• What does the model curriculum include?
• When should I begin using the revised standards?
• Why are the Revised Science Standards and Model Curriculum found in one document?
• Are the revised science education standards aligned to national work?
• What can be done in the short term?
• What tools are recommended to help in the transition to the revised science education standards?

• What is the minimum time requirement for one unit of science "with inquiry-based laboratory experience?"
• What science courses do students need to take in the Ohio Core?
• What is “inquiry-based” instruction in science?
• What are the differences between a "laboratory experience" and a "laboratory course?"

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• The revised standards are closely aligned with the current National Science Education Standards, Project 2061, and recommendations from professional organizations such as National Science Teachers Association.
• The revised standards are closely aligned with the science standards of countries that consistently and significantly outperform the United States on international assessments of student performance in science.
• The revised standards are closely aligned with, “A Framework for K-12 Science Education” which is the basis for the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
• Resources developed for NGSS can be used to support Ohio’s Learning Standards for Science.

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• Become familiar with the revised standards.
• Integrate science practices with content from Pre-K through high school.
• Develop students’ ability to use science practices (problem-solving, data collection and analysis, inquiry, investigation, etc.) and apply science to the real-world.
• Use resources that connect the science in the classroom to the outside world, adding relevance to what is being taught. Introduce technological and engineering design and science processes as ways to model and apply science.
• Develop lessons that allow the student to design and implement investigations (not just following procedural instructions), using the learning cycle (the 5Es).

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• A Science Resource and Materials Filter that helps school districts, schools, or teachers choose high quality science resources for their classrooms.
• A “Blank” Science Eye of Integration that is designed to assist teams of teachers in developing meaningful projects or investigations that include other disciplines and universal (21st Century) skills. A completed Eye of Integration for 7th grade is provided as an example.
• Addition tools will be developed upon the adoption of the Model Curriculum.

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ORC §3313.603(C)(5) requires students to earn three units with inquiry-based laboratory experience that engages students in asking valid scientific questions and gathering and analyzing information. This includes the following or its equivalent:

• One unit of physical sciences;
• One unit of life sciences; and
• One unit of advance study¹ in one or more of the following sciences:
  • Chemistry, physics or other physical science;
  • Advanced biology or other life science; or
  • Astronomy, physical geology or other earth or space science.

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Scientific inquiry is "the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. Scientific inquiry also refers to the activities through which students develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world."²

"Inquiry-based" instruction in science is an active way for students to obtain scientific knowledge that involves all of the following in one way or another:

• making observations and describing objects and events;
• identifying and asking valid and testable questions to guide scientific investigations;
• examining books and other sources and learning from lectures or discussions to gather information to see what is already known;
• reflecting on appropriate scientific practices and procedures during the planning, designing and conducting of investigations;
• using tools to gather, analyze and interpret data;
• using technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications;
• organizing, evaluating and interpreting observations, measurements and other data;
• reviewing what is already known in light of experimental evidence;
• developing hypotheses and alternative explanations, proposing answers, suggesting models and providing predictions;
• evaluating a variety of assumptions and conclusions and revising explanatory models using logic and evidence;
• communicating ideas, results of investigations and scientific arguments to others for discussion and evaluation.

The components³ listed above should not be considered as a fixed sequence of steps in instruction. Different kinds of inquiry suggest different kinds of investigations for students to conduct.⁴ The components of scientific inquiry listed above encompass the teaching strategies expected in an inquiry-based, laboratory experience science course (and science laboratory course for districts using that means of scheduling classes). Scientific inquiry also is a set of abilities to be developed and concepts to be understood by students.

² National Research Council (1996), National Education Standards, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, p 23.

³ Adapted from the following documents: American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001), Atlas of Science Literacy, Project 2061, Washington DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Teachers Association, p 16-17; National Research Council (1996), National Science Education Standards, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, p 23; Ohio Academy of Sciences (2006), “ What is Science?”, Ohio Journal of Science 106 (4): p 130; (2007).

⁴ National Science Teachers Association statement on scientific inquiry

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