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Informacion en Español. What is CIPS? Constructing Ideas in Physical Science is a yearlong physical science course. It is inquiry-based, which means it is designed to engage students in building understanding of basic concepts and skills. Students perform hands-on, minds-on activities, which follow a learning cycle of four phases:
What topics are addressed in CIPS? The CIPS course is based on the powerful themes of interactions and energy transfers between objects. CIPS has five units. Each unit consists of two or three cycles of carefully crafted activities that help students develop physics and chemistry concepts. The five units are:
Two national projects* have identified the scientific knowledge and skills that all students should have the opportunity to learn at various stages in the K-12 science curriculum. Recent research indicates that inquiry-based learning helps students develop a deeper conceptual understanding of fundamental ideas in science. The CIPS physical science curriculum was developed using this research base, and the standards and benchmarks identified for middle-school students. In this way, CIPS strives to improve scientific and technological literacy for all students.
The CIPS classroom is different from the traditional science classroom where experiments are often used to confirm an idea previously presented by the textbook and teacher. In the CIPS inquiry-based classroom, students perform investigations and discuss the meanings of their investigations in small and large group formats. Many of the laboratory activities are accompanied by the use of powerful computer-based simulations. Students are always required to support their claims and explanations with evidence and reasoning. In addition, CIPS provides a companion fiction text titled Chronicles of the Wandering Star. The entertaining story line is woven around the concepts that are developed in the course. It serves as a motivational tool and improves language skills and literacy.
How are students evaluated? Because the CIPS learning environment values deeper conceptual understanding, students will have many opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of the concepts and skills introduced in the curriculum. In addition to cycle quizzes and unit tests, each cycle includes several practice and application activities that can be assigned as homework and/or used for ongoing assessment.
For more information browse this website or contact the publisher:
* NRC: National Science Education Standards; AAAS Project 2061: Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy Project supported by NSF Grants ESI-9812299 and ESI-0138900, San Diego State University and Western Michigan University.
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Units | CIPS
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1. Finding out students’ initial ideas about a topic
Unit
1: Foundations
Advances in science and
technology are changing the skills needed in the modern workplace.
Science and technology education must not be
limited only to those who expect to work in science, engineering,
and related
fields.
The students are involved
in science activities where they think, write, and reason about the
physical world and how it
works.
This is demanding
work that requires learners to become part of a 
Students react
very positively toward an activity-based science curriculum.
However, compared to traditional courses, CIPS requires students
to assume more responsibility for their own learning. At first,
some may
find this approach disconcerting. Often, these students just need
the opportunity to build confidence in their own ability to think
like
a scientist. Once students develop the idea that they are capable
of scientific thinking, they begin to appreciate the inquiry approach
where
they construct and evaluate their own explanations rather than memorize
the conclusions of others.
CIPS was developed by
a group of internationally recognized science educators and award-winning
teachers. The CIPS staff
consists of highly
dedicated professionals with an understanding of the scientific
literacy needed for the current workplace. Many of the CIPS staff
are parents
and have personal experience with the unique middle school learner.
This collective experience has enhanced the development of the
CIPS curriculum.