California Experience Chemistry High School Chemistry Curriculum

California Experience Chemistry® is a next generation high school chemistry program that puts the focus on the student experience. This modern program implements a learning model that organizes learning around phenomena giving students an authentic, real-world experience.

California Experience Chemistry® includes a variety of hands-on and digital activities designed to reach every learner. Students complete hands-on inquiry labs, virtual labs, simulations, data analysis, claim-evidence reasoning exercises and more on their sensemaking journey. An assessment package with formative, summative, performance-based assessments provide opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding three dimensionally. Instructors have access to a robust support package with print and digital resources designed to streamline classroom management.


The program components includes:

• California Experience Chemistry digital courseware on Savvas Realize™ includes robust digital tools that give teachers flexibility to use a digital, print, or blended format in their classrooms. Teachers can customize the program to rearrange content, upload their own content, add links to online media, and edit resources and assessments. Program-specific resources, flexible agnostic resources, and assessments are available in one location for easy lesson planning and presentation.


• Teacher Guide - Available in digital and print, the Teacher Guide provides robust lesson planners based on the 5E learning model, explicit directions and explanations for introducing phenomena, instructional strategies support students as they make sense of the phenomena, and classroom modifications to adjust instruction based on the diverse student needs, skills, and interests in their classroom.


• Student Experience Notebook - California Experience Chemistry® transforms the traditional textbook into a modern interactive notebook that students will actually use. With California Experience Chemistry®, students DO chemistry first, by interacting with phenomena and completing hands-on and virtual inquiry activities. Then students complete readings, formative assessments, and math practice in their Student Experience Notebook.


• Flinn Scientific Lab Kits - Flinn Scientific is our partner for the California Experience Chemistry® curriculum. Optional lab kits are available for each program. Every Flinn Scientific kit supports a classroom of approximately 30 students. Refill kits are also available.

Making sense of phenomena drives student learning throughout California Experience Chemistry®. This program engages students directly in different examples of phenomena that relate to authentic real-world scenarios.

• Every Storyline (the unit of instruction) begins with an Anchoring Phenomenon — a real-world science phenomenon sparks curiosity as students make observations and ask questions. The anchoring phenomenon gives students purpose as they engage in activities to make sense of this phenomenon and connect the chemistry concepts through a unique, unifying occurrence. Throughout the Storyline, students repeatedly revisit the anchoring phenomenon question and discuss the real-world impact of the problem as they propose solutions – thus building understanding over time. By the end of the storyline, students are able to explain the anchoring phenomenon. Additionally, in each Storyline there are two opportunities for students to be involved in designing solutions to problems. At the Storyline level there is a Problem-based Learning Experience that spans several Investigations.
  
• A real-world Investigative Phenomenon video launches every Investigation (chapter level organization). The Investigative Phenomenon opens different lines of inquiry related to the Anchoring Phenomenon. Students again ask questions, make observations, and track their developing understanding of the phenomenon in Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) or Modeling exercises. At the end of each Experience students revisit their CER worksheet in a sense-making exercise to review, revise or add to their explanation of how the phenomenon occurs – thus building understanding over time. At the end of the Investigation, students once again revisit and make sense of the phenomena by drawing connections.
• The lessons, called Experiences, are where students encounter Everyday Phenomena through Flinn Scientific Inquiry Labs, virtual simulations, digital interactivities, videos, animations, Engineering Design Challenges, teacher demonstrations, modeling activities, performance-based assessments, data analysis activities, peer review and more. This wide variety of real-world experiences builds student understanding using DCIs, CCCs, and SEPs by interacting with phenomena over time.

The California Experience Chemistry® program includes a variety of resources and instructional strategies that help teachers address the diverse student needs, skills, and interests in their classroom. There are several techniques that are found throughout the different Storylines and Investigations including:

• Hands-on Inquiry Labs are available in multiple versions (Open-Ended, Guided, Advanced and Short) so lab instruction can be customized and differentiated as needed.
• For students needing support (Struggling Students, Special Needs Students or Advanced Students), the Differentiated Instruction sections of the Teacher Guide includes suggestions for them.  
• Remediation Suggestions can be found at the Evaluate phase of the learning model to help educators troubleshoot student weaknesses.
• Teacher Guide margin notes, like Classroom Modifications include ideas for modifying aspects of the classroom to address schedule issues and/or student abilities.
• Appropriate ELD Support strategies are incorporated at point of need as margin notes in the Teacher Guide . These support strategies address the different levels of English Language Development (Emerging, Expanding, and Bridging).
• Digital resources, such as animations simplify complex concepts and provide a visual model to assist in student understanding.
• Math support is provided to assist those students who struggle with the essential mathematical concepts necessary for Chemistry success and includes resources like Virtual Nerd Math Videos and lab videos for hands-on inquiry support.
• Alternative ideas for the introductory phenomenon are given as Related Phenomena so that more localized examples can be used to maintain student interest.

The instructional model is based on research conducted by the Instructional Leadership for Science Practices (ILSP), a National Science Foundation project whose goal was to develop tools that support educators in the integration of the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) along with the implementation of the California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS).

Per ILSP’s framework, the science and engineering practices provide a pathway for students to engage sequentially in the processes of investigation, sense-making, and critique.

This approach has been adapted by incorporating the BSCS 5E Model to round out the five-stage learning progression: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The role of phenomena has been intensified in the pedagogy to address the need for phenomenon-based learning opportunities as outlined in the CA NGSS.