The Teacher’s Guides for the 7th and 8th grade core
curriculum programs are comprehensive resources that
provide more than 800 pages of support to:
Set
up your classroom
Conduct activities
Manage practical details
Facilitate student learning
See the development of concepts within the "big
picture"
Develop student understanding of science content
not explicitly mentioned in the student text
Use of the SEPUP student book and Teacher's Guide
fully support the teaching and learning of rigorous,
age-appropriate science content. It’s like having your
own personal training workshop in a binder. Many
teachers tell us they can’t imagine teaching without it.
The activity overview refers to the
first 2-4 pages, and can be pulled out for
reference while teaching. It contains the
estimated time needed for completion.
The summary describes in a few sentences
what students are expected to know and do.
Key concepts and process skills are
provided for each activity. The majority are
not mastered in a single activity, but are
developed and mastered over time.
Key vocabulary alerts the teacher to
important terminology used in the activity.
As necessary, background information
is provided to help prepare teachers for
questions that might arise during class. A
list of topics included in the background
information sections can be found in the
Table of Contents.
Teaching suggestions elaborates
on the teaching summary, with detail on each
step. This is generally the largest section.
Feedback from the national field test is
particularly helpful in shaping the lesson,
and comments from hundreds of teachers are
used to design the lesson, sequence
activities, describe question prompts, etc.
Teacher’s notes often suggest
alternative ways to approach an activity, or
point out areas of the activity that might
require further clarification for the
students.
The follow-up section lists the
analysis question along with the reasoning
for the question. It also elaborates upon
ways to build student understanding and
connects the activity to other ideas and
current issues.
An important resource is the
Suggested answers to the analysis
questions in the student book. These answers
are drawn from an accumulation of responses
during two years of field-testing.
Teachers love our unit overviews.
It details information to help plan
instruction. The table includes key
concepts, advance prep, assessment strategy,
number of teaching periods needed for each
activity and more.
Set
up your classroom
