Curriculum Revision #1

In preparation for the upcoming school year, I have been actively revising the first two units (Unit 0 and Unit 1). While all of the updates are not complete, the following updates will be provided in each unit on the website within the next 1-2 days. I am currently writing this from the airport to head out on my summer vacation. I just need to create the shareable links, so it should be completed very soon! EDIT: The links are now active as of 8AM.

Unit 0: Introduction to Chemistry Revisions

• Student Notebook: The student notebook has been streamlined with a different focus based on feedback from teachers and the content on the new format for the June 2026 Chemistry Regents exam.

  • Intentional Emphasis on Crosscutting Concepts: Each of the seven crosscutting concepts has been spotlighted with each lesson dedicated to at least one of the CCCs.

  • Larger Emphasis on Mathematical Reasoning: Lesson 3 has been modified to include more scientific notation and dimensional analysis practice using the Chemistry Reference Table. Lesson 4 has been added to include the use of some of the mathematical models (molarity, parts per million, temperature conversions). Mathematics and computational thinking will be interwoven through the entire course, so it is important to have some algebraic reasoning at the beginning of the school year.

  • Shortened Sequence: To ensure that there is sufficient time to complete all of the storylines and state labs have adequate time for completion, the number of lessons have been reduced. The original version was very lab heavy with a lot of reading for context. The reduction should allow Unit 0 to be completed in approximately 10 class periods in addition to the optional item-based assessment.

• Lesson Progression Document: The revised lesson sequence has been provided to highlight the flow from patterns to cause-and-effect, and scale, proportional, and quantity. The other crosscutting concepts and basic chemistry content are interwoven into the lessons (e.g. review of density, physical and chemical changes, and conservation of matter).

The following items are still in development and will be posted within the following two weeks:

• Teacher Google Slides

• Main Idea Checkpoints

• Revised End-of-Unit Assessment

Unit 1: The Northern Lights Revisions

• Student Notebook: Similar to Unit 0, the student notebook for The Northern Lights has been reformatted to be more student-friendly with less text on page and less frontloading of information. Some of the lessons have been reformatted from last year to ensure that the phenomenon stays relevant throughout the sequence of lessons and synthesis lessons. The guided notes in the synthesis lessons have been removed and placed in the Main Idea Checkpoints after each lesson. This will help teachers and students ensure they have the critical chemistry core ideas after each lesson.

• Main Idea Checkpoints: Apart from the guided notes to start each checkpoint, a series of questions are included that gradually brings students from basic definitions to some guided application. Depending on how you would like to use them, they could be used in lieu of the Do Now and Exit Tickets to collect more formative assessment data as students work through the questions that are content-specific and not related to the phenomenon.

• Do Now and Exit Tickets: Short half-page Do Now and Exit Tickets have been added for quicker ways to activate prior knowledge or to determine if students got the major idea(s) from the lesson or synthesis lesson.

• Revised Assessments: The end-of-unit assessment has been modified for better coherence and formatting. In addition, a mid-point quiz has been developed that can be given after Synthesis 3. The mid-point quiz is a hybrid of simpler 2D multiple choice or constructed response questions (seven in total) and a short item cluster.

• Revised Homework Assignments: Some of the homework assignments have been revised to have more interaction with text, diagrams, or other information. Two homework assignments are still based on videos, and the links to those videos can be found on the revised materials list.

• Simulations: Five new simulations have been developed to either replace the old PhET simulations or to support other aspects of the unit (Noble Gas simulation instead of the cutouts, a teacher simulation to model hydrogen emissions, and one dedicated to changing the magnetosphere or intensity of the solar winds).

The following items are still in development and will be released within the next two weeks:

• Teacher Google Slides

• Lesson Progression Document

If you are still looking to use the old versions of the curriculum, a link will be provided at the bottom of each unit page for you to access “The Archives.”