Deeper Dive: K-5
ASTA’s A Deeper Dive: Constructing 3-dimensional Units was a partnership with Arizona Department of Education (ADE) financially supported by APS and the Burton Family Foundations.
The program supported teams of K-5 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, 19 K-5 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.
| Grade | Developed by | Unit and Resources |
| Kindergarten | Marana Team Members: Martha Bishop, Shaelyn Lander, and Jessica White | Earth and Space: Patterns in the Sky |
| First Grade | Marana Team Members: Megan Scott and Nikki Tapia | Life: Organisms |
| Third Grade | Bright Beginnings Team Members: Holly King, Emily Moon, and Amanda Patrie | Earth and Space: Sun Energy |
| Fourth Grade | Tanque Verde: Team Members: Lisa Nielsen and Anne Marie Karel | Earth and Space: Weather and Climate |
| Fourth Grade | Yuma and Tucson Team Members: Kathy Hartley and Amanda Norton | Physical: Energy |
| Fourth Grade | Bright Beginnings Team Members: Libby Garza and Zeinab Hassan | Earth and Space: Earth Systems |
| Fifth Grade | EdKey, Edison School of Innovation, and Flowing Wells Team Members: Erica Neff, Jackie Moore, and Julia Stevenson | Earth and Space: Space |
| Fifth Grade | Mesa Team Members: Felisa Alberts, Patricia Blickfeldt, and Leanne Phillips | Life: Genetics |
