You can quit the teacher hustle.
Get the tools and know-how to shift ownership to your students today.
✨ Forget battling for student engagement. ✨
✨ Let go of doing all the work. ✨
✨ Invest in yourself. ✨
Bring joy and ease back into your teaching experience.
Co-construct your classroom and curriculum with Spark Science.
You know learning doesn’t look the same for every student.
You know the greatest teachers are responsive,
and the greatest learning happens when students are engaged.
How do you then turn that experience into a journey that ultimately meets the standards of the system?
How do we truly turn our students into scientists in a learner-centered classroom…
while building partnerships that give our students the opportunity to lead?
How do we transform today’s challenges into fuel for the emergence of an authentically learner-centered system?
Most importantly:
How do we do it all without losing ourselves
our free time, our quality moments with friends and family, our own wellbeing
in the process?
In case you need to hear this:
You can be the amazing teacher you want to be
You can change the system
You can make a difference
You can thrive in the time between school bells
and have a full and joyful life outside the classroom.
You don’t have to choose.
Are you ready to embrace
that brings you more ease and satisfaction
— and ultimately transforms the way your students learn science?
Hey, I’m Nicole.
For years, I was the “overachiever teacher.” I was the first one in the building and the last one to leave. I had it all mapped out all the time, the explorations and the labs and the discussions. I had all the pieces together and every journey planned.
And still, I found myself struggling with engagement. I wondered why my students didn’t seem to care? Why weren’t they curious? Why didn’t they get how cool this stuff really was!?
So I burnt myself out with late nights of lesson planning, endless grades to “hold students accountable,” and long days in class as I fought to keep their attention, stretch their motivation, and push my students to learn.
I thought that was what made me great.
But no surprise — it wasn’t sustainable.
It wasn’t fair — to my husband, to my newborn, to myself.
It was when I couldn’t keep it up, when I couldn’t keep running the whole show the whole time that I realized — it had never been serving my students at all.
When I just couldn’t do it anymore – that’s when I realized there was a path with less resistance.
The best teachers aren’t the ones carrying the torch.
They just light the spark and kindle the flame.
They knew they were capable, because they had experienced it.
And they stepped up.
Yes, Spark Science was designed to empower you to create a truly student-owned science experience for your learners.
But it was created for you
–
to provide you with the knowledge, with the support, and with a foundation of curricular resources to reimagine the education experience
–
to create a place where learning flows from curiosity and wonder, where students share the weight of the work, and all within your classroom’s walls are empowered to grow into the unique, creative, capable individuals they have the power to be.
Grow as an educator on a schedule that works for you. Learn how to build your classroom on a foundation of curiosity and internal drive, learning partnerships, and student empowerment. Explore how to create flow and ease, while bringing joy back into education, through co-constructed learning journeys.
Begin your journey with The SOS System: Foundations Formula. Through short, focused workshops, you can expect to
The 5E Model is a great way to develop our own understanding of how students construct knowledge from the experiences that happen within our classrooms.
In this workshop series, we will explore
“We don’t learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” We have all had experiences in our classrooms… [yah, you can laugh at that one]. But how often do you have the time and space to reflect on those experiences?
Cultivating Curiosity is a great summer reboot to review and reflect on the fundamental shifts in NGSS-style instruction. It’s not an overload of content but rather, an opportunity to explore our thinking and consider a few strategies to better embody a three-dimensional, student-owned science approach!
Access the Spark Curriculum Collection to take advantage of Storyline Frameworks that:
use relevant phenomena and anchor experiences to spark student curiosity and wonder and launch learning journeys
provide foundational lessons that move students along potential pathways to your standards, while simultaneously empowering students and teachers to follow their own way there
engage students in authentic work while evaluating growth and mastery through three dimensional assessment tasks
and you don’t have to recreate the wheel each and every day.
Connect with a community of other teachers who “get it” to care for your own passion for teaching and your students’ love for science learning.
Give and take in the Spark Circle, our exclusive digital community – accessible right on the site – and experience the satisfaction and joy of collaborating and communicating with like-minded teachers who can share your values and experiences.
Participate in regular Office Hours to troubleshoot challenges that arise as you transfer your learning into your own classroom experience.
Explore the Storyline Frameworks below. For each Storyline Framework, the Spark Curriculum Library has foundational resources — anchor experiences, investigative phenomena, supporting explorations, assessment tasks, and bonus materials.
Storyline Frameworks are designed to support you and your students in co-constructing your learning journeys. Materials are designed to be used flexibly, and the beauty of the Spark Curriculum Collection is precisely that it is not a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
Reevaluate how we launch science learning in order to better engage and motivate our students to step up and into their own learning journey.
Rethink how we get our students from “A to Z” in order to reach curriculum goals while empowering students to take more responsibility for their experience and meet their own needs.
Transform our role in the classroom from teacher to guide to create space for exploration and discovery in order to deepen learning and improve understanding and retention
This program is for upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers who are willing and able to consider new ideas and approaches. You aren’t in “survival mode” – you are ready and able to grow! More than that, you believe there is room for your students to grow, too. You believe there is an opportunity for greater student success in your classroom, and you are driven to help your learners achieve it. Finally, you have some freedom (and maybe even encouragement) to adapt your curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of your students and your situation.
This program is as long as you need it to be. Stay for a month or a year or even longer! You get to determine how long we walk this learning journey toward student-owned science together.
The only commitment I ask from you is a willingness to explore new ideas and how they might impact your teaching practice. There is no commitment to participate in any parts of this program or utilize any particular resource. You may find certain aspects of the program — the professional development, the curricular resources, the community support — more useful than others, and your needs may change over time. Spark Science can be what you need it to be in any given moment.
On the financial end, the Spark Science is a subscription. When you join, you are agreeing to a recurring charge. That said, you have full control over your account, and you can cancel at any time by visiting your Account Page. Upon cancellation, your account will remain active through the end of the current payment period, but you will not be charged again.
If at any point within the first seven days you decide the program is not for you, you can request a full refund (minus $5 processing fee) by emailing support@iexplorescience.com. While you can join Spark Science again at a later time, you will not be eligible for further refunds for Spark Science or any other programs offered by iExploreScience. (Essentially, you can only utilize the refund option one time across any iExploreScience program.)
Just ask! Most schools reserve funds for professional development programs, and the On-Demand Professional Learning Library (and Spark Circle Community) fits the bill! If you aren’t sure how to talk to your school decision-makers, check out this guide. Then, contact nvantassel@iexplorescience.com for an estimate or invoice to provide your administrators.