California Experience Biology: The Living Earth
California Experience Biology: The Living Earth supports the six Instructional Segments of the Three-Course Model. It’s the Science of Doing.
- Allows students to ask questions with an engaging Anchoring Phenomenon in every Instructional Segment
- Connects biology to their world with Investigative Phenomena case studies and engaging Everyday Phenomena
- Supports student achievement of all CA NGSS performance expectations
California High School Biology Program with Digital Resources
The California Experience Biology: The Living Earth Three-Course Model program uses phenomena to engage students in evidence-based ideas and practices. The program structure supports the implementation of the California NGSS using Anchoring, Investigative, and Everyday Phenomena.
Build Science and Engineering Practices
Students use the three dimensions as they form connections to the Investigative and Anchoring Phenomena. Students are immersed in an active learning environment with hands-on and virtual labs, STEM activities, research projects, and more.
Support Every Student
Authors Miller and Levine designed the biology program to include practical reading strategies, support, and visual learning aids, plus English Learner resources, so every student can succeed in the class.
Relevant Local California Content
Activities and content are relevant to local California issues—engaging students by building on their real-world experiences inside and outside the classroom.
Learner-Driven Environment
Every unit focuses on a long-term problem to foster analytical thinking, collaboration, and self-direction. The Connect, Investigate, Synthesize, Demonstrate (CISD) model appeals to modern competencies.
California High School Biology Program with Digital Resources
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Flexible Assessments
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Authentic Case Studies
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Get the Big Picture
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Cross-curricular Connections
Flexible Assessments
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Questions Mirror California TestStudents can test their knowledge with questions that model the content and format of the California Science Test in every chapter, and online via Realize.
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Complimentary Assessment TypesThe program’s assessment types work in combination to assess three-dimensional learning and learning targets.
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STEM Learning EvaluationAuthentic assessments of STEM learning enable students to demonstrate mastery of the chapter concepts and California NGSS.
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Multiple Assessment TypesAssessment types include performance-based tasks, research projects, inquiry investigations, labs, open-ended response questions, multiple choice questions and drag-and-drop questions.
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Automated Teacher TasksOnline tools enable teachers to edit, assign, and print quizzes and tests. Lesson quizzes and assessments have automatic remediation options in Realize.
Authentic Case Studies
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Investigative Case StudiesCalifornia Miller & Levine Biology integrates three-dimensional learning through 27 case studies to allow students to engage with investigative phenomena.
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Learned Underpinned by Real-World EventsRegular encounters with real-world phenomena set students up for a lifetime of success by preparing them to ask questions, analyze evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and collaborate with peers.
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Lab-Driven LearningThe program also has six different types of labs and simulations that provide over 100 experiences to support everyday phenomena.
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Applied Science LearningStudents develop science and engineering practices as they apply scientific reasoning to solve the case studies.
Get the Big Picture
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Focus on Experiential Science LearningCalifornia Miller & Levine Biology lets students “experience” science versus simply memorizing facts. Visuals, interactivity, and built-in support assist students in unpacking information, asking questions, building understanding, and staying interested.
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Visual Learning ResourcesVisual analogies, dynamic photos, illustrations, tables, and graphs help students understand each chapter’s core ideas.
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Differentiated Learning ToolsModified instruction at point of use for special needs students, struggling students, less proficient readers, and advanced students helps instructors reach all students. Tips provided in the margins include connections to visuals, other subjects, reading tools, and activities.
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The online digital courseprovides multiple ways to unlock core ideas and keep student interest level high.
Cross-curricular Connections
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Chapter AssessmentsThese feature connections to Math and Language Arts.
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Multi-disciplinary ConnectionsThe Teacher Edition provides connections to other disciplines, such as Physical Science, Chemistry, Physics, Language Arts, Math, Art, and more.
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Discipline Skills ExtendersThe Teacher Edition includes Build Writing Skills and Build STEM Skills activities to extend discipline skills.
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Common Core ConnectionsFind Common Core Math and ELA connections throughout the curriculum at point of use.
Engaging content and time-saving classroom management tools come together in the teacher-friendly Savvas Realize® LMS, included with your program.
Savvas Realize® brings our award-winning content to life in an exciting digital experience that students love. For teachers and admins, it includes valuable classroom-management tools like auto-rostering, single-sign-on, and available integrations with many top K-12 LMSs.
Make logging into your Realize dashboard an essential daily activity–just like checking your school email and Google Classroom accounts–to get a clear, organized path to your learning goals.
California Experience Biology: The Living Earth Frequently Asked Questions
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What is California Experience Biology: The Living Earth and what are the components?
California Experience Biology: The Living Earth is a next generation high school 3-course biology program that makes biology exciting and relevant to students. Developed by two preeminent biologists and passionate educators, Ken Miller and Joe Levine, this bestselling biology curriculum immerses students in biological inquiry. Students think, investigate, and talk about biology. They interact with natural phenomena through hands-on and virtual student inquiry activities, problem-based learning, and lab experiments. California Experience Biology: The Living Earth is made of the following program components.
- Savvas Realize® includes robust digital tools that give teachers flexibility to use a digital, print, or blended format in their classrooms. Teachers can customize the program to rearrange content, upload their own content, add links to online media, and edit resources and assessments. Program-specific resources, flexible agnostic resources, and assessments are available in one location for easy lesson planning and presentation.
- California Teacher Edition - Available in digital and print, the wrap-around Teacher Edition provides point-of-use instructional strategies to support students as they make sense of the phenomena, answers to activities and assessments and classroom modifications to adjust instruction based on the diverse student needs, skills, and interests in their classroom.
- California Student Edition, available in print and digital California Experience Biology: The Living Earth is well known for its engaging student narrative. Ken Miller and Joe Levine’s storytelling writing style captivates students with real-world, relevant content. Visual analogies, virtual interactivities, simulations, and reading checks at point-of-use enhance student understanding of biology concepts. Also available in Spanish.
- The Biology Foundations Reading and Study Guide includes interactive experiences that improve science understanding and reinforce the three-dimensional aspect of learning. Practice focuses on key concepts and science literacy to improve students’ understanding of a scientific text. Find concise chapter summaries, written below grade level, with a focus on the Key Questions, vocabulary help, visual tools, and point-of-use reading tools in this student workbook. Also available in Spanish.
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Is California Experience Biology: The Living Earth available in Spanish?
Yes, California Experience Biology: The Living Earth is available in Spanish. The following resources are available in Spanish.
- Print Student Edition
- Student Edition eText on Savvas Realize™
- Print Biology Foundations Workbok
- Biology Foundations Workbook PDFs on Savvas Realize™
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How does California Experience Biology: The Living Earth incorporate science phenomena?
California Experience Biology: The Living Earth immerses students in real-world phenomena. The program drives student learning through a series of investigative phenomenon case studies, hands-on and virtual student experiences, and problem-based learning activities that support their understanding of the phenomenon under study.
Problem-Based Learning: Launch every unit with a Problem-Based Learning activity where learning is anchored in a local, relevant phenomenon. Connect concepts across multiple chapters through STEM projects, authentic readings, and virtual interactivities. Students design and revise their project throughout the unit in their Digital Explorer’s Journal.Case Study Phenomenon: Investigate phenomena with the Chapter Case Studies. Learning connects to the Case Study in labs, activities and assessment, creating a cohesive storyline throughout the chapter.
Active Student Experiences: Students build Science & Engineering Skills using hands-on inquiry labs, data analysis, STEM projects, and virtual simulations, labs and activities. Easy connections to the three dimensions are found at point of use in the Student and Teacher Editions.
Performance-Based Assessments: California Experience Biology: The Living Earth is rich with assessment types that work in combination to assess three-dimensional learning. Performance-Based Assessments measure students’ mastery of all three dimensions through scenario-based performance tasks. -
What differentiation support is available in California Experience Biology: The Living Earth ?
The California Experience Biology: The Living Earth program includes a variety of resources and instructional strategies that help teachers address the diverse student needs, skills, and interests in their classroom. There are several techniques which are found throughout the program including:
- Hands-on Inquiry Labs: Available in two different versions, allowing instructors to differentiate based on student needs and abilities.
- Assess on the Spot: Quick formative assessments in the Teacher Edition allow instructors to assess understanding of key points in the lesson.
- Differentiated Instruction: Suggestions throughout the Teacher Edition provide support for modifying lessons for special needs students, struggling students, less proficient readers, and advanced students.
- Teaching Strategies are at point-of-use to support language proficiency and ELD/ELA Standards.
- DOK levels are noted in the lesson review questions and chapter assessment.
- Key questions are introduced in the lesson opener and highlighted throughout to help keep students focused on the main concepts as they read. The key questions are revisited in the chapter assessment.
- Visual Learning Strand: Core ideas in each chapter are supported by visual analogies, dynamic photos, illustrations, tables, and graphs.
- Virtual Interactivities: available at point-of-use in the student etext require students to manipulate variables to deepen understanding.
- Reading Checks support close reading and provide a pause point for students to evaluate their understanding.
- The Biology Foundations: Reading and Study Guide Workbook includes interactive experiences that improve science understanding and reinforce the three-dimensional aspect of learning.
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How do I sign up for California Experience Biology: The Living Earth demo?
California Experience Biology: The Living Earth digital courseware on Savvas Realize™ includes robust digital tools that give teachers flexibility to use a digital, print, or blended format in their classrooms. Teachers can customize the program to rearrange content, upload their own content, add links to online media, and edit resources and assessments. Program-specific resources, flexible agnostic resources, and assessments are available in one location for easy lesson planning and presentation. Click here to sign up for a demo of California Experience Biology: The Living Earth.
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Ken Miller Author Bio
Kenneth R. Miller grew up in Rahway, New Jersey, attended the local public schools, and graduated from Rahway High School in 1966. Miller attended Brown University on a scholarship and graduated with honors. He was awarded a National Defense Education Act fellowship for graduate study, and earned his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Colorado. Miller is professor of Biology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he teaches courses in general biology and cell biology. Miller‘s research specialty is the structure of biological membranes. He has published more than 70 research papers in journals such as "Cell", "Nature", and "Scientific American". He has also written the popular trade books Finding Darwin‘s God and Only a Theory. His honors include the Public Service Award from the American Society for Cell Biology, the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers, the AAAS Award for Public Engagement with Science, the Stephen Jay Gould Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Laetare Medal from Notre Dame University.
Miller lives with his wife, Jody, on a small farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He is the father of two daughters, one a wildlife biologist and the other a high-school history teacher. He swims competitively in the masters‘ swimming program and umpires high school and NCAA softball. -
Joe Levine Author Bio
Joe Levine earned a B.S. from Tufts University, a Masters from the Boston University Marine Program, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. His research has been published in scientific journals ranging from Science to Scientific American, and his popular writing has appeared in trade books and in magazines such as Smithsonian and Natural History. He has taught introductory biology, ecology, marine biology, neurobiology, and coral reef biology, and currently teaches Inquiry in Rain Forests, a field-based graduate- level PD course for science teachers, through the Organization for Tropical Studies.
Following a Macy Fellowship in Science Broadcast Journalism at WGBH-TV, Levine produced science features for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition, served as advisor to NOVA, and helped launch Discovery Channel’s Discover Magazine. He has served as Science Editor for OMNI-MAX films and for PBS series including Evolution, and as judge for Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. He has designed exhibit programs for state aquarium projects in Texas, New Jersey, and Florida. Joe has led PD workshops across the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In 2016, he served as Outstanding Educator in Residence for Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
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