Kauluwela Elementary is a Title I school in downtown Honolulu near Chinatown. The majority of the school’s families reside in neighborhood public housing complexes, nearby affordable housing, or private rental complexes.
In 2021, when Sonja Samsonas became principal of the school, she found that little time was being devoted to science. “When I did classroom visits, I rarely saw science being taught,” she said. “There was this idea that because we had a STEM teacher, then that took care of science, but that is far from what the expectations are.”
The NGSS were adopted in Hawai‘i in 2016 and were expected to be fully implemented in schools by the 2019-20 school year.
“We realized that familiarity with the NGSS was lacking among our teachers,” said Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER coordinator, who also joined the school in 2021.
“We couldn’t even do vertical articulation because teachers were using different materials that weren’t connected to the standards,” said Samsonas.
While Samsonas was conducting classroom visits, she discovered that a previous administrator had purchased STEMscopes Science NGSS 3D in 2019 but that it hadn’t been implemented.
“When I saw this, I asked, ‘Why don’t our teachers just use STEMscopes? It has everything they need.”
To improve science instruction, Samsonas arranged to have the district deliver professional development to acquaint teachers with the NGSS. Then she established schoolwide expectations for the 2022-23 school year. K-5 teachers were expected to:
“To make an impact, it’s not about getting teachers’ buy-in with the standards or curriculum. It’s about building their understanding,” said Sonja Samsonas, Kauluwela Elementary’s Principal
During the 2022-23 school year, teachers participated in three STEMscopes face-to-face PD sessions and 12 follow-up virtual coaching sessions.
“I wanted our teachers to know this wasn’t going to be a ‘one and done’ PD. We were going to address what was happening in the classroom throughout the year,” said Samsonas.
“Because elementary teachers are often generalists, many feel uncomfortable with science content," said the implementation coordinator.
"The PD helped our teachers feel more confident in science — and if they don’t know something, STEMscopes has supports for them,” - Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
STEMscopes Science NGSS 3D combines a comprehensive digital curriculum with supplemental print materials and ready-made exploration kits. It also includes embedded support for teachers — such as lesson plans, professional development videos, on-demand webinars, and how-to guides — to help them continuously improve their teaching.
During that first year, Accelerate Learning’s STEM coach, Becky, worked closely with teachers to customize the PD and coaching to meet their needs at each grade level.
“That really personalized it for them,” said the implementation coordinator.
“That first summer, we set the expectation that teachers at each grade level would develop a science pacing guide. Then we created a monthly tracking chart so they could show us where they were, and if they were falling behind, we could help them prioritize with the help of our consultant Becky.” - Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
“Becky has been an integral part of this. Our teachers have built great relationships with her because she meets them where they are. They know they can be vulnerable with her,” said Samsonas.
“Becky knows the NGSS. She knows the content and how to make things practical and doable. She also knows she won’t always be here, so she’s showing teachers how to cover what’s most important,” said the implementation coordinator.
During the 2023-24 school, teachers continued to participate in STEMscopes PD and coaching to dive deeper into the curriculum and refine their intentional use of data-informed instructional practices in science, including using the Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER) model.
“Then we did backward mapping so our teachers could see where each topic is taught since certain science standards are only covered in certain grade levels,” said the implementation coordinator.
With STEMscopes Science, which is 100% aligned to the NGSS, Kauluwela Elementary teachers have everything they need to address the Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Science and Engineering Practices that form each standard of the NGSS. Each unit or “scope” is developed around the research-based 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) model of instruction, with additional phases for Intervention and Acceleration. With the 5E + IA model, teachers are creating deeper learning experiences that engage students with all areas of the standards.
“Whether it’s science or math or English language arts, we don’t want the teacher up in the front of the class doing a show for their students. We want to have quality interactions where students are the ones doing the thinking," said Samsonas
"We want to move from tasks at a Depth of Knowledge Level 1 to tasks at Levels 3 and 4. The 5E model in STEMscopes makes it easy to do that. It’s helping our students learn to think like scientists.” - Sonja Samsonas
The vertical alignment in STEMscopes also makes it easier for teachers to develop student expectations across grade levels. “The lesson structure helps us with the progression from K through 5,” said the implementation coordinator.
“Because we’re focused only on STEMscopes, that has increased our science focus and rigor.” - Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
The STEMscopes 5E + IA approach integrates differentiation into each activity, and teachers can adjust the pace and depth of instruction to meet the diverse needs of their students. In addition, STEMscopes includes visual, auditory, and linguistic resources to support multilingual learners and help all learners understand academic language.
“Given the high percentage of English learners and low socioeconomic status students in our community, many don’t have opportunities to experience scientific phenomena or vocabulary outside of the classroom. With STEMscopes, students get to experience things that they wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise."- Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
“The curriculum keeps us on target with the NGSS, but it’s flexible, too. It gives teachers the latitude to provide local context. For example, our kids may not understand meerkats, so our teachers can bring in Hawaiian animals that are similar.” - Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
“STEMscopes aligns to our school mission to build resiliency by embracing culture and community,” said Samsonas.
In addition, the STEMscopes exploration kits include the materials teachers need to conduct hands-on activities.
“At first, teachers worried about how much time it would take to prepare hands-on activities. But once Becky walked each grade level through the kits and experiences, and they saw how easy it was, their apprehension disappeared,” said the implementation coordinator.
“It’s exciting to see students doing hands-on learning, but it’s also about the quality interactions that occur. The discussion and collaboration and thinking that go along with those activities help students feel successful.” - Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator
From 2022 to 2023, the percentage of Kauluwela Elementary fifth graders meeting proficiency rose 7 points on the state science test.
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Year
|
Percent of students meeting proficiency
|
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2022
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23%
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2023
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30% (+7 points)
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“I think the increase happened for two main reasons,” said Kauluwela Elementary’s implementation and Title I/ESSER Coordinator.One, with STEMscopes, we now have a science curriculum that is strongly connected to the standards, and it is being implemented with fidelity schoolwide. Two, the Claim Evidence Reasoning assessments in STEMscopes have helped improve students’ critical thinking and writing skills, which is in line with what’s expected on the state test.Secondly, providing teachers with the STEMscopes curriculum and PD has been very impactful,” she said. “The culture of science here has changed, and we hope that that will continue to be reflected in our results.”
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