Discovery Education Science

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 partially meet expectations for Alignment to NGSS, Gateways 1 and 2. Gateway 1: Designed for NGSS; Criterion 1: Three-Dimensional Learning partially meets expectations: the materials are designed to provide three-dimensional learning opportunities, but not all unit objectives are addressed by the summative assessments. Criterion 2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning meets expectations. The materials have some missed opportunities to elicit prior knowledge and experiences and to drive learning in more lessons via phenomena and problems; however, anchor phenomena are embedded to drive student sensemaking across multiple lessons. Gateway 2: Coherence & Scope; Criterion 1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions, the materials partially meet expectations. They present a coherent structure and sequence of units, but an increased sophistication of tasks and explicit connections of dimensions from unit to unit are missed opportunities. In terms of the scope, all grade-band DCIs, NOS, and ENG are incorporated with few DCI elements missing. Although the majority of elements from the CCCs and SEPs are addressed, there are missed opportunities for the materials to incorporate elements from seven SEPs and two CCCs.