Classroom Programs

All San Diego Youth Science programs are developed and taught by our team of science educators to enhance science during the school day in a way that inspires scientific thinking about the world through hands-on, student-driven experimentation and engagement in the process of science. One of the ways we strive to accomplish this mission is by looking at current scientific phenomena and areas of scientific discovery each year, often partnering with researchers and industry, to bring in authentic science experiences for our students and classroom teachers. All SDYS programs are custom, focusing on place-based learning, and developed to best fit the needs of our particular populations of students.

What SDYS Sessions Look Like

Each session of San Diego Youth Science involves our science educators bringing all science materials and supplies to each partnering school and engaging in the SDYS science curriculum with one classroom of students at a time. The SDYS model includes the classroom teacher as a partner, learning and engaging in science alongside their students. We understand classroom teachers know their students best and can be amazing partners to bridge gaps around content. SDYS also offers itself as a resource around both science and the NGSS to our partnering teachers. 

The customizable nature of our SDYS makes program implementation diverse, to best fit the needs and science goals of each partnering school. In some partnering schools, SDYS educators have enhanced science across all tK-5th grade classrooms once every month for the last eight years. this continuity in science education can be incredibly impactful on not only student content learning but also understanding the process of science. Other schools have begun more with SDYS enhancing science within a grade band, then increasing to other grades each year. 

What Sets SDYS Apart

Topics

SDYS's custom curricula span all fields of science, with student experimentation and process learning at the foundation of all programming developed. The open-ended nature of NGSS allows topics to be explored from diverse angles. Each year SDYS works to develop new custom, NGSS-aligned programs to make science relevant. A few examples include: