The Science Teacher's Playbook is your go-to resource for making science education engaging, effective, and exciting! Hosted by an experienced middle school science teacher, curriculum leader, and doctoral candidate, this podcast is packed with practical strategies, fresh ideas, and expert insights to help you bring science to life in your classroom. Whether you're looking for hands-on activities, three-dimensional teaching strategies, or ways to boost student engagement, this podcast has you covered. Tune in and get ready to level up your science teaching—one episode at a time!
40. Out With the Old: How STEELS Differs from the 2002 PA Science Standards
Welcome to Episode 40 of The Science Teacher’s Playbook Podcast!
In this episode, we're breaking down the big shifts coming to Pennsylvania science education with the upcoming implementation of the STEELS Standards in July 2025. Whether you’re new to STEELS or still working through what it means for your classroom, this episode offers a practical, teacher-centered overview of how these new standards compare to the 2002 PA Science Standards—and why the change is such a big deal.
🔍 In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Why STEELS is a framework, not just a checklist
✅ How engineering practices are now a core part of science learning
✅ Why depth > breadth when it comes to content coverage
✅ How STEELS pushes interdisciplinary thinking across science, math, and engineering
✅ The importance of aligning to current scientific practices and ideas
👩🏫 You’ll also hear tips for how to get started now—even during this planning year—and why you don’t need to buy a new program to get started with STEELS. (Spoiler: The state hasn’t endorsed any curriculum yet. NONE!)
🔗 Resources mentioned:
STEELS Standards Hub – PA Dept. of Ed.
OpenSciEd – Free NGSS-Aligned Curriculum
🎧 Listen now and get inspired to take the first step toward a more modern, integrated, and student-centered approach to science teaching.
SHOW NOTES
10 Apr 2025
39. From Leadership to Buildership – Cultivating a Thriving Science Ecosystem
What if we stopped treating leadership like a checklist and started thinking of it as an ecosystem? In this episode of The Science Teacher’s Playbook, Beth dives into her transformation from traditional leadership to Buildership, exploring how she stopped managing teachers and started cultivating a thriving learning environment.
Through insights from Stop Leading, Start Building by Robyn Jackson, Beth reframes leadership using an ecosystem model, where teachers, students, and professional learning thrive in a balanced, interconnected system. She breaks down her Science Department Buildership Plan, a 10-step framework designed to empower teachers, foster collaboration, and create a sustainable culture of growth—just like a thriving natural ecosystem.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why compliance-based leadership is like a fragile monoculture 🌾 vs. a resilient, biodiverse ecosystem
The four key stages of Buildership and how they mirror natural system
How Beth’s 10-step Buildership Plan transformed her science department into a self-sustaining learning environment
How to rewild your leadership approach by creating conditions for teachers to flourish instead of controlling them
Tune in now to discover how you can stop leading and start building a science education ecosystem that thrives!
Have thoughts or questions? DM Beth on Instagram @TheScienceTeachersPlaybook and share how you’re growing your own educational ecosystem!
Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast to help more educators cultivate lasting change!
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In this episode of The Science Teacher’s Playbook, we’re diving into one of the most powerful yet underused tools in the 3D science classroom: the Driving Question Board (DQB). These boards are more than a collection of questions—they’re a living record of student thinking, wonderings, and discoveries that guide learning throughout a unit.
You’ll learn:
What a DQB is and why it’s a key part of NGSS/STEELS-aligned instruction.
How to launch a DQB with a phenomenon that gets students asking deep, authentic questions.
Tips for organizing, revisiting, and using student questions to shape investigations.
Ways to increase student ownership and keep the DQB active—not just something that sits on the wall.
We’ll also share classroom-tested examples, practical management strategies, and a free DQB starter kit to get you going—plus a bonus paid resource packed with ready-to-use DQB templates and teacher guides.
If you’re ready to turn your science classroom into a space of genuine curiosity and student-driven learning, this episode is your playbook.
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