Carolina announces certified OpenSciEd science unit kits to provide teachers with easy-to-implement grades 9 to 12 science lessons supported with hands-on materials and digital resources
BURLINGTON, NC, Nov. 1, 2023 – Leading school science supplier Carolina Biological Supply Company expands its partnership with nonprofit science developer OpenSciEd to launch a Certified Version of OpenSciEd science units for high school grades 9 to 12. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned units will include a comprehensive offering of complete lab kits, redesigned print and digital teaching resources, and certified professional learning to provide high-quality science curriculum for teachers. Carolina created an online page at https://www.carolinaopenscied.com for educators to learn about its versions of OpenSciEd and sign up for updates on the launch. Units will be available starting early in 2024.
OpenSciEd’s mission is to give teachers the materials, support, and power to get kids of all ages excited and curious about the world around them and confident in their ability to figure it out through questioning, investigating, and solving problems. As educators strive to implement new science standards and engage students, the Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd for high school will be a unique offering that provides a spark of joy and peace-of-mind for science teachers. The units will feature ease-of-use and enhanced online support for teachers through complete kits with digital, print, and hands-on materials. The Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd for high school will be available to schools for purchase through Carolina for this school year.
The nonprofit OpenSciEd is supported by impressive donors who believe in their work, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. It develops high-quality instructional materials and professional learning that supports equitable science education. Carolina will work closely with the organization to improve ease-of-use by redesigning the teacher guide, reviewing labs and materials, and adding additional resources and support.
Like the middle school units, OpenSciEd high school units will be designed to address all of the high school Performance Expectations and three-dimensional learning described by the Next Generation Science Standards. Students gain direct experience with phenomena and make sense of the real world. Exploration is driven by students’ questions and ideas based on their own background and experiences. Students use evidence to revise their thinking and figure out ideas as a classroom community. All of the OpenSciEd high school units will be reviewed by the NextGenScience science peer review panel at WestEd. The goal is to publish units identified as Quality Examples of Science Lessons and Units and receive the exclusive NGSS Design Badge. NextGenScience awards this badge to science units designed for the NGSS that have earned the highest rating on the EQuIP Rubric for Science.
“I am confident partnering with Carolina, after a great middle school launch with the company last year, to now create and offer a new Certified Version of our OpenSciEd science curriculum for high school,” said Jim Ryan, Executive Director of OpenSciEd. “Our goal is for science teachers and students to have the best science education experience with our curriculum, precisely refined and enhanced with help from another NGSS science education product design and teacher-support expert.”
“We are excited about working with OpenSciEd on the new high school units,” said Jim Parrish, President and CEO at Carolina. “Our primary goal in creating the Carolina Certified Version is to make teaching a little bit easier and more rewarding. The adaptations we are making aim to reduce teacher prep time with high-quality materials for all labs, decrease costs by reducing redundancies in equipment, and enhance student engagement and accessibility through print and digital resources. Teachers get to do more of what they love – teaching.”
Features
The Carolina Certified Version will include a comprehensive offering of print, kits, digital, and professional learning from a single supplier. Carefully redesigned print materials for teachers and students will feature improved format, layout and labeling and making for resources that are easy-to-read and follow quickly in classrooms. They will include ADA compliant colors, fonts, and images. Carolina also is a “Certified Professional Learning Provider” for OpenSciEd and will offer comprehensive, customized professional learning to meet the needs of teachers.
Equipment kits provide all consumable and non-consumable materials for eight lab groups per class to allow for maximum student participation. Kits will be available in one-class (up to 32 students) and five-class configurations (up to 160 students). Kits are easily refurbished with single-class or five-class refurbishment sets. Kits are packed and shipped in sturdy, stackable crates and cardboard boxes.
Digital access to all instructional resources, including videos and simulations, will be available in one place via Carolina Science Online®. Class licenses allow for assignable content for students and reporting for teachers and administrators. Teacher access to basic digital resources is included with a kit purchase.
Availability
Carolina’s Certified Version of OpenSciEd for high school science units for grades 9 through 12 will be available in early 2024 through Carolina. Units for grades 6 to 8 are already available online from Carolina. For information, visit Carolina’s website or, call (800) 334-5551, or e-mail curriculum@carolina.com.
OpenSciEd
OpenSciEd was launched in 2018 as a nonprofit to address the need among teachers and school districts for high-quality, open-source, full-course science classroom and professional learning materials aligned to the National Research Council’s document, A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). For more information about OpenSciEd, please visit www.OpenSciEd.org.
Carolina Biological Supply Company
From its beginnings in 1927, Carolina (www.carolina.com) has grown to become the leading supplier of science teaching materials in the world. Headquartered in Burlington, NC, Carolina serves customers worldwide, including teachers, students, and professionals in science and health-related fields. The company is still privately owned by descendants of the founder, geology and biology professor Dr. Thomas E. Powell Jr.
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Contact:
Julie Gates for Carolina Biological Supply Company
562-429-5972 or jgatespr@yahoo.com