inquiryHub (iHub) Biology: Free Full Year HS NGSS Bio Units

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science_4_all

September 22, 2019

Screen Shot 2019-09-22 at 2.01.56 PM The inquiryHub (iHub) biology landing page provides a full-year high school life science course that is 3 Dimensional and built for the Next Generation Science Standards. These materials were developed by teachers from Denver Public Schools collaborating with the University of Colorado Boulder and Northwestern University. This team designed three units that meet the expectations of the high school life science performance expectations in NGSS. These units have been content reviewed by a group of scientists and have also been reviewed for NGSS Quality by Achieve.

In my neck of the woods we have many high schools where biology is taught using either outdated or homemade materials that may not meet the vision of the NGSS. These types of readily available online materials from iHub not only model the types of instructional units that we need for high school students but also provide a cost effective way for schools and districts to access high quality materials.

iHub Biology contains the following resources:

The units are built on the founding principles of 3D science instruction including:

Engaging Phenomena
Coherent storylines
Student use of SEPs and CCCs
Assessments of and for learning

Please chime in and leave a comment if you’ve used these materials. Enjoy!

4 responses to “inquiryHub (iHub) Biology: Free Full Year HS NGSS Bio Units”

Angie DiLoreto

September 25, 2019

Many Bellevue biology teachers are using these materials this year. We’re working through the first year and partnering with trainers from iHub this year. The materials use student discourse, questioning, and routines to support biology learning. I find the 5 questions general overview in storylines helpful in finding my place in this curriculum (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56ef1da37da24f301fccaacd/t/5b82cf7acd8366d1f2cea761/1535299450920/Summary+of+Five+Questions+and+Routines+v2.1+-+2018-08-26+%281%29.pdf)

Reply
1. science_4_all
  
  September 25, 2019
  
  Hi Angie- thanks for sharing. It’s good to hear that these materials are being used locally- I’ll be interested to hear more as teachers and students continue to dig in.
  
  Reply
Matthew Ferrari

December 4, 2019

As a student teacher in Metro Detroit, my old teaching placement used the iHub curriculum, and I definitely really liked it. I thought the curriculum was made well, plus it is never a negative to have a large pool of resources to work from. One thing that I did notice, however, was the discrepancy in the school of how students responded to the curriculum. In one classroom, many of the students made comments as to how they felt it didn’t provide them with what they thought was a productive biology education. However, in another classroom, students responded much better to it. I noticed a complete opposite mood in the second classroom; students were asking great probing questions, and other students were responding rather than the instructor. In the future, I would like to personally try and implement iHub’s curriculum in my own classroom. I just hope that students would be receptive to it.

Reply
1. science_4_all
  
  December 4, 2019
  
  Thanks for sharing this Matthew. Changing instruction in high school science classrooms can be challenging because the students think they know “how to do school”… so to engage them in something where they have to think and share ideas feels less rigorous to them. This is part of the work- to help students (and parents) make a shift toward best practices in science instruction.
  
  Reply

I’m Kirk

Welcome to Science for All. This is a site where I share some of my favorite science and STEM education resources. I’ll also write the occasional personal post or opinion about education in general. I hope you enjoy your time here and that you always leave with something helpful.

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