A guide to exploring Discovery Education Science Techbook.
Due to varying state requirements, we have several different versions of Science Techbook. Please select your version to display the most relevant article for you.
- Modular: A 16 unit course designed for Middle School Science, driven by phenomenon and hands-on investigations. Note that Grade 6 begins with the Unit titled Rocked Sled.
- National: A comprehensive program with high-quality three-dimensional lessons and hands-on investigations for students that follows the 5E instructional model. Note that each Concept includes Intro and Beyond components.
- California: A comprehensive guide for California partners.
- Classic: A foundational program that helps you design high-quality lessons and activities for students that follows the 5E Instructional Model. Note that each Concept includes a Model Lesson.
Step 1: Sign In and Select Science Techbook
Navigate to discoveryeducation.com, discoveryeducation.ca, or your custom URL. Select Login in the upper right corner and then enter your username and password and Sign in.
Select Science Techbook from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage. You can also use the Global Nav menu in the upper left corner to access Science Techbook.
Step 2: Navigate to a Science Techbook Course
If your school or district has access to more than one Science Techbook course (K-5 or 9-12 Courses), select Middle School Science from the Course menu in the top action bar. This takes you to the Overview page.
Once in the course Overview, view more details in the table of contents, drill down by standard, or find materials to support your planning.
- Overview: Provides a quick glance of the content in the course.
- Table of Contents: Provides a more linear, book-like navigation. Use keywords to search a course's content and locate relevant lessons and activities. Quickly access Lesson Resources, Standards, Timing Guidance, and Additional Unit Resources.
- Standards: Enables you to select a three-dimensional standard. Select a standard to display the supporting Unit(s).
- Course Materials: Access resources to support the course, such as a Program Guide, NGSS Overview, and Parent Letter.
Step 3: Navigate to Quick Code
If you have teacher or student print editions, navigate to Enter Quick Code to add your quick code and jump directly to the digital location.
Step 4: Select a Unit
Science Techbook Modular is divided into 16 digital units anchored in phenomena and designed to support student sense-making. Select a unit tile to open the Unit page.
From the Unit Overview, explore the following:
- Anchor Phenomenon: Each unit begins with an engaging real-world phenomenon.
- Teacher Overview: Includes objectives, performance expectations, 3D standards, anchor phenomenon connections, and differentiation support.
- Lessons and Activities: Each Lesson contains a variety of activities which include videos, images, interactives, and hands-on activities that support the investigative phenomenon, as well as scientific readings and STEM projects. Technology-enhanced items are embedded to continually check for student understanding.
From Unit Assessments and Resources, explore the following:
- Assessments and Resources: Locate performance-based assessments.
- Teacher Planning Resources: Access Unit Storyline, Unit Overview, Unit Structure, Unit Planner, Unit Objectives, Lesson Narrative, Lesson Progression for Focus SEP and CCC Dimensions, Teacher Background, Student Edition (English and Spanish) resources.
Step 5: Explore an Activity
From the Unit page, select an activity to delve into.
Each activity includes an Activity Planning section in the top right corner. Here, locate the following:
- Activity Objective
- Standards
- Purpose
- Support for each section of the activity - this includes facilitation guidance, questions to ask, answers to listen for, and differentiation ideas.
Step 6: Get Familiar with Embedded Teacher Supports
Throughout the Activities in a Lesson, students use the claim, evidence, reasoning framework for responses and construct explanations to support their claims related to the phenomenon.
Toggle the Teacher View On to view embedded teacher supports in an Activity, like example student responses
Step 7: Explore the Unit Project
The final lesson of each unit includes a Unit Project. This is a summative assessment that encourages students to design and generate solutions to real-world problems as well as conduct additional research. Observe and evaluate how students apply content knowledge to an extension of the Anchor Phenomenon.
Note that the Teacher Overview section of the final lesson gives access to performance expectations, goals, three-dimensional standards, and performance-based assessment information.
Step 8: Explore Beyond the Lesson Resources
In Beyond the Lesson Resources, find additional resources related to the Unit for remediation, extension, or differentiation. These include the following:
- Videos
- Activities
- Explorations
- Interactives
- Additional reading passages to support literacy
Step 9: Get Familiar with the Toolbar
Access the Toolbar from any page in Science Techbook Modular. Here, access Share, Print, Glossary, Language, Notebook, and Results from any Unit page.
And Assign, Results, Glossary, Language, and More from any Activity page:
Step 10: Dig Into the Top 5 Features of Science Techbook
These features are loved by teachers! Take time to familiarize yourself with these helpful components of Science Techbook Modular.
- Teacher Support: Teacher supports are provided throughout each Concept with answer keys to online assessments, additional assessments, teacher guides to activities, questions to ask during instruction, and more.
- Core Interactive Text: With Core Interactive Text, text can be read aloud, highlighted, or annotated with sticky notes. Select any text and a reader tool appears. Through a language toggle, students can adjust the Lexile Level in literacy lessons or change the language from English to Spanish.
- Interactive Glossary: Build scientific vocabulary with your students with just a click! Key academic terms in Science Techbook are linked to the Glossary and vocabulary words are defined and expanded on with a definition, animation, video, or image. In Glossary, access Immersive Reader. This tool implements proven techniques to improve reading and writing for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Launch anytime from the toolbar.
- Assigning Content: Assigning content to students enables fast access to materials, minimizes distractions, and creates opportunities for tracking completion. Assign a resource, STB page, or assessment to ensure students know exactly what they should be working on!
- Dashboard: Keep a pulse on student learning and make instructional adjustments at any time. Track assignment completion and progress on assessments through your Dashboard. Students can also check their progress at any time in their own personal Dashboard.
Step 1: Sign In and Select Science Techbook
Navigate to discoveryeducation.com, discoveryeducation.ca, or your custom URL. Enter your username and password and Sign in.
Select Science Techbook from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage. You can also use the Global Nav menu in the top left corner to access Science Techbook.
Step 2: Navigate to a Science Techbook Course
If your school or district has access to more than one Science Techbook course, select the desired grade level from the Course menu in the top action bar. This takes you to the grade Overview page.
From here, explore the following:
- Overview: Review all units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. From here, quickly access View Unit or View Concept to go more-in-depth.
- Table of Contents: Review all available units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in a Concept.
- Standards: Review grade-level standards for each Concept. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in the Unit.
- Course Materials: Review all course materials, such as Student Editions (English and Spanish), and Glossary Flashcards.
Step 3: Select a Unit
From the Overview page, select View Unit to open the Unit page.
From the Unit Overview tab, explore the following:
- Anchor Phenomenon: Each unit begins with an engaging real world phenomenon.
- Unit Project: Allows students to return to the Unit anchor phenomenon to solve or research a problem.
- Overview of each concept: Each overview includes investigative phenomena, student outcomes, concept resources, and standards.
From the Unit Assessments and Resources tab, explore the following:
- Assessments and Resources: 3-D Performance-based assessments are available in both English and Spanish.
- Teacher Planning and Resources: Some units have additional teacher support planning resources like a Unit Planner or Grade Overview.
Step 4: Select a Concept
To explore a concept, select View Concept.
The elementary program uses the Wonder-Learn-Share teaching sequence, a simplified student friendly version of the 5E instructional model, to guide instruction and support elementary students as they experience 3D learning.
Step 5: Begin with Intro & Wonder
In Intro, locate important planning materials for the Concept. The Can You Explain? question is introduced, along with the Student Learning Objectives, Teacher Learning Objectives, Teacher Planning Resources, Vocabulary Strategies, Key Vocabulary, and Standards.
Wonder provides phenomena-driven or problem-based learning experiences as catalysts for the inquiry process, triggering students’ natural sense of curiosity and wonder. Challenge students to describe real-world phenomena and to develop questions around these phenomena in addition to the Can You Explain? question.
Technology-Enhanced Items (TEIs) help you uncover what students already know about a concept, including their preconceptions and misconceptions.
Step 6: Continue to Learn
Learn presents deep experience to support scientific learning. Access text and interactive resources that help students test predictions, collect evidence, and record observations and ideas.
Learn also contains digital models and hands-on activities that provide opportunities for students to apply their learning.
Step 7: Continue to Share
Share encourages students to verbalize and demonstrate their conceptual understanding, new skills, and behaviors by constructing a scientific explanation related to the investigative phenomenon, the Can You Explain? question, or one of their own questions first posed in Wonder.
Students can also elaborate on their thinking within the STEM in Action and STEM Project sections.
Step 8: Explore How Students Evaluate Like a Scientist
In Evaluate, also located in the Share tab, students must demonstrate their mastery of three-dimensional learning. Several types of assessments, multiple choice, and constructed response are used to measure student understanding.
Step 9: Go Beyond
Beyond provides additional resources to support learning within a Concept. Divided into categories - View, Read, Interact, Teach, and Listen - these resources provide scaffolding or extension support for students.
Step 10: Dig Into the Top 5 Features of Science Techbook
These features are loved by teachers! Take time to familiarize yourself with these helpful components of Science Techbook.
- Teacher Support: Teacher supports are provided throughout each Concept with answer keys to online assessments, additional assessments, teacher guides to activities, questions to ask during instruction, and more.
- Core Interactive Text: With Core Interactive Text, text can be read aloud, highlighted, or annotated with sticky notes. Select any text and a reader tool appears. Through a language toggle, students can adjust the Lexile Level in literacy lessons or change the language from English to Spanish.
- Glossary: Build scientific vocabulary with your students with just a click! Key academic terms in Science Techbook are linked to the Glossary and vocabulary words are defined and expanded on with a definition, animation, video, or image. In Glossary, access Immersive Reader. This tool implements proven techniques to improve reading and writing for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Launch anytime from the toolbar.
- Assigning Content: Assigning content to students enables fast access to materials, minimizes distractions, and creates opportunities for tracking completion. Assign a resource, STB page, or assessment to ensure students know exactly what they should be working on!
- Dashboard: Keep a pulse on student learning and make instructional adjustments at any time. Track assignment completion and progress on assessments through your Dashboard. Students can also check their progress at any time in their own personal Dashboard.
Step 1: Sign In and Select Science Techbook
Navigate to discoveryeducation.com, discoveryeducation.ca, or your custom URL. Enter your username and password and Sign in.
Select Science Techbook from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage. You can also use the Global Nav menu in the top left corner to access Science Techbook.
Step 2: Navigate to a Science Techbook Course
If your school or district has access to more than one Science Techbook course, select the desired grade level from the Course menu in the top action bar. This takes you to the grade Overview page.
From here, explore the following:
- Overview: Review all units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. From here, quickly select View Unit or select a Concept to go more-in-depth.
- Table of Contents: Review all available units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in a Concept.
- Standards: Review grade-level standards for each Concept. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in the Unit.
- Course Materials: Review all course materials, such as Student Editions.
Step 3: Select a Unit
From the Overview page, select View Unit to open the Unit page.
Once in the Unit Overview, explore the following:
- Anchor Phenomenon: Each unit begins with an engaging real world phenomenon.
- Overview of each concept: Each overview includes investigative phenomenon, student outcomes, concept resources, and standards.
- Unit Project: Allows students to return to the Unit anchor phenomenon to solve or research a problem.
Once in the Unit Assessments and Resources, explore the following:
- Performance-based assessments, available in both English and Spanish.
- Additional teacher support planning resources.
Step 4: Select a Concept
To explore a concept, select View Concept.
Concepts follow the 5E Model of Instruction, a research-based instructional cycle that uses complex essential questions to guide the learning experience. Each of the 5Es describes a phase of learning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate
Step 5: Begin with Intro & Engage
Intro provides you with important planning materials for the Concept. The Can You Explain? question is introduced, along with the Student Learning Objectives, Teacher Learning Objectives, Teacher Planning Resources, Vocabulary Strategies, Key Vocabulary, and Standards.
Engage provides phenomena-driven or problem-based learning experiences as catalysts for the inquiry process, triggering students’ natural sense of curiosity and wonder. Challenge students to describe real-world phenomena and to develop questions around these phenomena in addition to the Can You Explain? question.
Technology-Enhanced Items (TEIs) help you uncover what students already know about a concept, including their preconceptions and misconceptions.
Step 6: Continue to Explore
Explore provides deep experience to support scientific learning. Access text and interactive resources that help students test predictions, collect evidence, and record observations and ideas.
Learn also contains digital models and hands-on activities that provide opportunities for students to apply their learning.
Step 7: Continue to Explain
Explain encourages students to verbalize and demonstrate their conceptual understanding, new skills, and behaviors by constructing a scientific explanation related to the investigative phenomenon, the Can You Explain? question, or one of their own questions first posed in Engage.
Step 8: Continue to Elaborate with STEM
The Elaborate with STEM tab includes a STEM in Action section that connects real-world career opportunities to the science content and STEM Project Starters that allow for an extension of learning and student collaboration
Step 9: Explore How Students Evaluate Like a Scientist and Go Beyond
In Evaluate, students must demonstrate their mastery of three-dimensional learning. Use several types of assessments - multiple choice, and constructed response - to measure student understanding.
Beyond provides additional resources to support learning within a Concept. Divided into categories - View, Read, Interact, Teach, and Listen - these resources provide scaffolding or extension support for students.
Step 10: Explore the Top 5 Features of Science Techbook
These features are loved by teachers! Take time to familiarize yourself with these helpful components of Science Techbook.
- Teacher Support: Teacher supports are provided throughout each Concept with answer keys to online assessments, additional assessments, teacher guides to activities, questions to ask during instruction, and more.
- Core Interactive Text: With Core Interactive Text, text can be read aloud, highlighted, or annotated with sticky notes. Select any text and a reader tool appears. Through a language toggle, students can adjust the Lexile Level in literacy lessons or change the language from English to Spanish.
- Glossary: Build scientific vocabulary with your students with just a click! Key academic terms in Science Techbook are linked to the Glossary and vocabulary words are defined and expanded on with a definition, animation, video, or image. In Glossary, access Immersive Reader. This tool implements proven techniques to improve reading and writing for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Launch anytime from the toolbar.
- Assigning Content: Assigning content to students enables fast access to materials, minimizes distractions, and creates opportunities for tracking completion. Assign a resource, STB page, or assessment to ensure students know exactly what they should be working on!
- Dashboard: Keep a pulse on student learning and make instructional adjustments at any time. Track assignment completion and progress on assessments through your Dashboard. Students can also check their progress at any time in their own personal Dashboard.
Step 1: Sign In
Go to DiscoveryEducation.com and click the Login button at the top of the screen. Enter your login credentials to start exploring.Step 2: Choose Science Techbook
Select Science Techbook from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage. You can also use the Global Nav menu in the upper left corner to access Science Techbook.
Step 3: Select a Course
Choose your course from the drop down menu at the top of the screen.Step 4: Select a Unit
Navigate to a Unit you wish to explore and select View Unit. Also find the corresponding Unit in the print Teacher Edition.
Step 5: Explore Anchor Phenomenon
Each Unit begins with an engaging real-world Anchor Phenomenon. Unit resources include CAST-like Performance Based Assessments in both English and Spanish.Step 6: Select a Concept
Choose a Concept. Notice Concept Pacing Options in the print Teacher Edition, or find a digital copy in the concept Intro in the Teacher Planning Resources section.Step 7: Engage with Investigative Phenomena
Select a concept and view the 5E lesson cycle across the top. In the Engage tab, students will be introduced to the Investigative Phenomenon.Step 8: Explore the Concept
The Explore tab provides students with the core interactive text. The text includes multiple differentiation options found in the right-hand toolbar, including text size, two Lexile reading levels, and the ability to toggle to authentically translated Spanish. Other tools include text-to-speech, an enhanced science glossary, highlighting, a student notebook that carries with the student for the life of the adoption, and integrated multiple language translation for more than 90 languages.Step 9: Explain with Evidence
The Explain tab provides students opportunities to communicate their self-constructed scientific explanation generated from evidence collected from the Learn tab.
To meet different learning styles, students can represent their scientific explanation in multiple ways, such as uploading media or using our collaborative Studio tool that allows students to express themselves using different modalities.
Step 10: Elaborate with STEM Tab
The Elaborate with STEM tab provides students with a STEM in Action section that connects real-world career opportunities related to the science content. STEM Project Starters allow for an extension of learning and student collaboration; students are presented with authentic problems that connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and are expected to research and design solutions.Step 1: Sign In and Select Science Techbook
Navigate to discoveryeducation.com, discoveryeducation.ca, or your custom URL. Select Login in the upper right corner and then enter your username and password and Sign in.
Select Science Techbook from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage. You can also use the Global Nav menu in the upper left corner to access Science Techbook.
Step 2: Navigate to Your Desired Science Techbook
If your school or district has access to more than one Science Techbook course, select the desired grade level from the Course menu in the top action bar. This takes you to the grade Overview page.
From here, explore the following:
- Overview: Review all units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. Quickly access View Unit or select a Concept to go more-in-depth.
- Table of Contents: Review all available units of study and corresponding concepts for the course. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in a Concept.
- Standards: Review grade-level standards for each Concept. Select Expand All to review all standards addressed in the Unit.
- Course Materials: Review all course materials, such as Student Editions.
Step 3: Select a Unit to View
From Overview, select View Unit to open the Unit page. Note that you can also access Units from Table of Contents.
From Unit Overview, explore the following:
- View Concept: Access Concepts, structured in the 5E instructional model.
- Model Lesson: Designed around curriculum standards, Model Lessons include all components for teacher implementation (i.e. Lesson Overview, NGSS Standards Overview, Teacher Preparation, Hands-On Materials, Assignments and Resources) and provide guidance for planning and student engagement.
- Concept Resources: Access all resources within a Concept, such as videos, interactives, images, text, and more. Use filters to narrow down resource search.
- Standards: Access all standards addressed in a Concept.
Step 4: Delve into a Concept
Select View Concept to explore a concept.
Concepts follow the 5E Model of Instruction, a research-based instructional cycle that uses complex essential questions to guide the learning experience. Each of the 5Es describes a phase of learning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate
Step 5: Begin with Engage
Engage provides phenomena-driven or problem-based learning experiences as catalysts for the inquiry process, triggering students’ natural sense of curiosity and wonder. Challenge students to describe real-world phenomena and to develop questions around these phenomena in addition to the Explain Question.
Technology-Enhanced Items (TEIs) help you uncover what students already know about a concept, including their preconceptions and misconceptions.
Step 6: Continue to Explore
Explore presents deep experience to support scientific learning. Access text and interactive resources that help students test predictions, collect evidence, and record observations and ideas.
Here, access digital models and hands-on activities that provide opportunities for students to apply learning.
Step 7: Continue to Explain
Explain encourages students to verbalize and demonstrate their conceptual understanding, new skills, and behaviors by constructing a scientific explanation related to the investigative phenomenon, the Explain Question, or one of their own questions first posed in Engage.
Step 8: Continue to Elaborate with STEM
Elaborate with STEM includes the following:
- STEM in Action: Connects real-world career opportunities to the science content.
- STEM Project Starters: Allows for an extension of learning and student collaboration. Students connect math, technology, and engineering to their understanding of science concepts to produce creative solutions to real-world problems.
Step 9: Explore How Students Evaluate Like a Scientist
In Evaluate, access a review for students and multiple options for student assessment, including brief and extended constructed response items and multiple-choice questions.
Step 10: Dig Into the Top 5 Features of Science Techbook
These features are loved by teachers! Take time to familiarize yourself with these helpful components of Science Techbook.
- Teacher Support: Teacher supports are provided throughout each Concept with answer keys to online assessments, additional assessments, teacher guides to activities, questions to ask during instruction, and more.
- Core Interactive Text: With Core Interactive Text, text can be read aloud, highlighted, or annotated with sticky notes. Select any text and a reader tool appears. Through a language toggle, students can adjust the Lexile Level in literacy lessons or change the language from English to Spanish.
- Interactive Glossary: Build scientific vocabulary with your students with just a click! Key academic terms in Science Techbook are linked to the Glossary and vocabulary words are defined and expanded on with a definition, animation, video, or image. In Glossary, access Immersive Reader. This tool implements proven techniques to improve reading and writing for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Launch anytime from the toolbar.
- Assigning Content: Assigning content to students enables fast access to materials, minimizes distractions, and creates opportunities for tracking completion. Assign a resource, STB page, or assessment to ensure students know exactly what they should be working on!
- Dashboard: Keep a pulse on student learning and make instructional adjustments at any time. Track assignment completion and progress on assessments through your Dashboard. Students can also check their progress at any time in their own personal Dashboard.