ASTA’s A Deeper Dive: Constructing 3-dimensional Units was a partnership with Arizona Department of Education (ADE) financially supported by ESSER funds.

The program supported teams of high school teachers with constructing phenomena-based, three-dimensional units using the Five Steps for Translating the AZ Science Standards (AzSS) into Instruction and Classroom. The Five Steps , based on the BSCS Five Tools, support educators with translating the science core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts of the AZSS into multiple instructional sequences that form a unit with aligned 3D performance tasks.

These steps establish a meaningful context for science teachers to develop an understanding of The Framework, Working with Big Ideas of Science Education, and the AzSS, as well as to begin implementing critical instructional shifts in their classrooms.

Through an intense professional learning opportunity, high school teachers working in teams learned how to utilize the Five Steps. Teachers created unit blueprints (Step 1) and Evidence of Learning Specifications (Step 2), developed multiple instructional sequences (Step 3) that formed a 3D science instructional unit utilizing the 5E instructional model, and developed aligned three-dimensional performance tasks (Step 5). These draft units that are published are available for all Arizona teachers to use. Final units will be published here soon through our ASTA Canvas.