WGU D678: Elementary Science Curriculum

Where D678 Fits in Your Elementary Education Program

D678: Elementary Science Curriculum is a two-competency-unit course in WGU's School of Education, catalogued internally as EDUC 5083 and scheduled into term 5 of the graduate Master of Arts in Teaching, Elementary Education program. The official description frames it around building and running an inquiry-driven science curriculum tied to current standards, and names the pillars outright: major concepts across the Earth, life, and physical sciences, together with cross-cutting concepts, science and engineering practices, and disciplinary core ideas. If you have also seen the code D671 on the same course title, that is the bachelor's-level counterpart carrying three competency units; WGU publishes a word-for-word identical description for both, so almost everything here transfers.

Direct answer: Treat D678 as a content-knowledge course, not a writing project. Study the Earth, life, and physical science units until you can explain each big idea in language a fourth grader would understand, then drill the three dimensions of modern science standards — disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts — until you can spot them in any lesson you are handed.

Most people taking D678 are adults moving into elementary teaching from another career, and many have not touched a science course in years. That is fine — the course is not asking you to work like a research scientist. It asks you to hold enough accurate, well-organized content to build a coherent K–6 program, choose materials that genuinely match a standard, and notice when a shiny classroom resource is scientifically sloppy.

It also matters more than two CUs suggest. D679: Elementary Science and Engineering Methods sits in the same term and handles the how-to-teach side; D678 is where you build the what and the why underneath it.

What the D678 Competencies Actually Ask For

WGU publishes the competencies for this course in the official MAT Elementary Education program guidebook, and that list is the most reliable study map available. Paraphrased, the course asks you to do five things:

• Analyze elementary content standards and resources in science — read a standard, unpack what it demands, and judge whether an activity or text serves it.
• Explain major concepts within the Earth sciences — typical elementary content includes Earth's materials and processes, weather and climate, the water and rock cycles, and Earth's place in the solar system.
• Explain major concepts within the life sciences — structure and function in organisms, life cycles, heredity, ecosystems, energy flow, and how organisms interact with their environments.
• Explain major concepts within the physical sciences — matter and its properties, forces and motion, energy and its transfers, and waves.
• Evaluate science resources for alignment to standards and to individual student needs — accessibility, reading demand, safety, and scientific accuracy.

Running underneath all five is the three-dimensional framing current science standards are built on: disciplinary core ideas (the content), science and engineering practices (what students do — asking questions, planning investigations, analyzing data, constructing explanations, arguing from evidence), and crosscutting concepts (ideas that recur in every domain, like patterns, cause and effect, and systems). WGU's course description names all three explicitly, the clearest signal available about where your study time belongs.

A note on format, and why this page hedges. WGU does not publish the assessment type for D678 in its institutional catalog or program guidebook, and this guide will not dress a guess up as fact. The competency wording leans toward explaining and evaluating content rather than submitting a project, and the paired methods course is where the hands-on teaching work sits — which is why we have tagged this page as an objective assessment. Confirm the format on your own course page first; if your version shows a performance task instead, shift your effort onto the rubric. Everything below about knowing the content cold applies either way. If it is a proctored exam, expect the mix WGU uses across its objective assessments generally: largely multiple choice and multiple select, plus scenario items that hand you a classroom situation and ask what a teacher should do next.

How Hard Is D678, and How Long Should You Budget?

Very little in D678 is conceptually hard. The ideas are elementary-level by definition — what a ten-year-old should understand, held one layer deeper. What catches people is breadth: three science domains plus a standards framework in a two-CU course, and the assessment can pull from any corner. Students who stall are rarely stuck on difficulty; they are stuck on coverage, having studied life science thoroughly and skimmed physical science.

For planning purposes, budget two to four weeks at roughly five to eight focused hours a week — a starting estimate, not a promise. WGU is self-paced, and your real speed depends on how recently you have studied science. If your last science class was a long time ago, plan for the full four weeks. Broad recall content does not survive cramming.

One honest warning: the pre-assessment only helps if you take it early. Sitting it in week one tells you which domain is your weak one — the most useful thing you can know in this course.

A Study Plan Built Around Three Domains and a Framework

Structure your prep the way the competencies are structured, and use retrieval rather than rereading. Reading the course material a second time feels productive but is deeply inefficient.

1. Week one — diagnose and map. Take the pre-assessment cold. Then build one page per domain (Earth, life, physical) listing the big ideas you owe yourself. Add a fourth page for the three dimensions and the practices.
2. Weeks two and three — active recall by domain. Work one domain at a time. Close the book and write what you remember before checking it. Make your own cards rather than downloading someone else's; writing the question is most of the learning. Space reviews — revisit Earth science on day 3 and day 8, not consecutive evenings.
3. The teach-it-to-a-nine-year-old test. For every big idea, write a two-sentence explanation a fourth grader would follow, plus one misconception children commonly hold about it. This maps onto how scenario items are written.
4. Standards drills. Pull real elementary science standards and, for each, name the core idea, the practice, and the crosscutting concept. Ten minutes a day for a week beats any amount of reading about standards.
5. Resource critique reps. Judge science activities you find online: which standard does this serve, is the science accurate, is it safe, and how would you adapt it for a student reading two grades below level?
6. Final week — practice testing. Retake the pre-assessment, review only what you miss, and check in with your course instructor before scheduling.

The same retrieval-first approach carries over well to D692: Early Mathematics Methods and Interventions, the bachelor's-level math methods course, and to D702: Elementary Health and Physical Education Methods. And if you have not yet taken D637: Curriculum and Instructional Strategies for Meaningful Learning, the curriculum-design vocabulary you build there makes D678's standards work noticeably smoother.

Mistakes That Send Students Back for a Retake

• Studying content and skipping the framework. Knowing photosynthesis is not the same as recognizing which crosscutting concept a lesson develops. Both matter.
• Uneven domain coverage. Whichever domain you instinctively schedule last is the one that will cost you. For many adult learners that is physical science — forces, energy, waves. If you notice yourself putting it off, move it to the front.
• Confusing a practice with an activity. A hands-on craft is not automatically a science and engineering practice. Practices involve reasoning from evidence.
• Answering scenario items as a teacher-in-a-hurry. These reward the response that keeps students doing the thinking, not the fastest route to an answer.
• Leaning on unofficial "study sets" and answer banks. They are often outdated, frequently wrong, and using them can violate WGU's academic integrity policy. Build your own from the course content.
• Waiting to contact the course instructor. They know the current assessment better than any outside source, including this page. One conversation in week one saves hours of guessing.

D678 Readiness Checklist

• Can you name the three dimensions of current science standards and give a classroom example of each?
• Can you explain an Earth science, a life science, and a physical science concept in plain language, without notes?
• Can you read an elementary science standard and identify the core idea, the practice, and the crosscutting concept inside it?
• Can you list at least five science and engineering practices and say what a student is actually doing during each?
• Can you name a common childhood misconception in each domain and how you would surface it?
• Can you judge whether an activity is aligned to a standard, scientifically accurate, and safe for the grade level?
• Can you describe how you would adapt one science resource for a student with a significant reading gap?
• Have you scored comfortably on the pre-assessment across all three domains, not just your strongest?
• Have you confirmed your assessment format and scheduling requirements with your course instructor?

D678 FAQ

Is WGU D678 an objective assessment or a performance assessment?

WGU does not state the assessment type for D678 in its public catalog or program guidebook, so any site that tells you flatly is inferring, not reporting. The competency wording points toward a proctored objective exam, and that is how this guide is built. Check your own course page for the authoritative answer.

How many competency units is D678 worth?

Two competency units, in term 5 of the graduate Master of Arts in Teaching, Elementary Education program, catalogued as EDUC 5083. The undergraduate course with the same title, D671, is worth three.

What is the difference between D678 and D671?

WGU publishes an identical official course description for both. D678 is the graduate version inside the MAT sequence; D671 is the bachelor's version, worth three CUs. Study advice for one applies almost entirely to the other.

Do I need a science background to pass D678?

No. The content is pitched at the level an elementary teacher needs to teach confidently, not at a science-major level. What you do need is systematic coverage of all three domains, because breadth rather than depth is what trips people up.

How long does D678 usually take?

There is no official answer, since WGU is self-paced. A workable plan for most working adults is two to four weeks at several focused hours a week, shorter with recent science coursework or classroom experience.

What should I do first when the course opens?

Take the pre-assessment before you study anything, then meet with your course instructor to review the results. That sequence tells you which domain needs the most work and stops you spending three weeks on material you already know.

For the rest of your term, browse the School of Education guides or the full WGU course guide index. You can confirm the course description, competencies, and CU value yourself in the MAT Elementary Education program guidebook on WGU's official site.