Support teachers to customize curriculum for local relevance and cultural responsiveness¶
Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited
Description¶
The article outlines an example research project, Customizing OpenSciEd materials to students' local contexts, identities, and funds of knowledge, combining professional learning strategies with design heuristics. The project "would involve teachers who have experience teaching OpenSciEd units and who wish to develop customizations to meet specific needs of their students or community contexts", with developers and researchers co-designing supports and studying outcomes such as equitable engagement and integrity of implementation.
Design Implications¶
Context¶
Requirements¶
- Customizations must preserve OpenSciEd's distinctive principles; substantial pedagogical design capacity is needed because designing coherent NGSS-aligned materials is demanding
Constraints¶
- Materials designed at scale target a national audience; teachers and districts lack the time and effort for local customization without supports
Target Learners¶
- Underrepresented learner populations in STEM, including students whose funds of knowledge differ from national curriculum defaults
Target Learning Goals¶
- Equitable student engagement, classroom participation, cultural responsiveness in science
Related Strategies¶
- Openscied Open Curriculum Materials
- Develop Cultural Awareness
- Cultural Responsive Practice
- Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecards
- Using a Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard
- Support PowerUp implementation with layered professional development: customized planning, product training, and ongoing data coaching
- Research opportunities leveraging open materials: district adoption models and customizing materials for specific student populations
- Provide teachers with exemplar NGSS-aligned CBL units and templates to customize rather than requiring design from scratch
Examples¶
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Key Sources¶
- McElhaney, K., Baker, A., Kasad, Z., Roschelle, J., & Chillmon, C. (2022, March). A field-driven, equity-centered research agenda for OpenSciEd: Updated version [White paper]. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/153
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
strategy |
id |
teacher-supports-curriculum-customization |
title |
Support teachers to customize curriculum for local relevance and cultural responsiveness |
description |
The article outlines an example research project, Customizing OpenSciEd materials to students' local contexts, identities, and funds of knowledge, combining professional learning strategies with design heuristics. |
status |
review |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-09 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — mcelhaney-k-baker-a-kasad |
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