Standards Alignment
Academic standards are a benchmark of quality in education. Standards-aligned curriculum helps teachers make selections that focus on what students need to know, understand, and be able to do in each high school course.
At Energy Excursions we recognize that aligning our curriculum with learning standards makes our online courses more attractive to educators. Our team wanted to design a site that made it easy for teachers to peruse the standards aligned with our Energy Excursions curriculum. That’s why you’ll find easy-to-use, searchable features for each course, lesson, and topic page we present as part of our curriculum. Looking for content to cover a particular standard in a specific high school course you teach? Not a problem – you can search for that particular standard (or a group of standards) for your specific high school course within our curriculum. Go to one of our Energy Excursion courses and have fun exploring what all we cover.
Science is a way of knowing, a process of using observations and investigations to gain knowledge and understanding of the physical and natural world. The PreK-12 Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science place an emphasis on students being active learners. They showcase that it is not enough for students to read about science; they must do science. Students must engage in planning and carrying out investigations, making observations, asking questions, analyzing data, constructing explanations, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information to gain the science knowledge and skills to be college, career, and citizen ready upon graduation from high school.
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are the state standards for what students should know and be able to do in our home state. Because Energy Excursions is based at The University of Texas at Austin, we have a mission to energize Texas high school students about taking on leadership roles to address energy and related issues. As students navigate our engaging curriculum, you will be able to track exactly what TEKS they have covered satisfying the essential requirements in your classroom and for your assignments. Our curriculum also contains formative assessments, which you are free to incorporate into your own individualized classroom assessments.
Advanced Placement (AP) classes are an entrée to university-level curriculum. For these courses, we align our courses to the College Board units and practices for the specific course. Because AP classes are geared towards a College Board comprehensive assessment, teachers will be able to easily track the units and practices satisfied by the Energy Excursions curriculum that will prepare students for exam success. Formative assessments included in our online curriculum can be freely incorporated into your own individualized classroom assessments and student preparation.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. The NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students. These standards give local educators the flexibility to design classroom learning experiences that stimulate students’ interests in science and prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship.
Within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), there are three distinct and equally important dimensions to learning science. These dimensions are combined to form each standard—or performance expectation—and each dimension works with the other two to help students build a cohesive understanding of science over time.
