Savvas Introduces Experience Physics, a New Program that Uses Phenomena-Based, Experiential Learning to Drive Students’ Real-World Inquiry

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY — December 7, 2021 — Savvas Learning Company, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, today announced the release of Experience Physics, a brand-new phenomena-driven curriculum that focuses on the student experience through engaging hands-on and virtual inquiry activities.

“Inquiry is central to the nature of science, and students learn best when activities are closely linked to key scientific concepts. That level of inquiry is enhanced with student-driven activities designed to reach every learner,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Experience Physics places students center stage as they question, investigate, and make sense of phenomena with hands-on learning experiences that connect physics to the real world.”

This cutting-edge physics program implements an interactive instructional approach that supports student exploration of physics concepts through experiential learning of everyday phenomena. Featuring hands-on inquiry labs, virtual simulations, data analysis, and engineering projects, Experience Physics offers students an authentic and compelling learning experience that motivates them to use concepts of physics to figure out how and why a phenomenon happens.

With a wealth of interactive content accessible on Savvas Realize™, one of the publishing industry’s most versatile learning management systems, Experience Physics delivers flexibility to every teacher and personalized instruction to every student to support learning anytime, anywhere. Through an exclusive partnership with Flinn Scientific, the leading classroom lab-solution provider, the program features engaging inquiry labs, engineering design workbenches, phenomenon demonstrations, data sets, lab videos, and performance-based assessments. Each Flinn-developed lab is available in four versions — open-ended, guided, shortened, and advanced — to allow teachers to differentiate instruction for diverse classroom needs.

Experience Physics features a bold and innovative learning model that has students first interact with phenomena through hands-on and virtual science activities before they complete readings and math practice in the interactive Student Experience Handbook. Designed to appeal to students’ diverse learning styles, the curriculum offers many exciting explorations into scientific inquiry, including:

• Virtual labs that give all students access to compelling phenomena and advanced scientific equipment.
• Claim-evidence reasoning exercises that support student understanding of phenomena over time.
• PhET™ simulations that engage students in an intuitive, game-like environment and offer accompanying worksheets that connect the simulations to the content.
• Boclips® videos that present physics concepts in an easy-to-understand way.
• Process-focused math support with tutorial videos and sample problems that are broken down for clarity and process guidance.

The Experience Physics program provides comprehensive coverage and assessment of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Its curriculum is supported by the widely-used 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) Model of Instruction that promotes active learning in which students collaborate to solve problems and investigate new concepts.

“As a district administrator and former science teacher, I appreciate how Experience Physics thoughtfully aligns to the NGSS,” said Ashley Fulmer, NGSS Coordinator for the Riverside Unified School District in California. “Instead of having content-laden lessons, students are tasked with figuring out phenomena through experiences that focus on skills such as modeling, evaluating, and questioning. The 5E model approach also allows students to explore and engage with phenomena through lab activities before they work on understanding the content behind the phenomena.”

“Having a culture of students ‘figuring-out’ rather than ‘learning-about,’” Fulmer added, “is key to having our students graduate college- and career-ready.”