Class Overview
We focus on building strong conceptual foundations. Through observation, inquiry, and hands-on experimentation, students develop the habits of thinking like scientists and build confidence in understanding how the natural world works.
Format:
Live, interactive Zoom sessions
Schedule: THURSDAYS at 1:00 PM EST
Semester Dates: June 2, 2026 – September 10, 2026
Why Choose This Course?
- Concept-First Learning: Instead of memorizing facts, we explore the core principles that connect scientific phenomena, building lasting understanding.
- Inquiry-Driven: Each lesson is built around questions that encourage students to observe, hypothesize, test, and analyze.
- Secular & Inclusive: The curriculum is designed for a diverse community, focusing on scientific evidence and shared human experience.
This course is ideal for students who enjoy collaborative learning and benefit from a pace that prioritizes depth over speed. The plan is to complete BFSU Book 1 over approximately six semesters (2–3 years), using it as a guiding sequence while maintaining an independently developed curriculum and materials.
Join Our Learning Community
Spaces are limited to keep classes interactive and personal.
Sign Up Here: https://bfsu-inspired-science.teachery.co/summer-2026-bfsu-semester-1
You can access the canva slideshows through this course (which completely unlocks after purchase)
Purchase here
https://bfsu-inspired-science.teachery.co/self-paced-videos
Note: The live classes also include all materials in the self paced class. You do NOT need both.
Need to log into your class? Click here!
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Get Started
Getting Started
Welcome to Foundations of Inquiry Science – Semester 1This course is inspired by the inquiry-based science approach found in Bernard...
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Extra
Baloney Detection Kit
This lesson was pulled from the information in the orientation to using BFSU. It is an important lesson of detecting fallacies in science...
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Week 1
Organizing Things into Categories
Learners discover that sorting things into categories is a skill they already use every day. This foundational thinking skill is...
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Week 2
Solids, Liquids, and Gases Introduction
Everything around us exists as a solid, liquid, or gas. Learners sort everything around them into one of three states of matter: solid,...
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Week 3
Gravity Introduction
Learners discover what gravity is, explore why it never turns off, and connect gravity to the concepts of horizontal and vertical. They...
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Week 4
States of Matter: Changes with Temperature
Learners observe how many materials, especially water, shift between solid, liquid, and gas states as temperature changes. They wrap up...
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Week 5
Orbits and Gravity in Space
Learners connect gravity to the orbits of the moon, Earth, and other planets, and discover why orbiting objects are actually in constant...
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Week 6
What is Energy?
Nothing moves, heats up, or lights up on its own. Learners identify the different forms of energy and discover that all of them share one...
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Week 7
Air is Real
Through hands-on experiments, students demonstrate that air takes up space and has weight, just like solids and liquids, proving that it...
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Week 8
Energy Transformation
Students observe how energy can shift from one form to another and explore how it always travels from where there is more toward where...
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Week 9
Air and the Atmosphere
Learners connect what they learned about air to the bigger picture of Earth's atmosphere and are introduced to the four spheres of the...
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Week 10
Categorizing the World Around Us
Students sort a collection of living and nonliving things into three categories: living or biological, natural Earth, and human-made. The...
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Week 11
Matter is Made of Particles
Through hands-on activities, students reason their way to the discovery that all matter, whether solid, liquid, or gas, is made up of...
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Week 12
Distinguishing Living Things from Natural Earth and Human Made
Now that students have practiced sorting, they dig into the question of how they actually know something is biological, natural, or...
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Week 13
Changes in Particles with States of Matter
Learners use the idea of particles to explain why solids, liquids, and gases behave so differently. They model how attraction between...
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Week 14
Technology, Tools, and Animals
Students learn what technology really means and compare human technology to the structures animals build, as well as the remarkable...
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Week 15
Reversible and Nonreversible Changes
Learners learn to distinguish between changes that can be undone, like water freezing and thawing, and changes that cannot, like burning....