Transforming science education through research-driven innovation

High School Physical Science Course Co-Design and Development

Announcing BSCS Physical Science, a one-year high school physical science course for the 21st Century!

  • BSCS Physical Science is being designed to serve as a foundational 9th grade science course.
  • BSCS Science Learning is seeking 10-20 district partners to co-fund the development of BSCS Physical Science, Version 1.0. 
  • District partners will have the opportunity to participate in a field test that will run from January-December 2025. They will receive exclusive access to Version 1.0 in June 2026.

Course Overview

Many schools across the country teach a physical science course in ninth grade. These courses typically consist of a mix of chemistry and physics , and they are designed to lay the foundation for high school biology and more advanced study in physics, chemistry, and Earth/space science in subsequent years. BSCS is designing BSCS Physical Science to play this role in districts whose standards are based on the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education (Framework) or the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). BSCS Physical Science will cover a full year’s worth of physical science disciplinary core ideas as called for by the NGSS and the Framework.  

Recognizing that many students are not yet receiving high-quality science instruction in middle school, this course will be designed to meet students where they are while building full mastery of high school level disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Formative assessments that are integrated into instruction will enable teachers to track their students’ progress toward the three-dimensional, phenomena driven objectives of the course and adjust their instruction accordingly. By supporting the transition from middle school, BSCS Physical Science will lay a foundation for students to be successful in BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life or any of the OpenSciEd High School science courses in subsequent years. 

BSCS will be developing teacher professional learning resources for BSCS Physical Science as part of the course development. Through our leadership development group, we will be offering leadership development to districts to prepare their personnel to provide professional learning workshops and ongoing support to their physical science teachers. We will also offer professional learning programs led by our certified providers directly to teachers.

Suggested Scope of the Course

Matter

Graphic of energy transfer

Energy Transfer

Graphic of Juvale Newton's Cradle Balance Pendulum

Motion and Forces

Graphic of a beaker and chemicals

Chemical Reactions

Graphic of electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic Radiation

Key Components of the Course

  • The course will be organized around problems and phenomena, not topics.
    • Units will be anchored in complex, real-world, relevant phenomena and problems. 
    • Units will be structured so that learning is driven by students’ own knowledge and questions.
  • Lessons and assessments will be designed to leverage all three dimensions: disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts.
    • The course will equip students with abilities and inclinations to apply in their personal, professional, and civic lives. 
  • Support for equitable instruction will help teachers remove barriers to science learning for many students.
    • Students will be provided multiple ways to experience phenomena and encouraged to express their understanding through multiple modalities.
    • The diversity of science and scientists will be represented throughout the program in ways that support development of science identity and agency for all students.
BSCS Physical Science process for co-design and development

The Development Process

To develop this course, BSCS will leverage the substantial investment that leading national foundations have made in the OpenSciEd High School Science program. BSCS will draw from units created for the tenth and eleventh grade OpenSciEd High School physics and chemistry courses and revise them to construct BSCS Physical Science.  

To bring this course into classrooms as soon as possible, we will be developing this course in two phases. In the first phase, BSCS will work with a set of Partner Districts to develop a first version by resequencing and modifying existing OpenSciEd physics and chemistry units to construct a coherent 9th grade physical science course. This version will be tailored to the needs and interests of the Partner Districts. 

In Phase 1, BSCS will work with Partner Districts to: 

  1. Identify units from the OpenSciEd physics and chemistry courses and sequence them to develop performance expectations effectively and efficiently.
  2. Select a theme for the course that gives students a compelling motivation to learn physical science beyond academic success. The theme will connect to their lives and communities (e.g., safety or, sustainability).
  3. Revise the selected units to embody the theme and to provide suitable entry points for typical ninth grade students. These revised units will offer teachers optional lesson sequences to develop the middle school prerequisites that many students entering ninth grade students have not had the opportunity to achieve.  
  4. Field test the units in Partner District sites, revise them, and prepare them for distribution.

The product of Phase 1, BSCS Physical Science, Version 1.0, will be released to Partner Districts in June 2026. 

In Phase 2, BSCS will conduct an additional set of revisions to create a course designed for a broad, national audience. In this phase, we will: 

  1. Conduct extensive market research and modify Version 1.0 based on our findings. 
  2. Convert the program to BSCS’s Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model, which enhances coherence for students and improves usability for teachers.
  3. Implement the supports for emerging multilingual learners (EMLs) and for students who are judged to be below grade level on reading, writing, and speaking that we have incorporated into BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life.

BSCS Physical Science, Version 2.0, could be released as soon as June 2027. It will be available as a commercial product, with an estimated cost of $75-100/student.

District Partnership Program

BSCS is exploring an innovative development model for this new course. We are seeking districts to serve as development partners. In exchange for providing financial support for the course development, Partner Districts will get exclusive access to Version 1.0 when it is released in 2026. 

Partner Districts will also have the opportunity to provide input into the design of the course and to participate in a field test of the materials and professional learning resources during the 2024-2025 and 2025-26 school years.  As part of the field test, all Partner Districts will be able to enroll district personnel in a leadership development program led by BSCS that will prepare participants to lead professional learning for classroom teachers in their districts. District Partners will also have the option to engage BSCS to offer professional learning directly to their teachers for an additional fee. 

BSCS’s plan for funding Phase 1 of the course development is to divide the development costs across Partner Districts, with each partner’s share being based on their physical science enrollment numbers. Our goal is to recruit a sufficient number of Partner Districts to make the cost to each district be $50 or less per physical science student, which is well below the cost of a one-year high school science course in the current marketplace. In exchange for their investment, Partner Districts will receive a perpetual license to use and modify Version 1.0. They will also be able to apply their investment as a credit toward the purchase of Version 2.0 when it is released.

About BSCS Science Learning

BSCS Science Learning is an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming science learning through research-driven innovation. For more than 65 years, BSCS has been setting the standard in science learning with its programs, professional services, and research findings. Today we offer classroom-tested instructional materials, immersive professional learning and leadership development experiences that meet the needs of diverse populations and educational contexts.

Building on our history of offering unparalleled high school biology courses, BSCS recently released BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life, the first and only high school course in any discipline to receive green ratings for quality across the board from EdReports. BSCS also led the development of the OpenSciEd Middle School Science program and is leading the development of the Physics + Earth Systems Science course in the OpenSciEd High School science program.