The new Science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for grades Kindergarten through 12th will be implemented in the 2024-2025 school year. In our previous blog, we outlined three key areas of change in the new Science TEKS. Another area worth highlighing is how the science tools were updated within each grade level. Let’s break it down below.
Location of the Tools Within the New Science TEKS
The TEKS are organized with the Introduction first followed by Knowledge and Skills. The first part of the Knowledge and Skills is the Scientific and Engineering Practices (SEPs).
SEP 1D is where you find the updated tools for grades Kindergarten through 12th. A 2nd grade, 7th grade, and Chemistry example are shown in the table.
Wording of the Tools Within the New Science TEKS
You might notice from the previous example that some words are bold. You may find “including,” “such as,” or both within the wording of the tools. This is important because these terms mean different things according to what is noted in the Introduction of the TEKS.
The next table illustrates the Introduction for Kindergarten through 8th grade and the Introduction for High School courses.
What is mentioned in six and seven of the Introduction applies to all TEKS, including 1D in the SEPs regarding tools.
Students are expected to use the tools listed after the term “including.” The tools listed after “including” are not an exhaustive list but are specific tools students are expected to use out of the many possible tools for science. For tools listed after the term “such as” in 1D, this is a suggested list of tools that might be considered appropriate for the content being studied.
It’s essential to pay attention to the wording of the tools. For example, grades 3-5 mention both terms in 1D, while grades 6-12 have only “such as” within the tools.
See additional examples in this table.
Inventorying Science Tools
With the new Science TEKS implementation beginning in August 2024, this is a great time to inventory your current tools for each grade level and campus. This then gives you a road map of what you need.
We developed some helpful checklists to assist you through the inventory process. Look for three tabs along the bottom when you open the links.
See the tab contents represented below.
New Science TEKS Tool Sheets Links
Feel free to make copies of these sheets and customize them for your purposes. Share these links with others to help them in their tool journey!
Conclusion
The Region 13 Science team offers continuing opportunities to take a deeper look at the new Science TEKS. Through teacher cohorts, we discuss the possible implications and the big takeaways. Visit our workshop catalog for the most up-to-date workshops.
Be sure and bookmark the Region 13 Science webpage. This is a great place to see the latest resources and events. Subscribe to the monthly Science newsletter to be the first to know of new offerings, news, and developments in the Science world.
Carolyn Beardsley
Carolyn Beardsley is the Elementary Science Instructional Coach at ESC Region 13.
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