Twig Ed Intros New Middle School Science Lessons
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 11/17/21
Education technology
company Twig
Education has produced a new version of STEM
curriculum for grades 6-8. Twig
Middle School Science Next Gen features, among other
resources, videos of scientists around the world, filmed on location,
as they share their areas of expertise, including in subjects such as
mechanical engineering, food sustainability, volcano eruptions and
space exploration.
The lessons conform
to the Next
Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
The science program
includes multiple elements:
-
Hands-on labs,
allowing students to learn through inquiry-based activities, solving
problems and designing solutions using everyday items and resources
supplied in kits.
-
Digital
simulations based on real-world phenomena and data, to let students
experience science. Interactives include a gravity simulator,
volcano builder and missions, such as "The Great Air Race"
and "Into the Abyss."
-
Multimedia
field trips that use video and text to enable students to follow
scientists and engineers around the world as they explore local,
national, global and space phenomena.
-
Scientific text
investigations, with a variety of text types: informational,
narrative, descriptive and argumentative.
-
Video labs,
shot in the Twig studio and showing scientific inquiries and
experiences that would be impractical to carry out in the classroom.
Assessments were
developed with input from the Stanford
Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE).
Imperial
College London acted as scientific advisors during the
development of the program.
"We're so
excited to bring this innovative, modern curriculum to middle school
students across the country. Twig Science Next Gen gives them a
chance to use up-to-date science knowledge, practices, and cognitive
tools to make sense of the incredible world around them," said
Twig CEO Catherine Cahn, in a press release. "I know that many,
many students who learn through Twig Science Next Gen will use the
opportunity to put STEAM subjects at the center of their lives and go
on to do great things that make our lives better. We'll be seeing the
fruits of that engagement for the next 50 years or longer."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.