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Curriculum Development > High School 9-12 > Comprehensive Programs > BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach

BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach
Levels 1, 2, and 3 now available!

Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company

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(features a unit on climate change and global warming)

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BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach is a three-year program in the sciences for high school. This program introduces students to the core concepts in inquiry, the physical sciences, the life sciences, and the earth-space sciences.

In addition, this curriculum engages students across the disciplines in relevant contexts that explore the standards related to science in a personal and social perspective and science and technology.

This program provides high school students nationwide with a rigorous, coherent alternative to the traditional sequence of biology, chemistry, and physics. When students complete all three years of the program, they will have been introduced to all of the national standards for grades 9-12.

Publisher:
Kendall/Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa. To contact the publisher for examination copies, call 1.800.542.6657 or click here.

For more information, see Distributors of BSCS Programs.

To see results from the Nationwide Field Test in 2002, click here.

Inquiry Middle School Field Test Teacher Home Page

Rationale
Across the country, we at BSCS have heard a consistent message from teachers, schools, and districts that are thinking about ways to improve science education for their students. In general, we have found the following:

Teachers seek a coherent alternative to the discipline-based sequence.
States are establishing standards across the disciplines and teachers see a multidisciplinary science program as a way to meet those standards.
Science that integrates across the disciplines engages a greater diversity of learners.
Science that integrates across the disciplines reflects the unity of the natural world.

Distinguishing features:

Rigorous, standards based content
Inquiry as overarching theme
Multidisciplinary science content
Content background for teachers who teach out of field
Student-centered activities
Opportunities for structured and open inquiry in relevant contexts
Opportunities for students to design and conduct their own investigations
Opportunities for students to consider recent research
A constructivist, student centered approach
The use of sense-making and literacy strategies to help students monitor their own learning
The integration of mathematics
The use of chapter organizers, science notebooks and how tos
The BSCS 5E Instructional Model
A collaborative learning environment
A comprehensive, multifaceted assessment package

Central Goals
The central goal of this program is to increase students' understanding of fundamental concepts in the sciences. Our goals for students also focus on presenting science in contexts that are relevant to students, enhancing students' critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, and increasing students' interest and achievement in science.

As teachers, schools, and districts implement this program, our goals for them include building capacity for teaching inquiry-based science, building capacity for leadership in reform, and increasing teachers' understanding of science across the disciplines. In addition, we work with the leadership teams in the districts that are field testing to give teachers a voice in implementing change and planning for professional development as well as to help these districts develop sustaining networks of community support for inquiry-based science.

References Cited
Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. eds. (2000) How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Loucks-Horsley, S. et al (1998) Designing professional development for teachers of science and mathematics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

National Research Council (1996) National science education standards. Washington DC: Author.

Pellegrino, J., Chudwosky, N., & Glaser, R. eds. (2001) Knowing what students know. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

This project was developed with funds from the National Science Foundation