broader impact. But I don’t get to interface with—that’s such a tech-y word!—I don’t get to interact with—
Eric Cross (25:42):
You work at Code.org! You get to—
Aryanna Trejo (25:42):
I know! But I’m a teacher at heart, forever, right? That’s my identity that I forged when I was 22 years old. And a typical day looks like opening up my computer, taking a look at my calendar. I often have meetings to talk about, different things that we’re doing to support our facilitators who go out to our teachers and lead their workshops for them. I recently worked on a product that was designed for CS principles, teachers, to onboard to the course if they weren’t able to get into an in-person workshop. And it’s completely self-paced, so it gives teachers an on-ramp into the course. And now I’m working on some in-person workshop agendas. So I feel really wonderful that my work is going out to thousands of teachers. But at the same time, I really, really miss talking to teachers. Because that’s something that energizes me so much.
Eric Cross (26:46):
When should students start learning computer science? I feel like we see it in this kind of narrow lane. Like, this is computer science if you make an app. Can it be more than that? As far as like the benefit of computer science? And—I guess two-part question—when should students, one, start being exposed to it? And then two, what are some of the benefits beyond just, “I wanna just make an app”?
Aryanna Trejo (27:08):
I taught coding to kindergartners. It can start as early as you as you want it to. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be on the computer. A lot of students that I worked with didn’t have computers at home, were interacting with computers for the first time. And that’s a huge barrier, of course, to a lot of teachers. But there are so many unplugged lessons that you can do to start to start to have students think about algorithms, which is just a series of steps to complete to solve a problem. As long as a student can use a computer, I think they can do computer science. There are products out there like codeSpark, where students—and Code.org has these products too—where students are moving an avatar around a board, kind of like a quadrant to…you know, they feed the directions to a computer and then the computer enacts it for them. And with that, they can learn algorithms. You know, that is computer science. And a lot of people don’t see it that way, but it really is. And it starts to set students up for more complex thinking as they move on.
Eric Cross (28:13):
One of the biggest underserved communities, geographically, are students in rural areas.
Aryanna Trejo (28:20):
Yep.
Eric Cross (28:21):
They can be reservations; they can be places just not an urban area. Is there a way to serve our communities of students and bring these skills in an unplugged way?
Aryanna Trejo (28:32):
Yeah. Yeah. If you typed in “unplugged computer science lessons” to Google, you’ll have a ton of hits. And there are so many students out there—not just in rural areas. But there’s incarcerated students. It hurts my heart to even say those words, but in urban areas too. Like in my classroom, where I only had four desktop computers. Access is a real struggle. And there’s things, like I said, instead of moving an avatar around a grid on the computer, I used to have an actual mat that I would take out to my kindergarten classrooms, lay it out, and it would have a grid on it. And we’d have one of the students act as the avatar and the rest of the students would give them directions to get to a different point on the grid. And there, you’re building an algorithm or just a series of steps. Like I said, it’s not some fancy term to solve a problem. And there’s multiple ways to solve that problem, too. And I think investigating that can be a really good way to stretch those lessons.
Eric Cross (29:32):
It almost sounds like an oxymoron, but this low-tech computer science strategy. Develop these skills and then transfer that once you have access to the tools.
Aryanna Trejo (29:39):
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think it’s a good way for students who need kinesthetic means to start to understand something, or just different learning styles, to start transferring that over.
Eric Cross (29:53):
I probably have students in the classroom where those kinesthetic moving things would help be a great way—or WILL be a great way—for them to learn the principles and the fundamentals of coding. Instead of only giving the option to just do the computer, actually giving them some choice. Or giving them a way to be able to manipulate things. We’re still in the system of education that’s still very siloed. It’s been the same way for a hundred years. We got math and then we got science and we got English. I’m wondering, how can a teacher fit this into their daily lessons? And then, do you have any experiences or stories or things that you’ve seen, just really creative ways that you’ve seen teachers incorporate this? Outside the norm of, “This is a computer science class; we’re just gonna code.” But have you seen it branch out? In the trainings that you’ve done?
Aryanna Trejo (30:40):
I’ve seen examples of that. I’ve seen a teacher use Scratch to demonstrate different climates of California, and show the different climates. This past year for Hour of Code, my friend Amy—the one who helped me move to 9 Dots and at Code.org—she created this incredible tutorial called Poetry Bot. And it was a way to get students to match the mood of the poem to some of the elements that were happening in the stage. So they would have different backgrounds show up at different parts of the poem. When the words would show up, they would have different sprites show up. They would have, sometimes, sounds. Or the text would show up with different animations. So there are cross-curricular opportunities everywhere, if you can be creative enough to find them, or if you beg, borrow, steal from other educators who are doing this incredible work out there.
Eric Cross (31:36):
Yeah. I say this all the time, but I’m an educational DJ, not an MC.
Aryanna Trejo (31:44):
Oh yeah.
Eric Cross (31:45):
So MCs write their lyrics and DJs remix with things that other people have done.
Aryanna Trejo (31:48):
Absolutely.
Eric Cross (31:48):
I was like, I’m a DJ. I was like, all day. Sometimes I’ll write a lyric, once or twice, but most of the time I’m remixing things. So teachers, if you’ve been out there and you got an awesome interdisciplinary thing, or you’ve incorporated coding and it’s something that’s traditionally not seen, please send it to us. Share it with us.
Aryanna Trejo (32:03):
Yeah. And there are so many different places where you can find that. We have a forum for Code.org, but there’s also CSTA, the Computer Science Teachers Association. You can join your local chapter and get to know other computer science teachers out there.
Eric Cross (32:19):
I guess…to wrap up, I’ve been using Scratch programming, the MIT website. My students do the basic animated name, CS First, stuff. But over the years, I’ve noticed that my students are coming in with a higher level of sophistication in Scratch to where now the differentiation…some of my students are just doing very basic…and then I have other students who’ve created full-on video games with complex…like, you look at their Scratch page and it’s just an amazing amount of blocks and integrations and things that they have. Is there anything on Code.org that could be a next step? That takes them beyond, maybe like the visuals? And if so, what would be a good next step, to take students to advance them to another platform? There’s so many coding languages out there, I feel like. Or I might not even be thinking about that the right way.
Aryanna Trejo (33:20):
No, I think you are. You know, we have three different curricula out on our website right now. We have CS Fundamentals, which is probably more in line with what you’re talking about. We have a free CS Discoveries curriculum, and that is designed for, grades, I believe, 6 through 10. And that would be a really good entry point, for both teachers and for students.
Eric Cross (33:44):
There’s a lot of new stuff that I hadn’t seen yet, a few years ago.
Aryanna Trejo (33:49):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (33:49):
So I was really excited.
Aryanna Trejo (33:50):
One thing that I do know is that CS Discovery has just added an artificial intelligence slash machine-learning unit, that you can just pick up and give to your students. You don’t have to go in order with CS Discoveries, like you do with CS Principles. And I’ve gone through some of those lessons. They are really rad. And I would’ve loved to have learned that when I was in middle school or high school. So yeah, we’re constantly thinking of how we can make things one, relevant to our students, and two relevant to what’s going on in the world.
Eric Cross (34:20):
So would I be overselling it if I said, “If you go through this, you’ll be able to create an AI or a neural net to do all your homework”?
Aryanna Trejo (34:26):
You would be overselling it.
Eric Cross (34:27):
I would be? OK. So what I’ll do is, I’ll wait until the end of the school year, and then introduce it, and then by the time they’ve realized it’s not true, they’ll be eighth graders.
Aryanna Trejo (34:35):
There you go. Good old bait-and-switch.
Eric Cross (34:37):
You’re amazing. Thank you for serving teachers, and for being part of such a great organization that puts out great stuff. So much free curricula for teachers to be able to use. Especially nowadays we hunt and scour the internet for those types of things. And to be able to bring computer literacy into the classroom, and with your focus of serving communities of underrepresented groups, it feels good to know that not only is it high-quality material, but it’s also trying to raise everyone up. Because ultimately when we have more people trying to solve a common problem, we come up with better solutions. And I was talking to somebody who was a materials engineer somewhere in Europe, and he said one of the things about the U.S., As he was critiquing me on this flight, critiquing the U.S., He said, “One of the things about your country is that you have a heterogeneous group of people who, in a group, when you have multiple perspectives attacking a problem, you come up with more novel solutions.” He says, “That’s one of the great things, is that there’s not necessarily just a hive mind.” And I think that that’s one of the great things. We uplift different communities, and we uplift women, people of color, people who, have backgrounds that parents didn’t go to college but have these amazing qualities and strengths. And we put everybody focusing on the same issue. We come up with novel solutions that we wouldn’t have come up with if only select groups were trying to look at it and solve it. And so—.
Aryanna Trejo (36:22):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (36:23):
And we couldn’t do that without organizations like yours, that help empower teachers. So.
Aryanna Trejo (36:27):
Yeah! You really said it.
You’re coming to my classroom when you’re back in San Diego?
Aryanna Trejo (36:31):
Yeah! I totally will. Yeah. Let’s make it happen.
Eric Cross (36:34):
Last question. If you think back in your schooling, your own schooling, K through college, is there a person or a teacher that had a big impact on you? Or a learning experience that had an impact on you? And it could be, you know, positive or negative. But something that impacted you, even to this day, that stands out to you, that you remember?
Aryanna Trejo (36:56):
This is a big diversion from the topics that we’re talking about. But in grades 10 through 12, my drama teacher, Mr. Byler, who I still talk with, was such a huge impression on me. Really wonderful. And I couldn’t tell you the teaching moves that he did that were wonderful. I don’t know much about his management. But I can tell you that he gave me space to be confident, and grow into myself, through drama productions. They were high school productions, so they weren’t amazing. But I just really came into myself in high school, because I had the confidence to get on stage. And he was just such a wonderful mentor to all of us. So, props to Mr. Byler.
Eric Cross (37:39):
Shout out to Mr. Byler for creating space for Aryanna to fly! Thanks for making time, after your workday, to talk with us and to share Code.org with teachers.
Aryanna Trejo (37:54):
Of course. Happy to.
Eric Cross (37:59):
Thanks so much for joining me and Aryanna today. We want to hear more about you. If you have any great lessons or ways to keep student engagement high, please email us at stem@amplify.com. Make sure to click subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And join our brand new Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community for some extra content.
Stay connected!
Join our community and get new episodes every other Tuesday!
We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.
Meet the guest
Aryanna is a member of the Code.org Professional Learning Team. Before joining Code.org, Aryanna led computer science professional development for K-6 teachers and served as an instructional coach for new educators. She also taught fourth and fifth grade in New York City and Los Angeles. In her spare time, Aryanna loves taking advantage of the California sunshine, creating wheel-thrown pottery, and hanging out with her dog Lola.
About Science Connections
Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!
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Celebrating the 2026 Science of Reading Star Awards finalists
Every day, teachers and education leaders guide students toward a future lit up by literacy. It’s not always easy, especially for those championing shifts toward programs grounded in the Science of Reading.
That’s why we’re thrilled to celebrate the finalists of the 2026 Science of Reading Star Awards! These awards recognize educators, schools, and districts who go above and beyond to make evidence-based instruction a reality.
Empowering students through literacy
The Science of Reading Star Awards shine a beacon on the champions of literacy—the educators putting research into action.
Studies show that systematic phonics instruction leads to significantly higher achievement, particularly for students experiencing reading difficulties. Literacy instruction grounded in the Science of Reading strengthens critical thinking by building the vocabulary and background knowledge students need to make meaning from complex texts.
But shifting to this instruction is about more than swapping programs—it’s about leading change and inspiring others. With these awards, we celebrate the educators and districts whose innovative approach does just that.
Here are this year’s categories and finalists:
- The District Captain: For the district that exemplifies strong Science of Reading practices across the board
- Keppel Union School District, CA
- Traverse City Area Public Schools, MI
- DeSoto County School District, MS
- Colton Joint Unified School District, CA
- The Literacy Legend: For the school that’s seen significant reading gains among their students school-wide when using the Science of Reading
- Albuquerque Collegiate Charter School, NM
- Faircrest Memorial Elementary School, OH
- Grantsburg Elementary School, WI
- The Background Knowledge Builder: For showing the world that the Science of Reading empowers students with knowledge, context, and vocabulary from elementary through middle school
- Sara Allen, Spring Hill Unified School District 230, KS
- Joy Villahermosa, North Slope Borough School District, AL
- Jesse Muehler, St. John-Emmanuel Lutheran School, IN
- The Changemaker: For showcasing exemplary Science of Reading routines and practices, and serving as an inspiration to others on the journey
- Olivia Eastwood, Dedham Public School District, MA
- Amy Sell, Lower Dauphin School District, PA
- Rob Murray, Romeo Community School District, MI
- The Comprehension Champion: For fostering deep understanding and critical thinking by expertly guiding students to make meaning from complex texts, ask thoughtful questions, and connect reading to their world and experiences
- Kiera Bridley, Webster School District, WI
- Sandi Bourque, Ascension Parish School District, LA
- Rebecca Zandbergen, Kamaile Academy Public Charter School, HI
- The Data Dynamo: For expertly using data to drive instruction within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework, identifying student needs with precision, and implementing targeted interventions that accelerate literacy growth for every learner
- ZaTaya Rivenbark, Charleston County School District, SC
- Yaneth Acosta, Buncombe County School District, NC
- Diana Van Osdell, Northwestern School Corporation, IN
- Kelly Scheurich, Stratford Public Schools, CT
- The Language Luminary: For outstanding success in developing the skills and strengths of multilingual/English learners
- Melissa García, Passaic Public Schools, NJ
- Maria Monsivais, Cicero School District 99, IL
- Yessenia Viera, Carthage R9 School District, MO
- Jennifer Gomez Vallejos, Buncombe County School District, NC
- The Science of Reading Rookie: For a teacher in their first three years of teaching already making strides with the Science of Reading
- Johanna Vargas, Grand Island Public Schools, NE
- Christian Watkins, Cornerstone Prep Denver, TN
- Marissa Riley, Urbana School District 116, IL
- The Writing Whiz: For integrating writing instruction with the Science of Reading, cultivating articulate and confident writers through innovative and effective practices
- Joandra Mendoza, Rome City School District, GA
- Jennifer Csolkovits, Walton-Verona Independent School District, KY
- Caitlyn Bacom Dominguez, Cambridge Public School District, MA
- William Strunk, South Bend Community School Corporation, IN
Amplify Science 6–8 Review Toolkit
Simplify your science curriculum review journey with the Amplify Science Review Toolkit. Within this Toolkit, you’ll find program overview information, classroom videos, evaluation rubrics, and a free sample unit.
Amplify Science for grades K–8 has been rated all-green by EdReports. Read the review on EdReports.
What is Amplify Science?
A collaboration between the curriculum experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and instructional technology experts at Amplify, Amplify Science is a comprehensive program that blends literacy-rich activities, hands-on investigations, and interactive digital tools. Amplify Science empowers students to think, read, write, and argue like 21st-century scientists and engineers. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility with their technology resources and preferences.
The program is backed by gold-standard research and is currently used by thousands of teachers across the US.
See Amplify Science in action
Amplify Science in Action: a week in the life (6–8)
What does a week in the life of an Amplify Science teacher look like? We asked Amy Trujillo, a sixth-grade teacher from Denver Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
In Amplify Science, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to actively investigate compelling phenomena through engaging hands-on investigations, immersive digital simulations, comprehensive reading and writing activities, and lively classroom discussions.
See what Amplify Science looks like in a classroom with more topical videos:
Dig deeper into the curriculum
Amplify Science is rooted in the research-based Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize model of learning. Students engage with science and engineering practices, figure out disciplinary core ideas, and utilize and apply crosscutting concepts in multiple modalities across thoughtful, structured lessons, all centered around engaging anchor phenomena. Learn more about how a unique mix of activities and modalities provide students with multiple points of entry into the instruction.
- Program structure and pacing
- Phenomena and unit storylines
- Hands-on investigations
- Digital Simulations
Attend a webinar
Join the Lawrence Hall of Science for a series of free webinars! Curriculum experts will explore why embedded engineering and phenomena-based science instruction deliver results, with examples from Amplify Science.
Webinars are scheduled throughout the spring, and you can always sign to watch a recording if you’re unable to attend live.
Review rubrics
Using an evaluation rubric to review? Take a look at our filled-out TIME and EQuIP rubrics.
Test drive the program
Click submit to access a free sample unit from our middle school curriculum.
What’s included in our literacy curriculum for 6–8
Amplify ELA is a blended literacy curriculum designed specifically for grades 6–8. The heart of every lesson is the text. Our core English Language Arts curriculum enables teachers to teach skills through texts and develop their students’ muscles for building meaning through reading. With Amplify ELA, students learn to attack any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves.
Year at a glance
Each grade includes six core units centered on literary or informational texts, delivered in several forms of media. In addition to these main units, students will engage with targeted Grammar lessons and a dedicated Story Writing unit, plus two to three immersive learning experiences called Quests.
Grade 6 core units
Dahl & Narrative
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 28 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Mysteries & Investigations
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 32 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Chocolate Collection
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Greeks
Myth World Quest
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Summer of the Mariposas
1 assessment lesson
2 sub-units | 27 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Titanic Collection
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Grade 7 core units
Red Scarf Girl
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 31 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Character & Conflict
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 29 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Brain Science
Perception Academy Quest
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Poetry & Poe
The “Who Killed Edgar Allen Poe” Quest
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 29 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Frida & Diego Collection
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Gold Rush Collection
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Grade 8 core units
Perspectives & Narrative
1 assessment lesson
4 sub-units | 27 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Liberty & Equality
1 assessment lesson
6 sub-units | 38 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Science & Science Fiction
1 assessment lesson
3 sub-units | 29 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
1 assessment lesson
2 sub-units | 22 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Holocaust: Memory & Meeting
1 assessment lesson
6 sub-units | 21 lessons | 4-6 weeks
The Space Race Collection
1 assessment lesson
5 sub-units | 25 lessons | 4-6 weeks
Units at a glance
Amplify ELA lessons follow a structure both grounded in regular routines and flexible enough to allow for a variety of learning experiences. Lesson structures vary from day to day, ensuring that students are always engaged.
Learn more in the Amplify ELA Grade Overview.
Unit 6A
Dahl & Narrative
Students begin with narrative writing to develop foundational Focus skills and establish key classroom routines. Teachers use this work to create targeted feedback cycles and build a vibrant community centered on diverse experiences. Students then apply observational skills to Roald Dahl’s Boy: Tales of Childhood, learning to work closely with textual evidence.
Unit 6B
Mysteries & Investigations
Students read like an investigator to embark on a multi-genre study into the mesmerizing world of scientific and investigative sleuthing. The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories take place in the late 19th century, when medical diagnostics and criminal investigations were still evolving into scientific fields.
Unit 6C
The Chocolate Collection
Students explore primary documents and research the diverse cultural roles chocolate has played over 3,700 years, from its various uses in ancient Mexico to issues with modern production. Along the way, they build information literacy skills, craft research questions, and collaborate in Socratic seminars. Students also learn how to construct an evidence-based argument and use those skills to write pieces aimed at convincing readers about chocolate preferences, school lunch policies, and recommendations for local candy stores.
Unit 6D
The Greeks
Students closely explore and analyze three stories from Greek mythology: “Prometheus,” “Odysseus,” and “Arachne.” Drawing on the routines and skills established in previous units, these lessons ask students to move from considering the state of a single person to contemplating broader questions concerning the role people play in the world and the various communities they inhabit.
Unit 6E
Summer of the Mariposas
Students read Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe García McCall, a contemporary Latino retelling of The Odyssey. Following five sisters on their journey into Mexico and back, students explore this reimagining of the hero’s journey as they encounter Mexican folklore and Aztec legends along the way. Students analyze character development, compare the novel to Homer’s original, research Aztec mythology, explore symbolism, and engage in collaborative discussions before writing an essay about what makes the heroes successful.
Unit 6F
The Titanic Collection
Students explore primary documents and conduct research to understand the 1912 Titanic disaster, building information literacy skills by examining artifacts such as dining menus, ship photos, telegraph transcripts, and newspaper accounts. Each student is assigned a passenger from the manifest and writes a narrative account from that person’s perspective, considering different views. Students also participate in Socratic seminars to examine the complicated issues within the Titanic story.
Unit 7A
Red Scarf Girl & Narrative
Students begin with narrative writing to develop foundational Focus skills while teachers establish targeted feedback cycles and build a classroom community centered on diverse experiences. After exploring how they describe their own experiences and emotions, students apply the same close attention to analyzing details in Ji-li Jiang’s Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution.
Unit 7B
Character & Conflict
Students analyze characters’ responses to conflict and examine how authors use character interactions to develop theme and perspective. They read Carson McCullers’ “Sucker” and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, both texts that explore how families facing hardships can support and harm one another. Students observe complex character growth and discuss issues of identity, family obligations, and differing notions of success.
Unit 7C
Brain Science
Students explore narrative nonfiction and informational texts about brain science to understand what it means to be human and how their developing brains impact daily experiences. They also build awareness of their cognitive strengths and analyze the structures of informational texts and scientific arguments. Key texts include Phineas Gage, Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, and Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
Unit 7D
Poetry & Poe
Students learn visualization techniques to read like a movie director, beginning with poems by D.H. Lawrence, Federico García Lorca, and Emily Dickinson to form mental images. They then read three Edgar Allan Poe texts, creating storyboards and analyzing narrative elements to learn about unreliable narrators. Students also participate in the murder-mystery Quest “Who Killed Edgar Allan Poe?” and write an essay arguing whether they can trust a narrator in the unit’s texts.
Unit 7E
The Frida & Diego Collection
Students explore primary source documents and research on Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, learning how they drew inspiration from Latin American folklore, politics, and customs. Along the way, students build information literacy by generating research questions and visual analysis skills through close reading of key paintings. They also compare the artists’ descriptive writing to Shakespeare’s and analyze figurative language. The unit culminates in a research project showcasing their interpretation of Frida and Diego’s work and legacy.
Unit 7F
The Gold Rush Collection
Students explore primary documents and conduct research on the California Gold Rush, building information literacy skills and constructing research questions. They also learn about the diverse people who participated, compare fictional and historical accounts, and participate in Socratic seminars. Students write narrative accounts from specific perspectives and complete a culminating research assignment combining essay and media project elements.
Unit 8A
Perspectives & Narrative
Students learn to read like writers, paying attention to craft and writing moves that shape reader experience and developing Focus and Showing skills as they build collaborative classroom routines. Students study three narrative texts, exploring themes of belonging and identity through close reading. They also practice alternating between analytic and narrative writing, and conclude with an essay arguing whether the mothers in Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” are role models.
Unit 8B
Liberty & Equality
Students study Civil War-era writings that debate the meaning of “all men are created equal,” exploring various perspectives on American ideals. Key texts include Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Frederick Douglass’ Narrative, and Harriet Ann Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The unit culminates with an essay examining Douglass’s arguments and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to consider what America means by “all men are created equal.”
Unit 8C
Science & Science Fiction
Students read Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein, a graphic novel adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, exploring themes of creator responsibility, societal influence, and the risks of scientific inquiry. They trace Victor’s sympathy for his creation, rewrite scenes from the creature’s perspective, and debate whether Victor owes the creature a companion. The unit concludes with an essay determining whether the creature should be considered human.
Unit 8D
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
Students read five excerpts from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to learn key elements of Shakespearean English through close reading. They practice memorizing and reciting the famous “Prologue,” put on stage performances, translate Shakespeare’s language into contemporary terms, and study the Shakespearean sonnet form. The unit concludes with an essay arguing whether love or hate is responsible for Romeo’s death.
Unit 8E
Holocaust: Memory & Meaning
Students use close reading to explore memoirs and primary sources that address two key Holocaust questions: How do societies become participants in atrocity, and what are our responsibilities as witnesses? Students analyze multiple perspectives through texts, including Alexander Kimel’s “I Cannot Forget,” Irene Butter’s Shores Beyond Shores, 1936 Olympics propaganda, and excerpts from Maus and Night.
Unit 8F
The Space Race Collection
Students explore primary documents and conduct research on the Space Race. They build information literacy skills, construct research questions, and learn about diverse participants from Soviet cosmonauts to American heroes like Buzz Aldrin and Katherine Johnson. Each student researches an assigned cosmonaut or astronaut and writes space blog entries from their perspective. Students also complete a capstone research essay and media project.
Print & digital components
The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.
Teacher materials
Teacher Edition
Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Edition contains all the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including detailed lesson plans, video teacher tips, presentation slides, standards alignment, Exit Tickets, real-time differentiation strategies, and robust reporting.
Student materials
Student Edition
Available digitally and in print, student materials guide middle schoolers through complex texts and writing by engaging them with high-quality narrative and informational texts—providing videos, audio supports, and a digital experience that captures their attention. They also keep all of their writing in one place with a personal Writing Journal.
Explore more programs
Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.
Welcome, North Carolina educators!
Amplify Science 6–8 Review Toolkit
Simplify your NGSS curriculum review journey with the Amplify Science Review Toolkit. Within this Toolkit, you’ll find program overview information, classroom videos, evaluation rubrics, and a free sample unit.
Amplify Science for grades K–8 has been rated all-green by EdReports. Read the review on EdReports.
What is Amplify Science?
Built from the ground up for the Next Generation Science Standards at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, Amplify Science is a comprehensive program that blends literacy-rich activities, hands-on investigations, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like 21st-century scientists and engineers. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility with their technology resources and preferences.
The program is backed by gold-standard research and is currently used by thousands of teachers across the US.
See Amplify Science in action
Amplify Science in Action: a week in the life (6–8)
What does a week in the life of an Amplify Science teacher look like? We asked Amy Trujillo, a sixth-grade teacher from Denver Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
In Amplify Science, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to actively investigate compelling phenomena through engaging hands-on investigations, immersive digital simulations, comprehensive reading and writing activities, and lively classroom discussions.
See what Amplify Science looks like in a classroom with more topical videos:
Dig deeper into the curriculum
Amplify Science is rooted in the research-based Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize model of learning. Students engage with science and engineering practices, figure out disciplinary core ideas, and utilize and apply crosscutting concepts in multiple modalities across thoughtful, structured lessons, all centered around engaging anchor phenomena. Learn more about how a unique mix of activities and modalities provide students with multiple points of entry into the instruction.
- Program structure and pacing
- Phenomena and unit storylines
- Hands-on investigations
- Digital Simulations
Attend a webinar
Join the Lawrence Hall of Science for a series of free webinars! Curriculum experts will explore why embedded engineering and phenomena-based science instruction deliver results, with examples from Amplify Science.
Webinars are scheduled throughout the spring, and you can always sign to watch a recording if you’re unable to attend live.
Review rubrics
Using an evaluation rubric to review? Take a look at our filled-out TIME and EQuIP rubrics.
Test drive the program
Click submit to access a free sample unit from our middle school curriculum.
What is Amplify Science?
Built from the ground up for the Next Generation Science Standards at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, Amplify Science is a comprehensive program that blends literacy-rich activities, hands-on investigations, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like 21st-century scientists and engineers. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility with their technology resources and preferences.
The program is backed by gold-standard research and is currently used by thousands of teachers across the US.
See Amplify Science in action
Amplify Science in Action: a week in the life (6–8)
What does a week in the life of an Amplify Science teacher look like? We asked Amy Trujillo, a sixth-grade teacher from Denver Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
In Amplify Science, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to actively investigate compelling phenomena through engaging hands-on investigations, immersive digital simulations, comprehensive reading and writing activities, and lively classroom discussions.
See what Amplify Science looks like in a classroom with more topical videos:
Dig deeper into the curriculum
Amplify Science is rooted in the research-based Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize model of learning. Students engage with science and engineering practices, figure out disciplinary core ideas, and utilize and apply crosscutting concepts in multiple modalities across thoughtful, structured lessons, all centered around engaging anchor phenomena. Learn more about how a unique mix of activities and modalities provide students with multiple points of entry into the instruction.
- Program structure and pacing
- Phenomena and unit storylines
- Hands-on investigations
- Digital Simulations
Attend a webinar
Join the Lawrence Hall of Science for a series of free webinars! Curriculum experts will explore why embedded engineering and phenomena-based science instruction deliver results, with examples from Amplify Science.
Webinars are scheduled throughout the spring, and you can always sign to watch a recording if you’re unable to attend live.
Review rubrics
Using an evaluation rubric to review? Take a look at our filled-out TIME and EQuIP rubrics.
Test drive the program
Click submit to access a free sample unit from our middle school curriculum.
Classroom discussions
As part of Amplify Science’s Weather and Climate unit, students take on the role of meteorologists to determine which of three fictional islands has weather most like that of orangutans’ existing habitats, Borneo and Sumatra. In this video featuring Lesson 3.7, third-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are discussing the data they collected, as well as which Science and Engineering Practices they used during the lesson.
Simulations and modeling tools
As part of Amplify Science’s Earth’s Features unit, students take on the role of geologists to investigate how a mysterious fossil formed and when it came to be in its current location. In this video, fourth-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are using digital modeling tools to investigate how fossils and rocks can be used to make inferences about past environments.
A week in the life
What does a week in the life of an Amplify Science teacher look like? We asked Keneisha Charleston, a second-grade teacher from Chicago Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
From the classroom
Hear from teachers, administrators, and students across the country who are using Amplify Science in their classrooms right now.
Literacy integration
As part of Amplify Science’s Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit, students take on the role of ecologists to figure out what caused the collapse of the biodome ecosystem. In this video, sixth-grade students from Denver Public Schools are reading science articles, and then using writing prompts to create arguments using evidence.
Classroom discussions
As part of Amplify Science’s Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit, students take on the role of ecologists to figure out what caused the collapse of the biodome ecosystem. In this video, sixth-grade students from Denver Public Schools are using evidence to support their claims as part of a classroom discussion.
A week in the life
What does a week in the life of an Amplify Science teacher look like? We asked Amy Trujillo, a sixth-grade teacher from Denver Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
From the classroom
Hear from teachers, administrators, and students across the country who are using Amplify Science in their classrooms right now.
Access a free sample
Ready to take a closer look at Amplify Science? No problem. Just complete the form for instant digital access to two sample units.
Steps for Interviewing
Amplify Professional Learning Specialist Applicants
Congratulations on being invited to interview for the Professional Learning Specialist role!
Please take these three steps in order to schedule and prepare for your interview.
Step 1: Review the PLS Flipbook
Step 2: Schedule your Interview
Step 3: Prepare for your Interview
Interviews for Cohort 2 will take place from April 27th – May 8th.
Step 1: Review the PLS Flipbook
Amplify Professional Learning Specialists (PLS) will be responsible for facilitating high-quality professional development (PD) to teachers and school leaders, ensuring educators feel confident taking steps to implement our programs and ultimately drive student success.
Please read the PLS flipbook to ensure you have a clear understanding of the role and ensure this is the right fit for you. These details are captured in pages 16 – 33 of the flipbook.
Several key PLS responsibilities are highlighted below:
- Delivering remote and onsite professional development for approximately 30-40 educators per session during the summer season (May – September 2026), possibly longer.
- Must be available to be scheduled during normal school hours (Monday–Friday) in all U.S. time zones.
- Must be available an average of three days per week on Monday through Friday from July 13–August 21. Three consecutive days is strongly recommended as it will potentially lead to more onsite delivery opportunities.
- PLSs who are current educators and returning to full-time roles at school/districts must have a return to work date after August 21st.
- Traveling via car, plane, and/or public transportation, sometimes with minimal advance notice and including overnight stay at hotels.
- Paying all travel-related expenses in advance, with reimbursements being processed 2-3 weeks following submission of the expense reimbursement requests.
Please reach out to pls_hiring@amplify.com if you have additional questions.
Step 2: Schedule Your Interview
Our second round of interviews will take place between April 27th – May 8th. We do not have any earlier interviews available, all available slots are shown on the calendars linked below.
Please schedule an interview for the specific role for which you have applied:
- Literacy or STEM Candidates: schedule a 30 minute interview by clicking here: “PLS Interviews: May 2026”
- Bilingual Candidates: schedule a 45 minute interview by clicking here: “Bilingual PLS Interviews: May 2026” only. You do not need to sign up for a separate 30 minute interview.
- Once you have scheduled your interview, you should receive a confirmation email from Calendly. If you do not receive this email, please reach out to PLS_hiring@amplify.com for support.
If you need to reschedule your interview, you may do so directly by clicking the reschedule link in the confirmation email from Calendly to select a new interview option during the current interview window. Once you have rescheduled, you will receive a new confirmation email and updated calendar invitation. Please do not sign up for more than one interview.
We ask that you only reschedule if absolutely necessary and request at least 24 hours notice prior to your interview day/time.
Step 3: Prepare for Interview
Prior to your scheduled interview, prepare your interview activity! Please view the video to the right for help preparing.
- Guidance for the task can be found here: PLS Performance Task Guidance Document
- You should come ready to share your screen via Google Meet and present the provided activity in under 5 minutes.
- Talking points are included for each screen to guide your presentation.
- During your interview we will be looking for proficiency with the following tech skills: independently sharing screen, speech matching animation, and moving from screen to screen with ease.
Offer, Onboarding, and Training
- Qualified candidates will receive an offer via email. The offer will include your product placement and regional assignment.
- If you accept the offer, our partner contracting agency will reach out to you to provide the necessary documentation to begin the onboarding process. This will include a background check. You will also need to provide college transcripts, please begin gathering these items.
- Once you have completed the onboarding process with our partner contracting agency, you will begin your official Amplify PLS onboarding process on May 11th for Cohort 1 or June 15th for Cohort 2. A majority of onboarding will be remote, with one in person training on June 6th – 7th for Cohort 1 and July 8th – 9th for Cohort 2. More details to come!
- Once you are certified, our PD Operations team will begin to schedule you for PD engagements within your region and across the country!
Info Session
Get more details from PD staff members about the PLS role, regional placement, the onboarding process, and ongoing support.
We will address the most common questions we receive:
- What is the role of a PLS?
- Where will I deliver sessions? What content will I deliver?
- How will onboarding work?
- How will I be supported?
The information session recording can be watched here.
Passcode: @N+4hmfi
Thank you for your interest!
Contact us with questions at pls_hiring@amplify.com
See what an interactive 21st-century science curriculum looks like.
In Amplify Science, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to actively investigate compelling phenomena through engaging hands-on activities, immersive digital simulations, comprehensive reading and writing activities, and lively classroom discussions.
This video library will give you a sense of what Amplify Science looks like in the classroom.
Immersive experiences
Watch how Amplify Science integrates hands-on learning and digital modeling tools to support three-dimensional (3D) learning in elementary and middle school.
Inspiring curiosity with hands-on investigations
Grades K-5: As part of Amplify Science’s Animal and Plant Relationships unit, students take on the role of plant scientists. In this video, second-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are engaging with a hands-on model in which they simulate animal dispersal of seeds, measure how many seeds were dispersed to places where the seeds are likely to grow, and analyze their results.
Grades 6-8: As part of Amplify Science’s Populations and Resources unit, students take on the role of ecologists. In this video, sixth-grade students from Denver Public Schools are conducting a hands-on investigation involving yeast to test the effects of the availability of food on the size of a population.
Collecting evidence with simulations and modeling tools
Grades K-5: As part of Amplify Science’s Earth’s Features unit, students take on the role of geologists. In this video, fourth-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are using digital modeling tools to investigate how fossils and rocks can be used to make inferences about past environments.
Grades 6-8: As part of Amplify Science’s Chemical Reactions unit, students take on the role of chemists. In this video, seventh-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are using a digital simulation to find and observe substances that do and do not react when mixed together.
Literacy connections
Watch how Amplify Science integrates literacy and discourse to support three-dimensional (3D) learning in elementary and middle school.
Making cross-curricular connections with literacy
Grades K-5: As part of Amplify Science’s Animal and Plant Relationships unit, students take on the role of plant scientists. In this video, second-grade students from Chicago Public Schools use Student Books to gather information, practice reading skills, and respond to writing prompts to construct evidence-based arguments.
Grades 6-8: As part of Amplify Science’s Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit, students take on the role of ecologists. In this video, sixth-grade students from Denver Public Schools are reading science articles, then responding to writing prompts to create arguments using evidence.
Talking like scientists
Grades K-5: As part of Amplify Science’s Weather and Climate unit, students take on the role of meteorologist. In this video, third-grade students from Chicago Public Schools are discussing the data they collected, as well as which Science and Engineering Practices they used during the lesson.
Grades 6-8: As part of Amplify Science’s Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit, students take on the role of ecologists. In this video, sixth-grade students from Denver Public Schools are using evidence to support their claims as part of a classroom discussion.
Hear from teachers.
Hear from teachers, administrators, and students across the country who are using Amplify Science in their classrooms right now.
A week in the life
Grades K-5: We asked Keniesha Charleston, a second-grade teacher from Chicago Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
Grades 6-8: We asked Amy Trujillo, a sixth-grade teacher from Denver Public Schools, to talk through an example of what one week of using Amplify Science is like in her classroom.
From the classroom
Grades K-5: Hear from elementary school teachers, administrators, and students about the impact of using Amplify Science in their districts.
Grades 6-8: Hear from middle school teachers, administrators, and students about the impact of using Amplify Science in their districts.
Access a free sample
Ready to take a closer look at Amplify Science? No problem. Just complete the form for instant digital access to two sample units.
Translating research into action, with Amie Burkholder
Special Episode: Translating research into action, with Amie Burkholder – For Testing
Translating research into action, with Amie Burkholder
Transcripts and additional resources:
Meet Our Guest(s):
Amie Burkholder
Amie Burkholder is a literacy coach, national speaker, and author of Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners. With over 15 years in education, Amie helps teachers bridge research and practice through structured literacy. She’s the creator of the Route2Reading Membership and Foundations to Fluency phonics curriculum, approved in Virginia. Amie is passionate about making the Science of Reading practical for real classrooms and helping every child become a confident reader.
Meet our host: Susan Lambert
Susan Lambert is Chief Academic Officer of Literacy at Amplify and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.
As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. A former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, she’s dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.
Quotes
“I want [the book] to follow the research, but I want it to be simple enough for teachers to execute, [and] also engaging enough for kids to want to do it.”
“If you try to change everything you're doing, you're not going to do anything well. Pick one area of your literacy block you’re really gonna nail. Once you nail that, add another one.”
“Look to those that you trust to guide you.”
Math Teacher Lounge
Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with expert guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.
Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!
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Stay connected
Join our community to connect with thousands of other math educators—and be the first to hear when new episodes drop!
We’ll also share new free resources for your classroom every month!
Current episode
S5-05. Math technology & hacks for math anxiety: research-based tips for caregivers
We’ve been very lucky to have so many prolific and brilliant researchers on this season of Math Teacher Lounge, and our next guest is no exception.
Listen as we sit down with Dr. Marjorie Schaeffer to discuss what causes math anxiety, math hacks, and how the right math technology can make an incredible impact in children and caregivers coping with math anxiety.
Listen today and don’t forget to grab your MTL study guide to track your learning and make the most of this episode!
Available episodes
Listen to our available episodes below!
Season 5
Listen to Season 5!
Season 5, Episode 04.
Coaching tips for managing math anxiety in teachers
So far this season, we’ve investigated math anxiety in students and its causes with passionate researchers and curriculum experts, including one from Sesame Workshop! In this episode, we hear from Dr. Heidi Sabnani, consultant, coach, and co-host of Math 4 All, as she gives us research-based tips for teachers who are facing math anxiety themselves! Listen as we discuss Heidi’s own math anxiety and journey through math, the effects teacher math anxiety can have on instruction, and practices educators can implement right away for overcoming math anxiety.
Season 5, Episode 03.
Cultivating a joy of learning with Sesame Workshop
In this episode, listen as we chat with Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content for Sesame Workshop! Continuing our theme of math anxiety this season, we sat down with Dr. Truglio to chat about Sesame Street and her thoughts on how to spread a growth mindset to young children and put them on course to academic achievement and long-term success.
Season 5, Episode 02.
Uncovering the causes of math anxiety
We’re continuing our season theme of math anxiety, going beyond the basics, diving deeper into what causes it, and how we can help students move forward. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Erin Maloney from the University of Ottawa to better understand what’s actually happening in the brain when a person experiences math anxiety, and how we can take steps to shift student mindsets in a positive direction.
Investigating math anxiety in the classroom
Season 5, Episode 01.
Investigating math anxiety in the classroom
This season, we’ll be talking all about math anxiety: what it is, what causes it, and what we can do to prevent or ease this anxiety in the math classroom. To launch this very important theme, in this episode, we sit down with Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University.
As someone who’s been studying math anxiety for more than a decade, he had some interesting research and advice to share on why math anxiety affects so many students (and adults), and tips for how to start reducing it.
Winter Wrap-Up episodes
Listen to the Winter Wrap-Up!
Ideas to build math fluency
Winter Wrap-Up, Episode 03.
Ideas to build math fluency
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Valerie Henry to talk about math fluency and what that means for students. Listen as we dig into the research, hear Val’s three-part definition of fluency, and explore her five principles for developing it.
Mathematizing Children’s Literature
Winter Wrap-Up, Episode 02.
Mathematizing Children’s Literature
While we’re hard at work producing the exciting fifth season of Math Teacher Lounge: The Podcast, we’re continuing to share some of our favorite conversations from our first four seasons. This time around, we’re revisiting our popular episode that connected literacy and math!
In this episode, we sit down with Allison Hintz and Antony Smith, authors of Mathematizing Children’s Literature, to talk about what would happen if we were to approach children’s literature, and life, through a math lens–and how we can apply those same techniques to classroom teaching!
Problem solving and facilitating classroom discussions
Winter Wrap-Up, Episode 01.
Problem solving and facilitating classroom discussions
In this episode, In this episode, hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer are looking back at the amazing speakers and conversations from past episodes and sharing some of their favorites!
First up: A season 2 double feature of The Power of Problem-Solving with Fawn Nguyen and Facilitating Classroom Discussions with authors Christy Hermann Thompson and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind.
Fawn is a specialist on Amplify’s advanced math team, and is a former math teacher and math coach—so she knows her stuff! You’ll hear about her five criteria for good problem-solving problems, and the power and importance of exposing all students to problem solving.
Then, we’ll move into Bethany and Dan’s conversation with Christy and Kassia to learn how hands-down conversations allow students to become better listeners and the steps you can take to implement hands-down conversations in your classroom.
Season 4
Listen to Season 4!
Cultivating mathematical joy
Season 4, Episode 05.
Cultivating mathematical joy
In this episode, Bethany and Dan explore mathematical joy while visiting a math teacher conference in Southern California. During this program, Dan describes his attempts to cultivate mathematical joy in his own school-aged kids.
Dear Math
Season 4, Episode 04.
Dear Math
In this episode, Bethany and Dan chat with Sarah Strong and Gigi Butterfield, authors of Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math and What Teachers Can Do About It. Listen in as they chat about their experiences with finding joy in math, and how their passion helped them tell the stories of other students’ journeys to find (or not find!) joy in math.
LIVE from NCTM with Bethany and Dan
Season 4, Episode 03.
LIVE from NCTM with Bethany and Dan
In this episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer are LIVE with more than one hundred Math Teacher Lounge listeners at the recent National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference. Listen in as they answer the pressing question: Who is the best teacher in film or television?
Bethany and Dan share their math biographies
Season 4, Episode 02.
Bethany and Dan share their math biographies
In this episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer get personal and share their “math bios”—their early experiences with math and how those experiences turned them into the educators they are today.
Joyful math teaching with Kanchan Kant
Season 4, Episode 01.
Joyful math teaching with Kanchan Kant
In this episode, Kanchan Kant joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss the key, early investment she makes at the start of the school year to ensure her math teaching will be joyful for herself and for her students for the rest of the year.
Season 3
Listen to Season 3!
Dan and Bethany Take on Twitter!
Season 6, Episode 06.
Dan and Bethany Take on Twitter!
In this episode, Bethany and Dan take a look at several tweets that caught the most fire on Twitter during the 2021-2022 school year. The pair answer questions about viral teaching methods, the best teaching advice you can give in three words, and if students should use pencils or pens in class. Join them as they take on those questions and several others in a fast-paced episode.
Developing an asset orientation with Lani Horn
Season 3, Episode 05.
Developing an asset orientation with Lani Horn
In this episode, math education professor Lani Horn shares with us what it means to have an asset orientation towards students, contrasting it with a deficit orientation, and helping Bethany and Dan understand the many ways students experience one or the other. Their conversation hit both high notes and low notes and included a challenge that Bethany and Dan both found extremely valuable for helping a teacher develop an asset orientation towards their students.
Ideas to build math fluency with Valerie Henry, Graham Fletcher, and Tracy Zager
Season 3, Episode 04.
Ideas to build math fluency with Valerie Henry, Graham Fletcher, and Tracy Zager
In this episode, Bethany and Dan are joined by three guests to better understand fluency and how to make its approach fun. Dr. Val Henry shares her three-part definition of fluency and her five principles for developing it. Additionally, Tracy Zager and Graham Fletcher join Bethany and Dan to better understand fluency through a lens of equity and using multimedia as a tool.
Math professional learning experiences with Elham Kazemi
Season 4, Episode 03.
Math professional learning experiences with Elham Kazemi
In this episode, Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer chat with Elham Kazemi to explore how to look at teaching as a collaborative experiment. Moving more toward analyzing student thinking and how that contributes to teaching itself, leaves more space for one’s own understanding of math to grow throughout your career. When one revises their teaching based on the data we’re collecting from students and peers, this allows us to be both teachers and learners forever.
Mathematizing Children’s Literature with Allison Hintz and Antony Smith
Season 3, Episode 02.
Mathematizing Children’s Literature with Allison Hintz and Antony Smith
In this episode, Mathematizing Children’s Literature authors Allison Hintz and Antony Smith join Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss what would happen if we were to approach children’s literature, and life, through a math lens – and how we can apply those techniques to classroom teaching.
Making math viral with Howie Hua
Season 4, Episode 01.
Making math viral with Howie Hua
In this episode, Howie Hua (you may know him from his viral TikTok videos) joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss making math accessible for students through multiple social media platforms, creating an engaging space for students to share their ideas.
Season 2
Watch Season 2!
Math potluck favorites
Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer are hosting a Math Teacher Lounge potluck. Instead of bringing a casserole (or a store-bought item passed off as homemade), Bethany and Dan are bringing you a cornucopia of math topics. Be sure to join our Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/mathteacherlounge) as we will be announcing some exciting changes in the new year!
The power of problem solving with Fawn Nguyen
Rio School District Teacher on Special Assignment and Amplify Math advisor Fawn Nguyen joins Bethany and Dan to discuss the power of problem solving. Hear from Fawn about:
- Her five criteria for good problem solving problems.
- How problem solving should involve all students.
- The power of exposing all students to problem solving.
- And much more!
Hands Down, Speak Out | Facilitating classroom discussions
Authors Christy Hermann Thompson and Kassia Omohundro Wedekind chat with Bethany and Dan about facilitating student conversations in the math and literacy classrooms. Watch the video to learn how hands down conversations allow students to become better listeners and learn about steps you can take to implement hands down conversations in your classroom.
Be sure to head over to our Facebook group to participate in our book club study with Christy and Kassia.
An asset-based return to school | Math teaching ideas
A lot of great learning occurred over the last school year. Watch Bethany and Dan’s conversation with math educators (Zak Champagne, Natali I. Gaxiola, Howie Hua, Janaki Nagarajan, Brian Shay, and Dolores Torres) to hear what learning, practices, and ideas they want to bring with them to the 2021-2022 school year.
Season 1
Watch Season 1!
Episode 6, Segment 1: Math in public with Molly Daley and Chris Nho
Where is the most unusual place you have seen math in the last year? In this segment of Math Teacher Lounge, Public Math’s Molly Daley (@mdaley15) and Chris Nho (@nhoskee) join Bethany Lockhart and Dan Meyer to discuss all the unique places one can find math, including a laundromat, to elicit and invite math conversations.
Learn more about Public Math by visiting public-math.org.
Episode 6, Segment 2: Math in public with Molly Daley and Chris Nho
Molly Daley and Chris Nho are back in the lounge to answer this question. In this segment they join Bethany and Dan for a mathematizing public places game. Watch the video to join in the game and see how you can spot and make sense of math in public spaces.
Learn more about Public Math by visiting public-math.org.
Episode 6, Segment 3: Math in public with Omo Moses
MathTalk’s CEO Omo Moses enters the Math Teacher Lounge to chat with Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer. Watch their conversation to learn about how communities can create positive math experiences for all.
Episode 5: Slow reveal in an 8th grade classroom
In the latest segment of the Math Teacher Lounge series, Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) substitute teaches an 8th grade class. Students interact with a few activities authored by Dan using the slow reveal described first in the Power of Data Science segment.
Curious how Dan found his way to this class? Our Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group made it happen! Join the group today and catch up on previous segments and stay in-the-know with all things MTL.
Episode 4, Segment 1: Wrong and brilliant
Is there a different and better way to teach rightness and wrongness in math class? In this segment, Bethany and Dan use a Desmos activity to discuss how wrong and brilliant answers can reveal student understanding and inform your instruction.
Episode 4, Segment 2: Wrong and brilliant with Mandy Jansen
University of Delaware professor and author Mandy Jansen (@mandymathed) joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to continue the discussion around wrong and brilliant and the idea of rough draft math.
Episode 4, Segment 3: Wrong and brilliant with Megan Franke
The conversation around wrong and brilliant in the classroom concludes with UCLA Professor Megan Franke (@meganlfranke). Professor Franke discusses with Bethany (@lockhartedu) and Dan (@ddmeyer) the amazing things students are doing in math (in a pandemic!) and more.
Episode 3: The power of data science with Jenna Laib
Curious how data science can reveal profound noticings in your math class? Special guest Jenna Laib joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss this and the power of data science in the classroom.
Episode 2: Effective and ineffective technology in the math classroom
Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer discuss technology in the math classroom with the following special guests: Idil Abdulkadir, Robert Berry, Lauren Carr, Steve Leinwand, Francis Su, and Theresa Wills.
Episode 1: Welcome to MTL, let’s talk distance learning!
In this episode, Bethany and Dan talk distance learning. You’ll learn a little about what’s in store for series subscribers, listen to your hosts figure out the topic du jour by playing a game, and hear from Idil Abdulkadir as the group discusses real vs. fake Zoom norms.
About your hosts
Learn more about your hosts!
Bethany Lockhart Johnson
Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance, and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.
Dan Meyer
Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.
Follow us on social media!
Check out our social media!
Facebook groups
Join in the Math Teacher Lounge conversation by joining our Facebook group or by checking out our Facebook community group!
Join in the Math Teacher Lounge conversation by following us on Instagram @Amplify.education.
Desmos Classroom
Desmos Classroom is a teaching and learning platform offering a collection of free digital lessons and lesson building tools. Learn more about Desmos Classroom on Twitter and on Facebook.
Resources
Enjoy our free resources!
Welcome to Amplify ELA!
Amplify ELA is a cutting-edge and effective program that engages middle school students through a unique blend of digital and print lessons, dynamic texts, lively discussions, and interactive Quests. Not only is it the only ELA curriculum truly built for the needs of middle school teachers and students, its instructional approach is designed to extend the Science of Reading into the middle grades.
Note: We’re continually adding information to this site, including specific details regarding our alignment with your non-negotiables. Keep checking back with us between now and April 20, 2023.
Getting started
On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about Amplify ELA’s alignment to Nevada’s literacy initiatives as well as where to find key program resources.
Curriculum overivew
Amplify ELA helps students develop the essential skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and features:
- Comprehensive print materials, including Teacher Editions, Student Editions, and Writing Journals for grades 6–8.
- A year’s worth of instruction for each grade.
- Complex, content-rich literary and informational texts.
- Differentiation that supports all students with reading complex texts, and an interactive eReader with an array of multimedia tools.
- Embedded assessments that allow for uninterrupted instructional time.
- The Amplify Library—a digital collection of more than 700 full-length texts.
In the videos below, hear about current educators’ experience with Amplify ELA and the positive impact it has made in their classrooms.
Engaging and effective content
Powerful digital tools and assessments
Program features
Amplify ELA’s hybrid curriculum empowers teachers to decide when and how their students use technology without the worry of compromising learning. Whether implemented in high tech or low tech classrooms, teachers can easily and confidently provide 100% standards coverage.
Amplify ELA’s structured yet flexible lessons are grounded in regular routines while still allowing for a variety of learning experiences and continuous student engagement.
Take a closer look at the program’s structure and the sequence of activity types that appear in a typical lesson.
There is never a dull moment on a middle school campus. For that reason, some schools appreciate having a flexible pacing option. Our abridged lesson pathways ensure full coverage of the standards in just 100 lessons.
Amplify ELA features high-quality lessons grounded in great books, with powerful multimedia tools to immerse young adolescents in reading, writing, and speaking.
Our rich and relevant texts are more than just excerpts. With more than 700 full titles in our digital library plus a variety of Novel Guides, Amplify ELA engages and inspires middle schoolers with great works, including poetry, rhetoric, and Spanish selections.
Based on individual student needs and performance measures within Amplify ELA reports, teachers are able to select the differentiation level that’s best for each student. When students reach an activity, the platform delivers the assigned differentiation, allowing all students to experience the same lesson with supports tailored to their unique needs.
- Our close reading apps bring texts to life for students. Students zoom in on specific moments of the text and trace characters’ emotions throughout a text, gather evidence to build a case, and create storyboards that render their understanding of a text.
- The Vocab App strengthens vocabulary skills with fun and fully differentiated adaptive games, repeated encounters with new words across multiple contexts, and an interactive stats page that helps students track their own progress.
- Quests are fun, week-long explorations that help students practice analytical reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills while building a strong classroom community. In each Quest, students step into the world of the text they have been reading. They interact with different complex texts in multiple formats and media, gather evidence from these texts and interactions with classmates, and work together to achieve the Quest goal.
With Amplify ELA, your students will benefit from embedded assessments that maximize instructional time and allow them to keep learning without the disruption of step-away performance tests.
In addition, as students complete activities within lessons and units, Amplify ELA teacher and admin reports provide a continuously updated picture of how each student is progressing with key skills and standards. Data is gathered from daily learning moments, allowing you to keep teaching while building a clear understanding of student performance.
Providing feedback has never been easier. With Classwork, teachers can review student writing and multiple choice answers and easily add scores and comments (and even emojis) all in one place, giving students the immediate feedback they need to further develop their confidence and literacy skills.
Curriculum review
Digital navigation walkthrough
Physical materials walkthrough
Curriculum implementation
See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.
Access the program
Before logging in, download and review this digital navigation guide.
Explore as a teacher
Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:
- Click the ELA Digital Platform button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the username: t1.ccsd-68-ela@demo.tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: Amplify1-ccsd-68-ela
- Click the ELA icon
- Select a grade level
Explore as a student
Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:
- Click the ELA Digital Platform button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the username: s1.ccsd-68-ela@demo.tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: Amplify1-ccsd-68-ela
- Click the ELA icon
- Select a grade level
Check out these additional resources
Nevada submission resources:
- Amplify ELA Program Alignment to the Standards (Nevada Rubric: Category 1)
- Amplify ELA Program Social Justice Alignment (Nevada Rubric: Category 2)
- Amplify ELA Lesson Alignment to the Nevada Academic Content Standards for English Language Arts
Amplify ELA review resources:
Nevada ELA Review for grades 6–8
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for 6–8.
Amplify ELA is a cutting-edge and effective program that engages middle schools students through a unique blend of digital and print lessons, dynamic texts, lively discussions, and interactive Quests.
Getting started
On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about Amplify ELA’s alignment to Nevada’s literacy initiatives as well as where to find key program resources.
Curriculum overivew
Amplify ELA helps students develop the essential skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and features:
- Comprehensive print materials, including Teacher Editions, Student Editions, and Writing Journals for grades 6–8.
- A year’s worth of instruction for each grade.
- Complex, content-rich literary and informational texts.
- Differentiation that supports all students with reading complex texts, and an interactive eReader with an array of multimedia tools.
- Embedded assessments that allow for uninterrupted instructional time.
- The Amplify Library—a digital collection of more than 700 full-length texts.
In the videos below, hear about current educators’ experience with Amplify ELA and the positive impact it has made in their classrooms.
Engaging and effective content
Powerful digital tools and assessments
Program features
Amplify ELA’s hybrid curriculum empowers teachers to decide when and how their students use technology without the worry of compromising learning. Whether implemented in high tech or low tech classrooms, teachers can easily and confidently provide 100% standards coverage.
Amplify ELA’s structured yet flexible lessons are grounded in regular routines while still allowing for a variety of learning experiences and continuous student engagement.
Take a closer look at the program’s structure and the sequence of activity types that appear in a typical lesson.
There is never a dull moment on a middle school campus. For that reason, some schools appreciate having a flexible pacing option. Our abridged lesson pathways ensure full coverage of the standards in just 100 lessons.
Amplify ELA features high-quality lessons grounded in great books, with powerful multimedia tools to immerse young adolescents in reading, writing, and speaking.
Our rich and relevant texts are more than just excerpts. With more than 700 full titles in our digital library plus a variety of Novel Guides, Amplify ELA engages and inspires middle schoolers with great works, including poetry, rhetoric, and Spanish selections.
Based on individual student needs and performance measures within Amplify ELA reports, teachers are able to select the differentiation level that’s best for each student. When students reach an activity, the platform delivers the assigned differentiation, allowing all students to experience the same lesson with supports tailored to their unique needs.
- Our close reading apps bring texts to life for students. Students zoom in on specific moments of the text and trace characters’ emotions throughout a text, gather evidence to build a case, and create storyboards that render their understanding of a text.
- The Vocab App strengthens vocabulary skills with fun and fully differentiated adaptive games, repeated encounters with new words across multiple contexts, and an interactive stats page that helps students track their own progress.
- Quests are fun, week-long explorations that help students practice analytical reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills while building a strong classroom community. In each Quest, students step into the world of the text they have been reading. They interact with different complex texts in multiple formats and media, gather evidence from these texts and interactions with classmates, and work together to achieve the Quest goal.
With Amplify ELA, your students will benefit from embedded assessments that maximize instructional time and allow them to keep learning without the disruption of step-away performance tests.
In addition, as students complete activities within lessons and units, Amplify ELA teacher and admin reports provide a continuously updated picture of how each student is progressing with key skills and standards. Data is gathered from daily learning moments, allowing you to keep teaching while building a clear understanding of student performance.
Providing feedback has never been easier. With Classwork, teachers can review student writing and multiple choice answers and easily add scores and comments (and even emojis) all in one place, giving students the immediate feedback they need to further develop their confidence and literacy skills.
Curriculum review
Digital experience overview
Physical materials walkthrough
Curriculum implementation
See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.
Access the program
Before logging in, download and review this digital navigation guide.
Explore as a teacher
Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:
- Click the Access digital curriculum button below.
- Click to review as a teacher.
- Pick your grade level from the drop-down menu.
- Scroll down to find additional grade-level resources.
Explore as a student
Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:
- Click the Access digital curriculum button below.
- Click to review as a student.
- Pick your grade level from the drop-down menu.
- Scroll down to find additional grade-level resources.
Check out these additional resources
Nevada submission resources:
- Amplify ELA Program Alignment to the Standards (Nevada Rubric: Category 1)
- Amplify ELA Program Social Justice Alignment (Nevada Rubric: Category 2)
- Amplify ELA Lesson Alignment to the Nevada Academic Content Standards for English Language Arts
Amplify ELA review resources:
- Amplify ELA Program guide
- Amplify ELA Research Base
- Assessment in Amplify ELA
- Supporting all learners with Amplify ELA
- Administrator reports with Amplify ELA
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in Amplify ELA
- Remote and hybrid learning in Amplify ELA
- Principles of engagement in Amplify ELA
- Amplify ELA Technical Specifications
New Mexico ELA review Amplify ELA (6–8)
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify ELA for New Mexico. Below you’ll find access to our print and digital materials as well as other resources to support your review and allow you to experience our program.
Program overview presentation
Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically for grades 6–8. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle complex text, make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find reading relevance for themselves.
Online platform videos
The content and instruction in Amplify ELA’s digital program mirrors the content provided in the print Teacher Guides and Student Editions. Additionally, the digital program offers enhanced opportunities to engage students through the use of multimedia and a variety of learning apps. Teachers will also find embedded apps that make it easy to score student work, provide feedback, differentiate instruction, and report on progress.
Download this teacher navigation guide and watch this video walkthrough to support your digital review.
Key program features
Amplify ELA’s structured yet flexible lessons are grounded in regular routines while still allowing for a variety of learning experiences and continuous student engagement.
Take a closer look at the program’s structure and the sequence of activity types that appear in a typical lesson.
Amplify ELA features high-quality lessons grounded in great books, with powerful multimedia tools to immerse young adolescents in reading, writing, and speaking.
Our rich and relevant texts are more than just excerpts. With more than 700 full titles in our digital library plus a variety of Novel Guides, Amplify ELA engages and inspires middle schoolers with great works, including poetry, rhetoric, and Spanish selections.
Amplify ELA’s new, hybrid curriculum can be used in classrooms with limited access to devices. Our engaging print highlights the many digital experiences that can be shared with students through classroom projections. Teachers can make choices about when their students use devices without compromising learning and while providing 100% standards coverage.
Download the Remote and Hybrid Learning Guide to learn how we support in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction.
Based on individual student needs and performance measures within Amplify ELA reports, teachers are able to select the differentiation level that’s best for each student. When students reach an activity, the platform delivers the assigned differentiation, allowing all students to experience the same lesson with supports tailored to their unique needs.
What’s more, when logging in each morning, teachers will be greeted by their Amplify ELA Homescreen where they can view a snapshot of student performance, access reports, see which students are struggling, and easily return to where they left off the day before.
- Our close reading apps bring texts to life for students. Students zoom in on specific moments of the text and map out character traits, trace emotions throughout a text, and gather evidence to build a case. These apps are also flexible so teachers can create their own activities for Amplify ELA core texts, texts in the library, and texts they bring in from other sources.
- The Vocab App strengthens vocabulary skills with fun and fully differentiated adaptive games, repeated encounters with new words across multiple contexts, and an interactive stats page that helps students track their own progress.
- Quests are fun, week-long explorations that help students practice analytical reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills while building a strong classroom community. In each Quest, students step into the world of the text they have been reading. They interact with different complex texts in multiple formats and media, gather evidence from these texts and interactions with classmates, and work together to achieve the Quest goal.
With Amplify ELA, your students will benefit from embedded assessments that maximize instructional time and allow them to keep learning without the disruption of step-away performance tests.
And as students complete activities within lessons and units, Amplify ELA teacher and admin reports provide a continuously updated picture of how each student is progressing with key skills and standards. Data is gathered from daily learning moments, allowing you to keep teaching while building a clear understanding of student performance.
Providing feedback has never been easier. With Classwork, teachers can review student writing and multiple choice answers and easily add scores and comments (and even emoji!) all in one place, giving students the immediate feedback they need to further develop their confidence and literacy skills.
Additional materials to support your review
Oregon ELA State Review for 6–8
Utah ELA Review for Grades 6–8
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for middle school.
Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically for grades 6–8. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle complex text, make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find reading relevance for themselves.
Step 1: Program Introduction
Welcome to Amplify ELA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about Amplify ELA’s unique instructional design, built specifically for middle schoolers.
Step 2: Program Overview
Amplify ELA is a core curriculum designed to deliver a unique research-based approach designed to get all students reading grade-level text together.
Watch the overview video below to get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.
The Amplify ELA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify ELA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring evidence-based instructional practices to life in the middle school classroom.
Evidence-based design
Amplify ELA is rooted in extensive research in learning, cognition, and how middle school students develop literacy skills.
As such, Amplify ELA features four research-based principles of engagement that support teachers in meeting key developmental needs, and help students become confident, active learners. In addition, Amplify ELA has been proven to drive outcomes for middle school students. Read the ESSA studies below to learn more.
- Impact of Amplify English Language Arts 6–8: ESSA Technical Write-Up for Grade 6
- Impact of Amplify English Language Arts 6–8: ESSA Tier 2 Brief for Grades 7 and 8
Key features
Amplify ELA’s new, hybrid curriculum empowers teachers to decide when and how their students use technology without the worry of compromising learning. Whether implemented in high tech, low tech, or no tech classrooms, teachers can easily and confidently provide 100% standards coverage.
Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide to learn how we support in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction.
Amplify ELA’s structured yet flexible lessons are grounded in regular routines while still allowing for a variety of learning experiences and continuous student engagement.
Take a closer look at the program’s structure and the sequence of activity types that appear in a typical lesson.
Amplify ELA features high-quality lessons grounded in great books, with powerful multimedia tools to immerse young adolescents in reading, writing, and speaking.
Our rich and relevant texts are more than just excerpts. With more than 700 full titles in our digital library plus a variety of Novel Guides, Amplify ELA engages and inspires middle schoolers with great works, including poetry, rhetoric, and Spanish selections.
Based on individual student needs and performance measures within Amplify ELA reports, teachers are able to select the differentiation level that’s best for each student. When students reach an activity, the platform delivers the assigned differentiation, allowing all students to experience the same lesson with supports tailored to their unique needs.
What’s more, when logging in each morning, teachers will be greeted by their Amplify ELA Homescreen where they can view a snapshot of student performance, access reports, see which students are struggling, and easily return to where they left off the day before.
- Our close reading apps bring texts to life for students. Students zoom in on specific moments of the text and map out character traits, trace emotions throughout a text, and gather evidence to build a case. These apps are also flexible so teachers can create their own activities for Amplify ELA core texts, texts in the library, and texts they bring in from other sources.
- The Vocab App strengthens vocabulary skills with fun and fully differentiated adaptive games, repeated encounters with new words across multiple contexts, and an interactive stats page that helps students track their own progress.
- Quests are fun, week-long explorations that help students practice analytical reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills while building a strong classroom community. In each Quest, students step into the world of the text they have been reading. They interact with different complex texts in multiple formats and media, gather evidence from these texts and interactions with classmates, and work together to achieve the Quest goal.
With Amplify ELA, your students will benefit from embedded assessments that maximize instructional time and allow them to keep learning without the disruption of step-away performance tests.
In addition, as students complete activities within lessons and units, Amplify ELA teacher and admin reports provide a continuously updated picture of how each student is progressing with key skills and standards. Data is gathered from daily learning moments, allowing you to keep teaching while building a clear understanding of student performance.
Providing feedback has never been easier. With Classwork, teachers can review student writing and multiple choice answers and easily add scores and comments (and even emojis) all in one place, giving students the immediate feedback they need to further develop their confidence and literacy skills.
Step 3: Program Resources
Digital navigation walkthrough
Physical materials walkthrough
Step 4: State Review Resources
Utah submission resources:
ELA review resources:
- Amplify ELA Grade overviews
- Amplify ELD Program Guide
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in Amplify ELA
- Differentiation for every student in Amplify ELA
- Formative and summative assessment in Amplify ELA
- Administrator reports with Amplify ELA
- Remote and hybrid learning in Amplify ELA
- Amplify ELA Research Base
- EQuIP Rubric for Amplify ELA
- Amplify ELA Technical Specifications
Step 5: Program Access
Explore as a teacher
Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the Amplify ELA Teacher Platform.
Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:
- Click the Amplify ELA Teacher Platform button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the teacher username and password found on the login flyer PDF.
- Click the ELA icon.
- Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Explore as a student
Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the Amplify ELA Student Platform.
Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:
- Click the Amplify ELA Student Platform button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the student username and password found on the login flyer PDF.
- Click the ELA icon.
- Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
South Carolina ELA review for grades 6–8
South Carolina ELA Review for grades 6–8
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for 6–8.
Amplify ELA is a cutting-edge and effective program that engages middle schools students through a unique blend of digital and print lessons, dynamic texts, lively discussions, and interactive Quests.
Getting started
On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about Amplify ELA’s alignment to South Carolina’s literacy initiatives as well as where to find key program resources.
South Carolina review documents
Please use the provided Amplify credentials to access the ELA content cited below.
What is Amplify ELA 6-8?
Amplify ELA helps students develop the essential skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and features:
- Complex, content-rich literary and informational texts.
- Differentiated supports throughout the program that allow every student to engage deeply with the same complex texts, and an interactive eReader with an array of multimedia tools.
- Embedded assessments that allow for uninterrupted instructional time.
- Comprehensive print materials, including Teacher Editions, Student Editions, and Writing Journals for grades 6–8.
- The Amplify Library—a digital collection of more than 700 full-length texts.
In the videos below, hear about current educators’ experiences with Amplify ELA and the positive impact it has made in their classrooms.
Why Review ELA 6-8?
Amplify ELA’s hybrid curriculum empowers teachers to decide when and how their students use technology without the worry of compromising learning. Whether implemented in high tech or low tech classrooms, teachers can easily and confidently provide 100% standards coverage.
Amplify ELA’s structured yet flexible lessons are grounded in regular routines while still allowing for a variety of learning experiences and continuous student engagement.
There is never a dull moment on a middle school campus. For that reason, some schools appreciate having a flexible pacing option. Our abridged lesson pathways ensure full coverage of the standards in just 100 lessons.
Amplify ELA features high-quality lessons grounded in great books, with powerful multimedia tools to immerse young adolescents in reading, writing, and speaking.
Our rich and relevant texts are more than just excerpts. With more than 700 full titles in our digital library plus a variety of Novel Guides, Amplify ELA engages and inspires middle schoolers with great works, including poetry, rhetoric, and Spanish selections. This extensive booklist can be customized to meet individual district needs and preferences.
Amplify ELA Novel Guides provide middle school teachers with flexible study guides for the books they most want to teach and provide students with lean, targeted instruction that follows the pedagogy in core units. The diverse selection of books in this series presents a range of genres and themes, from mystery to non-fiction and from social justice to identity and courage.
All Novel Guides are housed in the Amplify Library as downloadable and printable PDFs. They’re designed to be used flexibly and include suggestions for implementation.
A selection of these guides are also available as digital units, accessible by teacher and student and fully aligned to the corresponding print novel guide. The digital versions of these Novel Guides allow all students to read the text, complete activities, and submit work through Amplify’s curriculum application.
Based on individual student needs and performance measures within Amplify ELA reports, teachers are able to select the differentiation level that’s best for each student. When students reach an activity, the platform delivers the assigned differentiation, allowing all students to experience the same lesson with supports tailored to their unique needs.
- Our close reading apps bring texts to life for students. Students zoom in on specific moments of the text and trace characters’ emotions throughout a text, gather evidence to build a case, and create storyboards that render their understanding of a text.
- The Vocab App strengthens vocabulary skills with fun and fully differentiated adaptive games, repeated encounters with new words across multiple contexts, and an interactive stats page that helps students track their own progress.
- Quests are fun, week-long explorations that help students practice analytical reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills while building a strong classroom community. In each Quest, students step into the world of the text they have been reading. They interact with different complex texts in multiple formats and media, gather evidence from these texts and interactions with classmates, and work together to achieve the Quest goal.
With Amplify ELA, your students will benefit from embedded assessments that maximize instructional time and allow them to keep learning without the disruption of step-away performance tests.
In addition, as students complete activities within lessons and units, Amplify ELA teacher and admin reports provide a continuously updated picture of how each student is progressing with key skills and standards. Data is gathered from daily learning moments, allowing you to keep teaching while building a clear understanding of student performance.
Providing feedback has never been easier. With Classwork, teachers can review student writing and multiple choice answers and easily add scores and comments (and even emojis) all in one place, giving students the immediate feedback they need to further develop their confidence and literacy skills.
Digital navigation walkthrough
Access the resources
Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:
- Visit learning.amplify.com
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the username: t.southcarolina@tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
- Select Amplify ELA
Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:
- Visit learning.amplify.com
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- Enter the username: s.southcarolina@tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
Amplify literacy success K-8
See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.
Additional resources
Amplify ELA review resources:
Georgia ELA State Review for 6–8
Boost Reading for Colorado
S3-01: Science as the underdog, and the research behind it
Get ready for season 3 of Science Connections: The Podcast!
In our first episode, we unpack the research around our season theme of science as the underdog with Horizon Research, Inc. Vice President Eric R. Banilower and Senior Researcher Courtney Plumley. Eric and Courtney dive into the research they’ve found and their experiences as former educators to show how science is often overlooked in K–12 classrooms. We discuss how the science classroom compares to other subjects in terms of time and resources, how schools are a reflection of society, and what’s needed to change science and its impact on a larger scale.
We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!
Courtney Plumley (00:00):
We asked teachers how much science, professional development, they’ve had in the last three years, and nearly half of elementary teachers said none.
Eric Cross (00:10):
Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. I am super-excited to be kicking off the third season with the show. This entire season will be exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And we’re gonna make the case for science, by showing how and why it can be used more effectively. In the coming episodes, we’re gonna talk about how science can be better integrated into other content areas like literacy and math, and explore some of the benefits that you might not be thinking about good science instruction. But first, science as the underdog. I bet some of you out there feel like science is the underdog in your community at school. I know I have at times. To kick off this season, I’m gonna talk to two people who really studied this question by looking at the state of science instruction across the US. Eric Banilower is Vice President of Horizon Research and Courtney Plumley is Senior Researcher at Horizon Research. Eric was the principal investigator and Courtney an author of the latest in a series of studies called “The National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education.” We’re gonna dive into the findings of their most recent report to see what the data’s showing us. Please enjoy my discussion with Eric Banilower and Courtney Plumley. Courtney, hello. And thank you so much for joining us.
Courtney Plumley (01:25):
Hi Eric. It’s nice to be here.
Eric Cross (01:26):
And Eric, welcome.
Eric R. Banilower (01:27):
We’re thrilled to be here, so thank you for having us.
Eric Cross (01:30):
I was reading through the report. Four hundred…a very thorough report, 471 pages, I think, as I got it?
Eric R. Banilower (01:37):
And that’s only one of the many reports from that study.
Eric Cross (01:40):
Yeah. You all have done your work, so I’m really excited to to talk to you about this. And on this season of the show, we’re exploring the theme of science as the underdog. And I think a lot of our listeners, we feel like science is an underdog either in their school or in their district. But you’ve actually done some research on this, in a 2018 study, “The National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education.” So I wanna talk about this report. But first I was hoping you can kind of set the stage. How did you come to work on this report, and then, big picture, what were you hoping to find out?
Eric R. Banilower (02:10):
So the 2018 study that you just mentioned was actually the sixth iteration of a series of studies dating back to 1977. And we collect data every decade or so—you know, plus or minus a few years. And really, what we’re trying to do is get a snapshot of what the science and math education system looks like in in the nation. So my role grew. I started working at Horizon in about 1998, after teaching high school for five years in California. And then going to graduate school. And right about that time, the company was doing the 2000 iteration of the survey. And I worked on it with the team here at Horizon. And then we did it again in 2012. And I had a much more prominent role in that study, and became the kind of leader of the study. And in 2018, the most recent version, we just did it again. So the goal of this study is really to kind of examine key aspects of the K–12 STEM education system. And the main audience of the work has traditionally been policy makers, researchers, and practitioners who work at the federal, state, and district level.
Eric Cross (03:30):
So this study, you took kind of a sample size, but it’s reflective of trends that we tend to see across the nation as a whole. Would that be fair to say?
Eric R. Banilower (03:38):
Yes, definitely it is. It is a random sample of schools in the country. So we start with a list of all the public and private schools in the nation, and then do a random sample of those schools, and then work really, really hard to recruit schools to agree to be in the study. And that has gotten harder every time we’ve done the study, for many understandable reasons. And then once we have schools on board, we sample teachers within schools. So we don’t even survey every teacher in a school. It’s really a sub-sample. So that we can make inferences about the nation as a whole.
Eric Cross (04:14):
Makes sense. And so Courtney, what did you find out about the time spent on science instruction in US schools?
Courtney Plumley (04:22):
So, I’m gonna talk about elementary teachers to begin with.
Eric Cross (04:26):
Because that was your past life, right?
Courtney Plumley (04:28):
I am a former elementary teacher, yeah. So that’s kind of where my head is. And that’s relatable for me. Right? So we asked teachers, like, how many days of the week or weeks of the year that they teach elementary school. And fewer than 20% teach science every day of the school year. They kind of do one or two things, for the most part. They teach a couple days a week or they teach every day of the week, but only for, like, maybe six weeks, and then they swap with social studies and they kind of do that across the school year. Which is really different from, like, math, right? We also asked elementary teachers, how often do they teach math, and it’s every day of the year. Then we also asked them how many minutes they teach when they’re teaching, and we kind of did the math to figure out, all right, if they taught science every day of the school year, how many minutes would it be in a single day, so that we could make a more comparable comparison with math and ELA. If you were to work it out, how many minutes of science an elementary teacher teaches across the year, and break it down to per day, it’s like 18 minutes for the lower elementary grades, 27 for the upper elementary grades. Which is not a lot. But it’s pretty much an hour a day in math, and 80 plus minutes in ELA. So, a lot less. And then, you know, when I was teaching, the first thing to go was always science, right? If there was an assembly, if there was early release or whatever, that was the first thing to go. So those numbers might even be higher. Just because they aren’t factoring that kind of thing in, too.
Eric Cross (06:05):
So, now I’m curious. That is something that I’ve seen just anecdotally, science being the first thing to go. I feel like I’ve seen that almost…it’s almost become a meme, that I’ve heard that so often. Just in your experience, why do you think that is that huge disparity between the two?
Courtney Plumley (06:26):
Well, I mean, when I was teaching, I was teaching third grade. I had an end-of-grade test in math and ELA for my kids. I didn’t have one in science. So the administration said, “Hey, if you’re gonna drop something, drop something that’s not tested.”
Eric Cross (06:41):
Simple as that. And Eric, you, past life: physics teacher. High school. What did you see? ‘Cause our listeners run the gamut from elementary all the way up to high school. What did you see, as far as relative science instruction in the secondary level?
Eric R. Banilower (07:00):
Sure. You know, secondary is just a whole different situation than elementary. Rght? Because you have departmentalization. I taught science. I didn’t have to teach other subjects. And students had periods, and they still do, sorry, they still have periods, even though it’s been a long time since I taught. And you know, they rotate from one class to another. So all the classes were essentially the same length. So, you know, when I was teaching, it was about 50-minute periods. So in terms of minutes of a class or minutes on a subject, it’s not really different. But what is different is what students are required to take in order to graduate high school. One of the things we asked schools about in this study was how many years of a subject do students have to take in order to graduate? And what we saw was in mathematics, over half the schools in the nation require students to take four years of mathematics to graduate. OK? And the vast majority of the rest, about 44%, require three years in science. Most schools require three years. Very few require four years. And many, or a fair number, still only require two years to graduate. So the expectation of what students are taking is lower in science than it is in mathematics.
Eric Cross (08:20):
So you were seeing the same trend in secondary, essentially.
Eric R. Banilower (08:24):
Yes.
Eric Cross (08:24):
The amount of time devoted to the instruction of science…we’re kind of seeing it mirrored just across K–12 across the board.
Eric R. Banilower (08:33):
That’s correct.
Eric Cross (08:34):
And that’s across the country. ‘Cause the sample size represents teachers from Alaska, Hawaii, the South, SoCal, everywhere. So what’s been the reaction to that number? Like 18 to 20 minutes is…I mean, it’s, it’s half of my lunch at our school. What’s been the reaction to that number since this data has been published?
Eric R. Banilower (08:58):
I don’t know, Courtney, if you want to take that…
Courtney Plumley (09:00):
It’s a lot of what you just did. Like, what??? Like, how is it possible to teach all the things you need to teach in such a little amount of time?
Eric R. Banilower (09:08):
What’s really kind of surprising to me, though — though now that I’ve worked on three iterations of the study, it no longer surprises me, but it did at first — is that these numbers really aren’t changing since we’ve started doing this study. You know, people thought maybe with No Child Left Behind and the increase in accountability, time on science might actually go down, because there was more testing in math and English Language Arts. It didn’t happen. It was pretty much constant, that this has been kind of the state of science education for a long time.
Eric Cross (09:44):
So Eric, if I’m hearing you right: The past studies, we’re not seeing an increase or a decline. This has been this way for how many years, roughly, would you say? Since it’s been studied?
Eric R. Banilower (09:54):
You know, I’d have to go back to the 1977 report to get the numbers, but I’m gonna say since then, it has not changed much, if at all.
Eric Cross (10:03):
So this has kind of been entrenched. This has been the norm for almost for the career of a teacher, almost generationally. We’re looking at anyone who’s been in the highest levels of leadership to someone just entering the classroom, this has been the way it’s always been. This is kind of for many people what they’ve only known.
Eric R. Banilower (10:20):
Right.
Eric Cross (10:21):
Kind of become the norm.
Courtney Plumley (10:21):
We didn’t even have science when I was in elementary school. We had science on a cart that came by, you know, every other week.
Eric Cross (10:28):
Was that like a food truck, but like the science version of it? It shows up and does quick science and takes off?
Courtney Plumley (10:35):
And New York was, I mean — we always watched Voyage of the Mimi. I don’t know if you ever watched that. But that’s what we watched every single time the Science on the Cart came. So it’s like a marine biology show. Ben Affleck was on it when he was a kid.
Eric Cross (10:48):
<laugh> Really? For me it was, Mr. Wizard. For some of my students, even now, Bill Nye. You know, the Bill Nye show or something would come on. So what happens when you look at less wealthy districts? Is there a relationship between community resources and science instruction, or is it pretty much equal no matter what the district resources are, the school’s resources are? Did you see any data there?
Eric R. Banilower (11:12):
Yes. We actually did a lot of disaggregating the data by community type, student demographics in the schools, to look to see whether there were areas of inequities across the country. And, you know, one of the factors we looked at was kind of a measure of socioeconomic status. You know, wealth in the community. By looking at percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. And interestingly, in terms of time on science instruction, there is actually not a relationship between income level and how much time is spent at the elementary level on science, which actually surprised us.
Eric Cross (11:54):
Because you might have expected it to be the other way now. And granted, it’s 18 to 20 minutes, there isn’t much more to shave off off of that. But were there other differences, like when you compared those communities? Maybe it wasn’t the amount of science instruction, but was there anything else, like teacher preparedness, resources? Were there anything else that you did see discrepancies in? Or was it equal across the board?
Eric R. Banilower (12:13):
No, unfortunately there, there have been, and still are, a number of areas where community resources are related to pretty substantial differences in educational opportunities that students have. So, you know, we’re talking about the high school science requirements. One of the things that we saw was that high schools in less wealthy communities tend to offer less rigorous science courses than high schools in better-off-financially communities. So they may not be AP courses or second year advanced courses to the same extent that there are in the wealthier communities. That’s one big difference that we saw. Another one was what you were just saying about, sort of, the teachers who teach in these communities. You know, I think that for many years people have had a feeling that the best teachers go to the better off schools because it’s easier to teach there. Well, we see that the schools with the most poverty, they tend to have the newer teachers, who are just starting their career. They tend to have teachers who are less well prepared to teach their subject. And there’s a host of other differences we found. And you know, you mentioned the report being 400 pages. This other report that looks at these differences is also quite long, and, you know, identified a number of areas where there are these disparities in the system.
Eric Cross (13:43):
Well, we appreciate you synthesizing this for us, because this is super-important. And you’ve fleshed out a lot of things. And the fact that it’s driven by data, we as science teachers, we as scientists, being objective, really, really value that. Because this is actually validating a lot of the things that our listeners and myself, we experience anecdotally. But you don’t have a lot of things to network you. And sometimes, when you see this, you wonder if it’s just you, or is are other people experiencing this? And so as you start talking about this data, realizing, oh wow, this is not something in isolation. This is systemic. This is something that’s impacted. And then Eric, what you said about schools that were lower-income, that were under-resourced, and didn’t offer those advanced classes, what are some of the impacts of that, maybe downstream, of doing that? Not having those AP classes? I just kind of wanted to put that out there and ask you.
Eric R. Banilower (14:31):
You know, this is a really…this is a current debate right now, about what the goals of schooling K–12 should be. You know, are all kids meant to go to college? Should there be alternative paths? And you know, I know when I was teaching, I would have students say, “Why do I need to know this? I’m not gonna go into science. I’m not gonna study physics. Why do I need to take this?” And, you know, the answer I used to give them was, “You never know where your life is gonna end up and what opportunities you’ll have. And by having these educational experiences, you have more opportunities available to you. Whether or not you choose to go down those paths, you have opportunities. And when you don’t take this kind of coursework, you know, even if you don’t want to go to college, you limit your potential careers. Because so many careers nowadays require some technical knowledge, some knowledge of science, even if it’s not explicitly a science job. It is embedded in our society now. We are a technological and science-based society.”
Eric Cross (15:37):
It reminds me of something that I’ve told my students, that if you become a scientist, that’s awesome. I love that. But if you don’t, and you want to be a dancer or an actor or a lawyer or anything that may not be directly related to STEM, I want you to choose it because it was a choice, and not a lack of options. So as long as you’re choosing not to go in STEM, and you don’t make that decision because you can’t, or because you weren’t given the opportunity. So that’s how I’ve always had this mindset as a teacher. And I’ve explained it to my students. So if you say, “Cross, you know what I want to do, I wanna be an awesome chef,” which, you know, low-key that’s science, right? <laugh> Molecular gastronomy, we know that. But like, you be the best chef. But as long as you’re being a chef because you choose that, and you’re like, “I love science, but I don’t wanna go that direction,” we’re good.
Eric R. Banilower (16:26):
Right. And if you think about, a lot of social justice issues with pollution and climate change, and you look at which communities are more affected by some of these larger environmental problems and challenges, it tends to be the lower socioeconomic communities, the more poverty-stricken communities have worse water, have worse air quality. And so if, if people from these communities are going to make informed decisions about who they’re gonna vote for, about what policies they’re gonna support, those are science topics that you have to have some understanding in order to make informed decisions in your life.
Eric Cross (17:09):
Courtney, you were one of the Swiss Army Knife teachers. This is how I perceive it for elementary. You had to teach everything. And shout out to all of my elementary school teachers that have to be mathematicians and grammar whizzes and scientists and PE instructors and social emotional, all of those different things. you also looked at teacher preparedness. How did teachers feel about teaching science compared to other subjects like language arts and math? Did you see anything there?
Courtney Plumley (17:39):
We did, we did. And I’m glad you said, “How did they feel about it?” Because one thing that, you know, in a survey you can’t really do is capture how someone actually…how good someone actually…the quality of someone’s instruction. But you can ask them how prepared they feel. And you can even ask them like stats, like, “What did you major in in college?” You know. But you really are going on based on what what they say. So we ask them how prepared they feel to teach all the core subjects. And two-thirds of elementary teachers felt very well prepared to teach reading. They felt very well prepared to teach math. But when it comes to science, it’s less than a third felt very well prepared. And you know, like you said, when you’re teaching elementary school, you’re teaching all the subjects. But also in science, there’s usually four main instructional units in a school year. And they’re all from different science disciplines. So not only are you going on, like, “Maybe in college took a lot of bio classes, but I didn’t take any physics classes, and now I have to teach physics to my kids and I have no experience there.” So, you know, we also ask them how well-prepared they felt in these different disciplines. And the numbers are even smaller, you know. Fewer than a quarter felt very well-prepared in life science. And like 13% felt very well-prepared in physical science. So there’s definitely a big difference between how much teachers feel prepared for ELA and math versus science.
Eric Cross (19:08):
And just from a human perspective, when we don’t feel prepared for something, we’re not really gonna probably lean into it as much as we are into our strengths. Like, that’s just kind of how we are across the board.
Courtney Plumley (19:18):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (19:18):
I’m even like that with my own chores in the house. Or when I have things I need to get done, and I might not be as good at doing those things—it’s gonna be a heavy cognitive load; I’m gonna have to do some background research—I tend to find other areas to excel in. Like, I’m gonna be productive in this other area. I’m gonna really crush it here. But this other thing gets put to the back burner.
Courtney Plumley (19:36):
Totally. And the same reason I might skip science today, <laugh> ’cause it’s scary.
Eric Cross (19:41):
Yeah, exactly. But I love this book. <Laugh> Or we could do this math, and let’s really, really dive deep into it. Now, did you also look at professional development and instructional resources that are being provided?
Courtney Plumley (19:53):
We did.
Eric Cross (19:54):
And on the whole, how was the amount—and I’m seeing a trend here, so I’m kind of feeling like I know where this might go—but I wanted to ask it, did the amount of professional development and resources for science, was there much of a difference between that and other subjects?
Eric R. Banilower (20:10):
Well, I’ll start on this, and Courtney, feel free to jump in. You know, one of the things that we asked was how much kind of discretionary funding do schools devote to science and how much to mathematics? So, for consumables or equipment and supplies or computer software for teachers to use in the classroom. And it’s hard to compare, I think, across subjects because the demands for this kind of supplies, et cetera, is very different, I think, in science than it is in mathematics. Right? We have a lot of, you know, equipment for doing investigations, consumable supplies in science. And those things need to be replenished on a regular basis. It turns out, when we look at the data for school discretionary spending on this kind of stuff, the median school spends less than $2 per student at the elementary level on science, compared to over $6 for mathematics. At the high school level, it’s kind of reversed. Schools spend more money on high school science than they do on high school math. but even still, at the high school, it’s less than $7 per student. Which is not a lot of money being devoted to thinking about all the materials, supplies, chemicals, et cetera, that you need to teach science well, at the high school level. More disturbing is the fact that, you know, we were talking about inequities before, schools that serve less well-off communities spend less than schools that serve wealthier communities, by quite a big amount.
Eric Cross (21:46):
So essentially the per-student thing just kind of popped out to me: So, like, an expensive Starbucks drink is what we’re spending on science per student.
Eric R. Banilower (21:57):
At the high school level. Yes.
Eric Cross (21:58):
At the high school level. And I get those catalogs in the mail, from all of those big science companies. You can’t get much for seven bucks. At least, nothing high-level. And I know I do a lot of 99-cent store science. I go down the street, go to the 99-cent store. Thankfully we could do a lot of awesome science with just, you know, cheap things. But a lot of the higher level experiences, they’re pricey. But the experiences are so rich! And $7 at the high school level is nothing. It’s not much at all.
Eric R. Banilower (22:28):
Yeah. It is definitely, you know, kind of shocking to think about what we’re investing in our children’s future.
Eric Cross (22:37):
Now, just to put you both on the spot, ’cause I feel like that we’ve identified some…we’re seeing a trend here, we’re seeing a pattern. We’re talking about, you know, being science teachers. There’s a pattern going on here. Do you think it’s fair to characterize science as the underdog?
Courtney Plumley (22:52):
I think in elementary school, it is a fair statement. Because, like we said before, I mean they’re gonna preference math and ELA almost all the time. I mean, the other thing you’d asked a little bit ago was about professional development, too. And we do have some data on that. And we ask teachers, you know, how much science professional development they’ve had in the last three years. And nearly half of elementary teachers said none. And I know I didn’t have any science professional development. If I was gonna pick from among the catalog, I was picking one that I needed more, like math. Math and ELA. I keep making that statement, but just over and over, it’s the truth.
Eric Cross (23:31):
And going back to what you said earlier, because that’s where the accountability was, right? And that kind of came top-down.
Courtney Plumley (23:38):
Yes.
Eric Cross (23:38):
And influenced everything else.
Eric R. Banilower (23:40):
Yeah. Now, really interesting thing that we did, a year or so ago, ’cause someone asked us, you know, “Hey, could you look at this?” is we compared elementary science instructional time among states where science counted towards accountability versus states where science doesn’t count towards accountability. And at the upper elementary grades, more time was spent on science in schools in states where they had science accountability. Now I’m not arguing for adding science to accountability systems. But that’s a pretty telling piece of data.
Eric Cross (24:19):
What gets measured gets done.
Eric R. Banilower (24:20):
Yeah.
Eric Cross (24:20):
Or what was getting evaluated was getting done. And that raises, that opens up a myriad of other questions about testing, and what that reveals, and all of those different things. But at the end of the day, what you’re finding is that the things that were getting tested were the things that were getting the priority.
Eric R. Banilower (24:36):
That’s right.
Eric Cross (24:37):
How did we get to this point? And Eric, you said it goes back at least to ’77, but we look at society and we’re…I wanna say we’re post-pandemic, but we’re we’re not. but we’re trying to, we’re trying to get past that. But we’re looking at…we had innovations in biology, we have innovations right now in green energy and electric cars and all of these things that are STEM-based. We know that these are things that have moved humanity forward. And we look at the pipeline of people who are in STEM and we, we see the disparities and things like that. Why was science given less of a priority? I’m just curious. Maybe, Courtney, we could start with you, if you have any ideas. Or Eric. Either one. But how did we get here?
Eric R. Banilower (25:22):
<laugh> I think Courtney wants me to take that one. I’m older so I’ve seen more <laugh>. So, you know, I have the gray hair. She doesn’t. I think it’s complicated. And I know this sounds cliche, but but schools are a reflection of society, right? And, and so science education, you know, if you think back when Sputnik was launched, there became this great demand in America to improve and produce more scientists and engineers in response to this Cold War threat. Right? And then in the ’80s there was rising, oh, the gathering storm was an economic argument that we needed to increase science and math, you know, education and people going into those fields in order to compete economically against the global competitors. And I think that America has always produced a fair number, a large number, of high-quality scientists and engineers, you know. And we still lead the world in many ways. But where we’ve identified as a problem is who has those opportunities to go into those fields. You know, it used to be a very select, a very male-dominated, white male-dominated field. Right? And other people didn’t have the opportunity, or they were shown the way out pretty early. And we, I think, have come to realize as a country that, you know, the, the greater the diversity of thought that we can get into these discussions, the more innovative we can be and the more productive as a society we can be. And so I think we’ve had this shift in the country to, instead of thinking about just the quality for the select few, but to be thinking about the quality for everyone. And so that makes it seem like some of these challenges are greater than they used to be. And I think they’re different challenges, right? We’ve evolved as a society and I think schools have evolved.
Eric Cross (27:40):
There is a conversation I was in on a plane with a person who was a materials manager for a company that made the adhesive for sandpaper. And we were flying…I was flying to Denmark and he was flying to some other Scandinavian country. And we were just talking about it. And he came from another industry, and somehow the conversation led to science. I don’t know how that happened. But somehow I just started talking about science and I asked him about, Eric, kind of what you said about the US kind of leading the way in science innovation versus the rest of the world. And I asked him why. And he said one of the reasons why is because the heterogeneous thought. The different groups of people that are coming to a problem actually create more innovative and novel solutions. Versus when it’s more homogeneous. And everyone’s either culturally or just for whatever reason, kind of thinks a certain way. While they might have a more efficient way, the variety of solutions are not as varied and not as novel. I was reminded of that story based on what you just said. So it’s really interesting. So it seems to be that it benefits if we have more heterogeneous groups, more folks who are contributing to STEM, because that’s gonna be solving the next problem more efficiently. Or I guess maybe in my head it seems like the next we need…we do really well when we have a dragon to slay. I mean, it seems like we come together when that’s the case, right? Like, I dunno.
Eric R. Banilower (29:06):
No, I think that’s…I think that’s accurate.
Eric Cross (29:09):
Later on the season of the podcast, we’re gonna explore ways to better integrate science with other subjects like literacy and math. Were you able to study at all any more integrated approaches to science instruction? Does any of your research support that approach?
Courtney Plumley (29:25):
Not on the national survey, we didn’t study that. And it’s something that we’ve talked about before, because it’s difficult to get teachers to…we were talking about instructional time. It’s hard for teachers to put a number on it when they’re integrating, because, you know, it’s not like I have my science block from 3 to 3:30 anymore. Now it’s kind of scattered about. But it’s something that has been in the ether. We’ve been looking at it in a couple of projects. So there’s some evidence that it can be effective, especially for getting more, you know…the idea is you can get more time for science if you are integrating with other subjects. But one thing to kind of caution is like, students need to have opportunities to learn each discipline when they’re doing integrated instruction. So you don’t wanna just have, like, math in your science. Kids already know to just, like, support it. Then it’s hard to take time from math to put it into science when they’re not actually learning anything new. That’s the easy thing to do, though, is say, “Oh, my kids already know how to measure. We did that in a previous unit. So now we’ll we’ll do it as part of our science instruction.” So it’s a lot of work to make it so they’re learning something new, mathematics and science, at the same time. And it’s not really something that we think that teachers should be having to do on their own, with all the other things that teachers have to do. The last thing they need to do is be creating their own, you know, curriculum. Something that’s already…you know, it’s not straightforward. So we’ve been talking about it, we think it’s really something that instructional materials maybe need to be focusing on instead of teachers having to do that on their own,
Eric Cross (31:01):
Teachers would implement it, but asking them to create it is a whole different thing, and it’s a huge ask.
Courtney Plumley (31:08):
Yes.
Eric Cross (31:08):
Yeah. And, did I hear you right? So the ideal situation would’ve been the students learning a newer math concept, but embedded in a science kind of context? Or was that the better way? Versus, “I’m gonna take a math concept they already know and then just put it into the science setting?”
Courtney Plumley (31:26):
Well, if the idea is that you can get more science time if you’re, you know, integrating things, so you can maybe take time away from a specific math block by putting it with science, or whatever, then if the math is something that the kids already know, now you’re just taking away. I think that that has to be new in both cases, in order to justify having more time.
Eric Cross (31:49):
Right. Eric, in the secondary level, any thoughts on that? On integrating these disciplines together?
Eric R. Banilower (31:56):
I think, you know, just like at the elementary level, it can be challenging to do it well. When I taught, I taught my last couple years in a kind of school-within-a-school kind of situation, where our goal was to try to integrate science, mathematics, and language arts. And it’s hard to do that in a meaningful way. And we did not have curriculum materials given to us to help us do this. We were trying to figure out how to do this on our own, while we were teaching 200 kids a day in our subjects. Right? And five preparations. And you know, it’s a big ask of any teacher. And there are teachers who thrive on this and are great at this. And, you know, that’s one thing I wanna, make clear: our data is about the system, and we are former teachers. Almost everyone who works at Horizon is a former teacher. We have the greatest respect for teachers and what they do. And what our data is showing is are kind of like areas where the system isn’t providing teachers and their students the opportunities to do great things. I think at the high school level, there has been this idea of project-based learning where students are bringing together different skills, different ideas from across disciplines. And I think there’s, again, a lot of potential in doing that. But trying to develop those experiences so that they are doing service to the different subjects, so students are learning what they’re supposed to learn in English Language Arts, that they’re learning, important mathematics, and that this is in a science context, where they are getting to do and understand what science is and how science, as a discipline, operates…that’s just a really hard thing to develop.
Eric Cross (33:53):
So what I’m hearing—and I really appreciate the nuance in this, because it’s not a simple “Yes. Integrated is better,”—I’m hearing “Yes. Quality control.” “Yes. It needs to be written not by teachers; they’re the practitioners.” It’s “Yes. And,” not just simply binary. Which…it’s so easy to wanna chunk things and say yes or no on things. But this one seems a much more nuanced approach. And in a future episode, you mentioned project-based learning, we’re gonna try and talk to people who have thoughts on this. And I really appreciate that you talked about project-based learning, because also, how do you evaluate that? How do you evaluate whether or not it is high quality? Is this is something I see? You know, high-quality standards, highest quality science teaching, highly qualified teachers. It’s something that I see often. Now, based on all your research, this is kind of the 30,000-foot view. What advice might you have for people who are thinking about changing the way science is taught in this country? Which hasn’t changed since 1977, at least since we’ve been measuring it. Any advice for people who do want to act? Another way to ask, it might be, if you were given a magic wand, <laugh>, you have all power, what might you do if you can control the entire vertical system?
Eric R. Banilower (35:07):
Yeah, so a clarification, I do think science instruction has changed. It has evolved. I think there’s a lot of really good things going on in different pockets of the country. One of the challenges is bringing those good ideas and good practices to scale. Right? There are approximately 1.2 million teachers of science K–12 in this country. That’s a lot of people. And about 80% of those are elementary teachers who are responsible for teaching other subjects as well. So my thinking is often about, “How do we take what we know and that we’ve learned through decades of research is effective, and impact a large number of teachers, and therefore a large number of students?” And you know, Courtney I think has hinted at this already. And you’ve mentioned it too, Eric, is that teaching is a profession, right? And it’s a craft. But in no other profession do practitioners have the expectation that they’re developing their own tools and methods for their work. I know when I was in my teacher preparation program, and it’s still extremely common, one of the assignments perspective teachers are given is to develop a unit and develop a lesson, right? You don’t have doctors being asked to develop new treatments and new tests to use. Their job is to get to know their patient, assess what’s going on, and then using research-based methods to develop a plan of action, right? And I think that analogy works really well in education and is a way that we could have a scalable approach for kind of raising the floor across the country for the quality of science education. Giving teachers research-based materials, high-quality instructional materials, that they can then use and adapt to meet the needs of their students, would allow them to focus on getting to know their students, seeing what their strengths are, seeing where they have room for growth, and using the materials they’re given to help those students progress. And I think that is definitely a way where we could have a big impact at a large scale.
Eric Cross (37:39):
Courtney, same question: Magic wand, all power. You can change systems from the elementary perspective. What would you do? I’m assuming part of it’s gonna be changing that 18 to 20 minute time. But even for that to happen, what would you do? What would you change?
Courtney Plumley (37:57):
Well, I don’t know. Like, for it to change, I don’t know the answer to that. But yes, increasing the time would be great. And like Eric was saying, giving teachers— ’cause again, I’m coming in, not enough probably background in science—and then, you know, when I was, when I was teaching, we had one set of textbooks for the entire grade. Six classes, right? Like, share them. But third graders aren’t gonna read textbooks anyway, right? So instead I’m going to the teacher store. I’m pulling things off the shelf. And like, “OK, yeah, sure, I’ll use this.” And nowadays, teachers are going to Teachers Pay Teachers or whatever. Because I didn’t have anything good to use. So like Eric is saying, if I had instructional materials that were good instructional materials that were gonna teach my kids, that they were gonna be engaged, that they weren’t sitting and listening to science, but they were doing science, you know, and I had professional development to actually help me do it? That’s what I think we need to have. And I mean, I know there are some people out there that are working on that, but it’s not a lot. I mean, if you look at Ed Reports, they rate how well-aligned science curriculum are to standards. And there are two right now that have Ed Reports green lights. There’s Amplify and there’s OpenSciEd. You know, so there’s not much out there for teachers to use. And, so it’s hard. It’s hard. Where am I gonna go and get this stuff if it doesn’t exist? And so I’m making it up by myself. Which we already said is not the best use of teachers’ time, when they’ve got so many other demands on their time.
Eric Cross (39:27):
Eric and Courtney, listening to both of your responses, it created a visual in my mind. And Eric, I loved your analogy of…I started thinking of a chef, a welder, and a farmer. And I thought about the chef saying like, “You’re a great chef! Now, can you go farm, and make your own food, so that you can cook it?” Or the welder who has to make his own welding tools and go smelting. You know, making the different rods. I’m not a welder. But you know, all those different parts. Or the farmer who has to build his own tractor and innovate all that stuff. You’re absolutely right, the way you articulated that. And then Courtney, you essentially said, “Give them the tools and then teach them how to use it so they can go and actually be effective with it, because you’re in front of kids doing so many different things.” There’s only so much time in the day, and teachers want to do these things; they want to, but you end up having to triage when you’re asked to. Going back to Eric’s analogy, if you’re in the ER, but you’re also creating the vaccines and you’re also doing the research on which types of vaccines are gonna be the most effective, that’s, that’s a lot to ask. And so, I appreciate both your responses on that. Now, last question, what are you both working on now? This report came out in 2018. What’s, what’s next on the horizon? Actually literally, that’s no pun intended. <laugh> What’s next? <laugh> What’s next for, for you both? What are you working on?
Eric R. Banilower (40:42):
Well, you know, we would love to do another national survey, in a few years. We have to get funding to do it. And you know, that’s always something that takes effort and isn’t a guarantee. We’ve written grants to do these studies in the past, and there’s also the dealing with the reality of the situation. I think a lot of schools, still coming off the tail end of dealing with Covid, are overwhelmed. And we’ve had a hard time, I mentioned before, recruiting schools, and it gets harder every time, just ’cause they have so much on their plate. And I couldn’t see going to a school now and saying, “Hey, one more thing. Do you mind?” So I think we have to kind of wait a little bit for things to settle down before we can do another one of these studies. It just doesn’t seem feasible right now. But we’d love to in the not-too-distant future. Other than that, Courtney and I actually work on some projects together and some projects not together. One of the things that we’re working on together is a study of a fifth grade science curriculum that was developed by Okhee Lee at NYU and her colleagues, that is both aligned with the NGSS and purposely designed to support multilingual learners in developing both their science knowledge and skills as well as their language skills. And we’ve been working with the crew at NYU to study this curriculum and try to figure out, how well it’s working and under what circumstances. So that’s been a really interesting project that’s going on right now.
Courtney Plumley (42:26):
I recently worked on a report with the Carnegie Corporation in New York that actually I think, compliments what we’ve been talking about a lot. It’s about the status of K–12 education in the US—or science education in the US! <Laugh>—and so as part of that report we interviewed like 50 science education experts across the country. We surveyed teachers, people in the university settings, researchers, and everything to kind of get a little bit more update of the state of science education right now. And so a lot of the things we’ve been talking about, we still are talking about with the people in this report four years later. So, work in progress. <Laugh>
Eric Cross (43:09):
And again, going back to 1977, based on what Eric was saying earlier, we’re looking at these large systems, these systemic changes don’t happen overnight.
Eric R. Banilower (43:20):
That’s right.
Eric Cross (43:21):
It’s very slow-moving.
Eric R. Banilower (43:22):
That’s right. I would say there is progress. I think we’ve learned a lot. We are getting better. Are we there yet? No, we’re not happy with where we are. But I think, you know, I think it’s important to be hopeful about the direction things are going in.
Eric Cross (43:37):
Well-said. I agree. Courtney. Eric, thank you so much for unpacking that report that speaks to, that validates what so many teachers across the country are experiencing. And thank you for your advocacy for high-quality science education and your passion for supporting teachers and being that voice from a data-driven perspective of what teachers experience and then advocating for solutions for them. It’s super-encouraging for me, and I know it’s gonna be really encouraging for a lot of our listeners. So thank you.
Eric R. Banilower (44:10):
Thank you for having us.
Courtney Plumley (44:12):
Yeah. Thank you, Eric.
Eric Cross (44:15):
Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Eric Banilower, Vice President of Horizon Research, and Courtney Plumley, Senior Researcher at Horizon Research. For much more, check out the show notes for a link to the 2018 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education. And please remember to subscribe to Science Connections wherever you get podcasts, so that you’re not missing any of the upcoming episodes in Season three. Next time on the show, we’re gonna start laying out the road map for using science more effectively. And we’ll start by looking at the how and the why of integrating literacy instruction.
Susan Gomez Zwiep (44:49):
When we look at Science First and build language development around it, the experience tends to be more authentic and organic.
Eric Cross (44:58):
That’s next time on Science Connections: The Podcast. Thanks so much for listening.
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Meet the guests
Eric R. Banilower is a Vice President at Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI), and has worked in education for over 30 years. Eric was previously a high school physics and physical science teacher before he joined HRI in 1997, where he has worked on a number of research and evaluation projects. Most recently, he has been the Principal Investigator of the 2012 and 2018 iterations of the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, a nationally representative survey focusing on the status of the K–12 STEM education system.
Courtney Plumley is a Senior Researcher at Horizon Research, Inc. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher before starting at HRI in 2009. In her time at HRI she has worked on many K-12 STEM research and evaluation projects. Most recently, Ms. Plumley has worked with Carnegie Corporation of New York on mapping the landscape of K-12 science education in the US and is managing the field test for the OpenSciEd elementary materials.
About Science Connections
Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher.
