#1 most adopted California NGSS curriculum

Amplify Science California is a brand-new TK–8 curriculum built for the California NGSS. It also happens to be the most adopted science curriculum so far—out of 17 state-approved programs to choose from. We feel pretty honored to be the science curriculum partner of choice for so many districts. Find out what makes our program so phenomenal by exploring this site at your own pace.

Laptop displaying a colorful educational slide titled

Overview

With Amplify Science California, students don’t just passively learn about science concepts. Instead, they take on the role of scientists and engineers to actively investigate and figure out real-world phenomena.  They do this through a blend of cohesive and compelling storylines, hands-on investigations, collaborative discussions, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools.

 

Listen to these educators share how the program empowers students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers every day.

Grades K–5

Grades 6–8

Our approach

At the heart of Amplify Science California is our goal of helping students make the shift from learning about to figuring out scientific concepts. As they collect evidence, students actively work to construct a deeper and more complex understanding of each unit’s anchor phenomenon.

 

Throughout the Amplify Science California curriculum, students actively share and discuss evidence and work together to determine what claim the evidence supports. As they collaborate and engage in debate, they are practicing vital aspects of constructing explanations and argumentation, such as:

  • Deeply understanding evidence
  • Working with others to understand the meaning of evidence
  • Convincing others that their claim is the most sound
  • Providing logical reasoning to support their claims
Diagram outlining a process with four stages: learning about a problem, collecting evidence, constructing arguments, and applying understanding, with a flowchart of

Why choose Amplify Science California?

Amplify Science California isn’t a traditional textbook program. Rather, it’s a next-generation curriculum designed to support a shift to a whole new way of teaching science. If your district is interested in making a successful and lasting transition to the California NGSS, Amplify Science California is a program that you can choose with confidence.

A student in a classroom holding up a textbook about fossils, with a laptop open in front of him and classmates in the background.

Newly built for the California NGSS

Unlike other companies that retrofitted an existing program, we built Amplify Science California from the ground up. That means that every unit, every chapter, every lesson, and every activity was newly crafted to deliver true three-dimensional learning that works. Said another way, our program didn’t exist until after the California NGSS Framework was complete.

 

 

Authored by California’s leading science education experts

Amplify Science California was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify. As the Hall’s first curriculum designed to address the California NGSS, Amplify Science California reflects state-of-the-art practices in science teaching and learning.

 

 

Proven effective (for ELs, too!)

Grounded in research, proven effective, and classroom-tested—Amplify Science California was designed to work, and it does. Simply put: Students who use our science curriculum outperform their peers. That’s because our instructional design is rooted in UC Berkeley’s Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize approach, which has been backed by three gold-standard studies, efficacy research, and extensive field testing.
 
What’s more, learners who used this approach outperformed their English Learner peers in literacy skills and science content knowledge. Just check out the results to the left!

Easier lesson delivery with our new hands-free TG

With our new Classroom Slides, you can put down the Teacher’s Guide and focus on what matters most—your students. These lesson-specific PowerPoints make delivering daily instruction a snap with embedded links to related resources and suggested teacher talk in the Notes section of each slide. Classroom Slides are now available for Grades K-5 and will be ready for Grades 6-8 for the 2020-2021 school year!

Most adopted curriculum for the NGSS California
Three amplify science textbook covers featuring vibrant, abstract illustrations with themes of technology, nature, and human interaction.

Student resources in the format you choose

With more flexible implementation options at Grades 6-8, Amplify Science California suits every budget. Districts can now mix and match the following components to create their preferred student experience:

  • A new hardcover Student Edition
  • A new 2-volume consumable Student Investigation Notebook Set
  • Our current 9-volume consumable Student Investigation Notebook Set
  • Our digital student experience for reading articles and completing classwork

Built with affordability and manageability in mind

Amplify Science California helps your dollars stretch farther with more materials than any other program. Our K–5 kits support up to 36 students at a time, and include enough materials for a total of 72 student uses. Our 6–8 kits support up to 40 students at a time and include enough materials for a total of 200 student uses. What’s more, only 7 of the 27 units at this level require refills. For many California NGSS classrooms, that can equate to two years of use per grade level.

 

More materials also means more manageable and effective small-group instruction. Unlike other programs that require students to work in large groups of 8-9 students each, we give you enough materials to support up to 8 small groups of 4-5 students each. 

Four students around a table in a classroom, examining a science experiment together, with educational posters in the background.
A teacher gestures while discussing with students who are raising their hands in a classroom.

No more waiting for new features

Other publishers require you to wait for program updates until the next revision—even if it’s six years away. That’s not the case with Amplify Science California. We’re committed to supporting your continued success with the California NGSS for the duration of your adoption period, which includes making digital updates and platform enhancements available to you in real time through our platform.

What teachers say

What educators say

“I just wanted to let you know how awesome the new slides are. I'm so appreciative of the work that it took to include them in the program. When used by a teacher in ‘presenter’ mode, they make teaching the lessons so much easier and seamless. It's incredible!”

Lisa Lisle
Goleta USD

What educators say

“I just wanted to let you know that I am LOVING teaching this Natural Selection unit. This simulation is UNBELIEVABLE! We are on day 4 and the kids are loving it. One of my ADD kiddos even came in—during break time—to set up a scenario where he made the Ostralopes super hairy and then made it warm to see how they adapt! The slow, meaningful build of the concepts is SO awesome. I showed my principal and our instructional technology director what we were doing today, and they were blown away. Thank you!”

Kathy Blakemore
Grade 8 teacher, Lake Elsinore USD

What educators say

“It has been an absolute joy to work with Amplify these last two years…[the] data impact alone for English Language Arts has been astronomical! The student scores in ELA substantially increased compared to the other 4th and 5th grade rooms, thanks to the ELA embedded curriculum within Amplify Science.”

Kelly Young
Grade 5 teacher, San Diego USD