Welcome to AzarSciences

Welcome to the first AzarSciences update.

This will not be a weekly email just for the sake of sending one. I’ll share updates when there is something genuinely useful: new NYSSLS/Regents-style question clusters, practical science-teaching resources, assessment ideas, and important developments worth knowing about.

The Cluster Library Is Growing

There are now 61 phenomenon-based cluster sets available or in development across five science collections:

• 32 Earth & Space Science clusters
• 18 Life Science: Biology clusters
• 2 Chemistry clusters
• 3 Physics clusters
• 6 Middle School Science clusters

Each resource is built around authentic phenomena, real data, models, visuals, and questions that ask students to apply their thinking—not just recall information. Check them out here!​

Recently Added or Updated

A few recent highlights include:

• Racing the Heat: a Biology set focused on thermoregulation, feedback, and marathon runners in extreme heat.
• Shock & Shake: a Physics set connecting NASA’s X-59 supersonic aircraft and USGS ShakeAlert® through wave speed, data analysis, calculations, and engineering decisions.
• Lactase Persistence & Stickleback Pelvic Reduction: an updated Biology assessment focused on inheritance, gene regulation, and variation.
• Updated Middle School Science materials addressing ecosystem change, climate systems, forces, and engineering.
• Updated ten older Life Science Clusters to fix a bug some users experienced.

Behind the scenes, work is continuing on new Earth & Space Science materials, Chemistry expansion, and final quality checks on teacher keys, source documentation, images, and item-level NYSSLS alignment.

A New Home for Resources

The new AzarSciences Kit site will become the home base for this work. It will be organized to make it easy to find what you need:

• Latest Updates — current newsletter posts and announcements
• Cluster Library — materials organized by science subject
• Free Resources — practical teaching and assessment tools (join my newsletter for the first!)
• ​Cluster Club — subscription and member information
• ​Request a Topic — a place to suggest future phenomena, standards, or cluster ideas
• Archive — past newsletter issues and useful links

Thanks for being here and for supporting teacher-built science resources focused on better questions and better learning.

AzarSciences​
​Better Questions. Better Learning