Exploring Climate Science with Virtual Reality

Exploring Climate Science With Virtual Reality, a Teacher/Scientist Partnership experience. High school teachers engage with working scientists and engineers to for content learning for climate science and virtual reality and engage in follow-up sessions with professional development facilitators to develop pedagogical expertise for use in creating formative classroom tasks that are formative and productive. It is a three day initial workshop with four follow-up days to 1) deepen teacher understanding by learning with climate scientists to understand climate science standards content knowledge 2) increase awareness and knowledge of the use of virtual reality devices in climate science learning 30 to co-develop a climate science simulation game for use on Oculus Go devices with teachers, their students and a virtual reality scientist/engineer team 4) to develop and implement embedded formative classroom tasks that complement climate science learning by using a relevant, place based phenomena, and provide insights into student thinking and productive next steps in learning. Creative Commons License CC BY Exploring Climate Science With Virtual Reality Professional Learning Module by Georgia Boatman, ESD 123 and Peggy Willcuts PNNL is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Georgia Boatman

Corona-land Simulator

Corona-land is a simulator that visualizes how a virus like the coronavirus spreads and what we can do to contain it. This is an exploration and learning tool and is not a professional tool intended at decision making, planning or forecasting. Designed and developed by Thomas Riisgaard Hansen, Kite Invent og Aarhus Universitet Graphic Assistance by Tue Pico, Javira

Material Type: Data Set, Interactive, Simulation

Authors: Kite Invent og Aarhus Universitet, Thomas Riisgaard Hansen

Free COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Illustrations

Our artists are creating a collection of illustrations of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in a variety of styles. Each illustration is available in multiple iterations. Download a package of editable image files by clicking the arrow at the bottom right of the image panel. Please review our licensing requirements below. Check back for new additions to the collection. We encourage you to use and adapt these illustrations for non-commercial purposes.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration

Author: Innovative Genomics Institute

COVID-19 & Health Equity, High School Science

This unit is designed to support students in understanding the COVID-19 pandemic, transmission of the COVID-19 virus, and the impacts of the pandemic on communities, especially communities of color. Specific learning targets are listed at the beginning of each lesson and highlight a core idea for the lesson, the science and engineering practice students will engage in, and the crosscutting concept students will use in the lesson. i

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Authors: BSCS Science Learning, OpenSciEd

COVID-19 & Health Equity, Middle School Science

The unit focuses on the question How can people help end pandemics? It is designed to teach students about the COVID-19 pandemic, transmission of the COVID-19 virus, and the impacts of the pandemic on communities. Over the course of the unit, students will study the COVID-19 pandemic in light of historical pandemics to build an understanding of the following key concepts: • How the COVID-19 virus spreads from person to person and through communities, • How strategies to reduce transmission of COVID-19 work, • How the actions of individuals can help to end pandemics. The unit also supports the development of two social emotional competencies: self awareness and social awareness.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Example Lesson: Infographics and COVID-19 Data

Example lesson for Case 2 "Responding to COVID-19" from Dr. Erin Lark, science teacher at Vancouver iTech Preparatory in the Vancouver School District.  This middle school science lesson introduces students to infographics and how they are used to convey public health information, and has students create their own infographic based on COVID-19 data and/or their State of Innovation Challenge project topic. 

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Julia Reed

COVID-19 & Health Equity, Grades 3-5

The COVID-19 Pandemic is a clear example of how science and society are connected. This unit explores how different communities are differentially impacted by the virus through the lens of historical inequities in society. In the context of decisions their families make, students explore the basics of how the virus affects people, and design investigations to explore how it spreads from person to person, and what we can do to prevent that spread.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Authors: Learning in Places, NextGen Science Storylines, OpenSciEd

OSPI K-2 Science Home Learning Resources During COVID-19

This document provides some learning resources associated with each of the K-2  Washington Science Content Learning Standards. They are intended to serve during this “stay at home” time, which includes all Washington schools. They are not intended to replace or be equivalent to face-to-face learning. Please feel free to use the resources or to make adaptations

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Unit of Study

Authors: Barbara Soots, Ellen Ebert, Kimberley Astle, Washington OSPI OER Project

OSPI 3-5 Science Home Learning Resources During COVID-19

This document provides some learning resources associated with each of the 3-5 Science Content Learning Standards. They are intended to serve during this “stay at home” time, which includes all Washington schools. They are not intended to replace or be equivalent to face-to-face learning. Please feel free to use the resources or to make adaptations.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Module, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Authors: Barbara Soots, Ellen Ebert, Kimberley Astle, Washington OSPI OER Project

Using Vaccines to Fight Outbreaks

  What exactly is a vaccine? Can vaccines prevent outbreaks? How effective does a vaccine need to be to help a population during an outbreak? Students will explore these questions and more in this lesson plan by first learning the biology behind vaccines. They will then use Science Buddies' SimPandemic, a free online tool, to model different vaccine parameters to understand how vaccines affect both individuals and populations during a COVID-19 outbreak.  Remote learning adaptation: This lesson plan can be conducted remotely. Students can work independently on the Explore section of the lesson plan using the Student Worksheet as a guide. The Engage and Reflect sections can either be dropped entirely, done in writing remotely, or be conducted over a video chat.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Simulation, Student Guide

Author: Science Buddies

Supporting Students’ Science Learning During School Closures

As schools close their doors as part of public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, educators are faced with how to support the diverse needs of all learners when students are not in school. This guide recognizes that solutions will not be – nor should be – “school as usual,” simply delivered in a virtual environment. Instead, this resource was developed by members of the Council of State Science Supervisors to provide guidance around how to support student science learning during these unique circumstances. Image by April Bryant from Pixabay 

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Authors: Barbara Soots, Kimberley Astle, Ellen Ebert, Washington OSPI OER Project

Online Course: Creating Resources for Equitable At-Home Science Learning

This online course explores together with teachers how we can provide students equitable place-based home science learning during the time of COVID-19. We examine guidelines and discuss various approaches, then collaborate together to share, develop and adapt short and simple science activities that could be done by students in their yard, neighborhood, or a deck, window, or balcony. The course includes an introductory session, two small groups sessions to develop or adapt class and age appropriate materials and a final session for groups to share what they developed and explore additional topics.

Material Type: Full Course

Author: Brad Street