Emphasis on Unit Coherence

Each TK unit introduces students to a real-world scientific phenomenon that provides opportunities to learn foundational science concepts by using science and engineering practices. Learning experiences within the unit are grounded in a conceptual build that leads to students’ increasingly sophisticated understanding of the unit phenomenon. As students investigate the focal phenomenon for each unit, they construct new knowledge the way scientists do. In particular, TK units introduce students to the practices of asking questions, gathering evidence, and communicating ideas.

Real-World Problems and Scientific Phenomena

In each Amplify Science TK unit, students are asked to wonder about a scientific phenomenon from the perspective of a scientist or engineer. Each unit focuses on a phenomenon that TK students are likely to encounter in their day-to-day experiences in and out of school. Over the course of a unit, students collect and make sense of evidence from multiple sources and through a variety of modalities in order to figure out a developmentally accessible real-world problem. As the class progresses through the Explorations, students formulate an increasingly complex explanation of the problem at hand.

Multimodal Approach

Amplify Science K–8 is rooted in the research-based Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize Model of learning in which students engage with science and engineering practices; figure out disciplinary core ideas; and utilize and apply crosscutting concepts in multiple modalities across thoughtful, structured lessons. Similar to Amplify Science K–8, each TK unit uses a multimodal approach to engage students in gathering information to formulate an explanation of the unit’s problem.

DO: Conducting hands-on investigations and modeling are critical to the practice of science. In TK units, students investigate, create models, and make observations to gather evidence to formulate a convincing scientific explanation of a phenomenon.

TALK: Student-to-student discourse is a key indicator of a productive learning environment, and talking is a key modality for instruction in an Amplify Science classroom. This is more than just partner activities or group work—although there’s plenty of that as well. In TK units, students are introduced to intentional ways of speaking and listening in which they share their insights and questions with one another and with the whole class. Through talking and developing a collaborative environment, students build oral language and communication skills that facilitate their learning about science.

READ: Each TK unit includes an original text written by the Lawrence Hall of Science that is an integral part of instruction. Through interactive Read-Alouds, teachers use the book to introduce the focus of the unit, help students make connections between science concepts and additional real-world contexts, provide sources of evidence, and model science practices.

WRITE: Students have multiple opportunities to write in order to help them reflect on and make sense of what they are learning. Writing in TK units takes two forms—students record their own ideas and observations through drawing, and they are also guided in composing ideas orally while the teacher records. Composing ideas orally is supported through the use of language frames that build in complexity throughout the unit.

VISUALIZE: Visualization is a strategy that scientists use to help them make sense of what they are learning. Some of the ways scientists use visualizing include creating representations to organize data and communicate ideas and/or making mental pictures to help think about or remember what they learned. TK students are empowered to visualize, or imagine, scientific phenomena through a combination of photographs and videos, hands-on activities, and physical models.

Explicit Support for Literacy Development

To engage in science, students need to talk, read, and write like scientists. Similar to Amplify Science K–8, Amplify Science TK provides a seamless integration of science and literacy instruction in which students learn that talking, reading, and writing are essential practices of science and that scientists use these practices to gather information and share their ideas. In particular, the Amplify Science TK approach to literacy instruction accounts for the developmental needs of young students who are simultaneously developing language while they are also using language to learn.

In TK units, Read-Alouds provide opportunities for students to observe the teacher as an expert reader and to hear scientific language and vocabulary. The teacher explicitly guides students to understand that informational science texts are organized to help readers find and understand information. Students participate in discussions about the book in ways that allow them to practice using scientific vocabulary and scientific ways of talking. This instruction and practice builds a facility with the structure and content of informational texts that will support students in becoming independent readers in later grades.

TK units are designed to contribute to students’ expressive language development and build on the synergistic relationship between oral and written language. Each TK unit provides instruction that scaffolds language development to facilitate learning and explain challenging concepts to others (both orally and through writing). Unit-specific language frames instantiate an oral language build that links scientific language to the unit phenomenon. Following a Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, language frames build in complexity throughout the unit, scaffolding students’ acquisition of scientific ways of talking and thinking.

TK units provide many opportunities to compose and record ideas through talking, drawing, and writing. At times, the focus remains solely on talking and listening, with the teacher and students orally composing sentences and ideas. At other times, students help orally compose the ideas and language of the text while the teacher records the words. Students also have opportunities to take responsibility for recording ideas through drawings and emergent writing.

Access to Science for All Students

In line with the Amplify Science K–8 considerations for equitable access to science, TK units are designed to support access to science for all students, including ethnically diverse students, English learners, standard English learners, students with disabilities, girls and young women, foster children and youth, and students experiencing poverty. To learn more about the Amplify Science approach to access and equity, see the Access and Equity tab on the left.