Video introductions
A powerful partnership
Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify.
The University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science is a recognized leader in PreK-12 science education, producing groundbreaking curriculum products for more than 40 years, including the international award-winning Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading®. The Hall’s curriculum materials are used in one in four classrooms across the nation.
Amplify has been pioneering digital education products for more than 15 years, empowering teachers across the country to offer more personalized instruction and accelerate the potential of their students to become more active, engaged learners. Amplify has supported more than 200,000 educators and three million students in all 50 states.
The critical elements of a well-designed NGSS curriculum
From learning about to figuring out
A true next generation science program must facilitate an approach by which students “figure out” science, thus transitioning the instructor’s role from one of “giver of information” to facilitator of scientific exploration. Please review sections 1–4 of our approach from the Amplify Science Program Guide.
Amplify ensures that instructors understand exactly what students are figuring out and how their progress will build across chapters by offering unit maps. Unit maps are available in the teacher guides for each unit. Please take a moment to review a unit map from the elementary school unit, Balancing Forces (grade 3), and a unit map from the middle school unit, Inheritance and Traits.
Phenomena is critical
The real-world phenomena used in a next generation program must be rich and complex enough to engage students throughout the entire unit of study. Next generation program phenomena needs to support a progressively deeper level of understanding that allows students to build increasingly complex explanations. Learn more about phenomena here in our guide, What’s so phenomenal about phenomena.
In each Amplify Science unit, students are asked to inhabit the role of a scientist or engineer in order to investigate a real-world problem. These problems provide relevant, 21-century contexts through which students investigate different scientific phenomena. Please take a moment to review Amplify Science’s unit phenomena:
Three-dimensional design and instruction are coherent
Three-dimensional instruction must be coherently designed with the intention of a strategic build that coaches students to think like scientists and engineers, grapple with core scientific principles, and support deep learning of concepts that cut across domains. Students must able to develop expertise in all Science and Engineering Practices and deep understanding of Disciplinary Core Ideas and Crosscutting Concepts through repeated experiences within a wide variety of contexts.
To help ease the transition into three-dimensional instruction, we’ve put together 3-D statements for each unit, chapter, and lesson of Amplify Science. We invite you to review Amplify Science’s 3-D statements in our Program Guide.
Assessment must link to the science and engineering practices
In a true next generation science program, conceptual understanding is revealed through engagement in the science and engineering practices. The Amplify Science assessment system is grounded in the principle that students benefit from regular and varied opportunities to demonstrate understanding through performance. Please take a moment to learn more about our assessment opportunities:
Grades K–5 overview
Each unit focuses on a specific learning goal in the form of an overarching unit question. Rather than following linear steps in an experiment, the program leaves room for students to make connections across concepts and make their own discoveries. In this way, Amplify Science replicates the realities and ambiguities of scientific research and thinking.
Why Amplify Science?
Literacy in Amplify Science K–8
Literacy-Rich Science Instruction in K–5
K–5 program structure and components
K–5 unit sequence
Hands-on and print materials
Digital simulations in 4–8
K–5 NGSS correlations
Spanish resources K–5
Supporting ELLs
Amplify Science 5E model
Grades 6–8 overview
Each unit focuses on a specific learning goal in the form of an overarching unit question. Rather than following linear steps in an experiment, the program leaves room for students to make connections across concepts and make their own discoveries. In this way, Amplify Science replicates the realities and ambiguities of scientific research and thinking.
Why Amplify Science?
Engineering Internships 6–8
Active Reading in Amplify Science 6–8
6–8 program structure and components
Digital simulations in 4–8
Sample domain-based sequence
6–8 NGSS correlations
Learn about the flexible, blended program
Hands-on and print materials
Supporting ELL’s
Amplify Science 5E model