Frequently Asked Questions

Yes!  Mi-STAR is developing a curriculum for the middle grades that is designed for MSS and NGSS.  Our units meet the NGSS call that students learn disciplinary content and crosscutting concepts through science and engineering practices and develops student mastery of all 59 PE’s of NGSS.

Yes!  The Mi-STAR curriculum was developed by classroom teachers who worked with professional scientists, engineers, and curriculum developers to produce an entirely new curriculum that is fully aligned with the recommendations articulated by the National Academies and National Research Council in the Framework for K-12 Science Education.  The Mi-STAR curriculum has the following characteristics:

This 2018-19 school year, there are twelve available to educators who have met the requirements for Mi-STAR professional learning. This includes all units for 6th grade. Our priority was to complete the sixth grade units first to help schools prepare for the changes to the Michigan state assessment.  This year’s current 6th grade students will take the 2020 state assessments, which will be the first assessments that will count toward school performance ratings.

Five additional units are being pilot tested during the 2018-19 academic year and will be available fall 2019. The remaining 7th and 8th grade units will be developed and made accessible in 2020.  

The Mi-STAR curriculum is developed by teachers, scientists, engineers, and curriculum specialists across Michigan. We start by outlining a sequence of “bundles” of NGSS Performance Expectations. We then develop those bundles into units by creating a Unit Challenge for each bundle and designing lessons that lead students to complete each challenge. All Mi-STAR lessons are tested by middle school science teachers in their classrooms. We revise each unit based on the results of testing before releasing it to the public.

We last updated the materials in summer of 2018. We make small updates to materials constantly during the school year based on near real-time teacher feedback received through our curriculum helpline, online forums, and online check-in meetings with Professional Learning Facilitators (See question #2 response). More comprehensive updates are made, as staff time permits, on a biannual basis in December and July/August.

See the Plans and Progress page.

In order to complete each unit, students must address a unit challenge that requires the study, description, and explanation of natural phenomena. Students apply or present their understanding in order to solve the problem presented in the unit challenge. The emphasis in units is on problem-solving and making sense of phenomena in order to solve problems, but each unit provides multiple opportunities for making sense of phenomena. The unit challenge scenario contains embedded phenomena that anchor the unit and that students must make sense of throughout the unit. Additionally, student learning sometimes leads to questions that lead to new phenomena that are presented in the Anchoring Experience phase of lessons and that drive students to uncover new NGSS content.

Yes, the curriculum integrates the ETS PEs into the units as part of the NGSS content. Engineering isn’t an “add on”, and engineering practices are embedded within many Mi-STAR units.

The Unit Bubble Map is a tool which Mi-STAR uses to allow students to track their questions and understanding over time. Students can also record their understanding in Unit Summary Tables. Several units are based upon conceptual models which are built upon as the unit progresses. Students return to their conceptual models in the “Connect Your Ideas” phase of each lesson to revisit and revise prior thinking. In other units, students complete a series of CER (Claim Evidence Reasoning) explanations where they revise their thinking and refine evidence over time. The approach taken depends on the DCI and SEP focus of the unit.

Students have multiple opportunities in the curriculum to gather evidence in the form of articles or written passages. Within every lesson and unit there are opportunities for students to communicate their understanding through individual writing in the Unit Summary Table. Examples can be provided upon request.

The amount of informational reading varies by unit.  Informational reading is sometimes a necessary source of evidence in the curriculum. We also use informational reading as a supplement for the purpose of having students check and deepen their understanding of newly discovered concepts.  Many of our assessments also require significant informational reading. Where informational reading is required as evidence in a unit, we provide links to articles or original written material. Because original material is so time-intensive to write and edit, we only provide it where necessary and where other appropriate sources do not already exist.  We link to appropriate supplemental reading where it exists, such as open-source textbooks excerpts, from sources such as OER Utah or CK12, newspaper articles from public media and sources such as NewsELA, or informational articles from scientific agencies and universities.

Many Mi-STAR teachers independently report that the curriculum is leading to higher achievement than previously seen with their special ed students and students of color who are systematically disadvantaged. Mi-STAR teachers have written about the positive impact of the curriculum on these students:

Teachers also report that the Unit Challenges, due to their somewhat open nature, and the flexibility of final presentation formats, also create opportunities for gifted learners to deepen their knowledge beyond the target in the unit.

We know however that the curriculum is not fully differentiated for all classrooms (and we believe no curriculum really can be, without the input of the classroom’s teacher). Mi-STAR is actively working with implementing teachers to identify areas of the curriculum that require further differentiation for different types of learners.  

Teachers and districts may access example lessons from this page of our website.

Prior to May 1, 2018, Mi-STAR provided professional learning, and the associated curriculum units, at no cost to Michigan teachers. To support Mi-STAR into the future, charges have been instituted as outlined on the pricing page.

In order to be eligible to access the curriculum, teachers must have completed the professional learning (Teacher Pathway) that will support them to implement the curriculum. All teachers who complete the professional learning may use the curriculum.

Refer to this list to contact Mi-STAR PLFs.

Districts have the option of buying their own materials or working with an education supplier, Nasco. We provide materials lists on the Mi-STAR public website so that schools/districts can purchase the materials. The list of available kits is on our website here.

The Mi-STAR program (curriculum, PL, and support) is provided as a complete package to teachers, excluding supplies and/or equipment. The program is free for the 2018/19 school year and we plan to implement a modest, flat subscription fee per teacher starting in July 2019. More information on subscription fees for next school year are described on this Mi-STAR web page.

You can sign up for Mi-STAR News on the Mi-STAR on the footer of our website.  If you register to teach Mi-STAR you will also receive periodic updates from Mi-STAR and from your professional learning facilitator.