One of the primary things we focus on is the development of students' science conceptual understanding. We have developed for the middle school Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). To view the standards, please go to this link.

Right now, we have Growth & Genetics, Ecology, Weather and Climate, and Cells to Organisms content included. Learn more by viewing the Middle School Life Science NGSS standards at the link above.

An important part of understanding content is also understanding crosscutting concepts like scale and proportion, cause and effect, or systems and system modeling. We also explicitly design to help students develop these understandings.

We are continually building and adding, so soon we'll be expanding on Earth & Space Science!

Another core innovation of the NGSS is a focus on students building their Science & Engineering Practices. In other words, the skills they use to do science or engineering, like asking questions, defining problems, creating models, and making arguments from evidence. This is arguably even more important than understanding content, because these skills allow students to find and develop new knowledge!

Our game mechanics have been explicitly designed to help students build these practices, and you can see them engaging in these during gameplay.

So-called “soft skills,” such as problem-solving and collaboration, are being proven to be increasingly important life skills, as well! Tyto Online is really well suited to help develop these, as quests are designed around problem solving (using an inquiry-based learning model), and encourage collaboration in the online game with other players to help work together.