COLUMBIA, SC, Dec. 16, 2021 – Carolina Biological announced that two of its elementary school science programs are among the rigorous list of new science materials just adopted by the South Carolina State Board of Education for the state’s K-12 science curriculum. Carolina Biological’s award-winning Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™ and Building Blocks of Science ™ 3D were chosen for adoption to help teachers address new state science standards. The company was among more than 30 publishers that made the adoption list. Adopted materials are available for purchase now to public schools and districts in South Carolina. The resources can makeover science classes and benefit teachers and students in 83 school districts that serve 780,000 students statewide. Recently approved in June, the South Carolina College and Career-Ready 2021 (SCCCR) standards for K-12, are the state’s new three-dimensional performance expectations in science and engineering. New school materials were reviewed in depth and selected for adoption to engage students and help educators to teach these latest standards.
South Carolina science classes now have a nice selection of rich new resources to support their own student-driven, hands-on, and phenomena-based vision of three-dimensional learning in the classroom. Science materials from 65 publishers were reviewed for adoption by the Instructional Materials Advisory Committee, comprised of parents, teachers, district administrators and community members. The Committee reviews all instructional materials in light of the state content standards. Materials are recommended for adoption by the Committee on a rotating basis every six years. Schools may select materials from the state-adopted list of resources using state funds. Materials adopted as supplemental must be purchased with S.C. schools’ local funds, but not with state funds.
The next step in the adoption process is for the S.C. Department of Education to help districts with local science materials selection through an Instructional Materials Caravan, where school and district staff can learn about the new materials through presentations by publishers, including Carolina Biological. This will happen before April 1, when districts report their selections to the Office of Instructional Materials. In May, schools place their orders online and receive their new instructional materials for the start of the school year.…Read More