This update is built on teacher feedback, especially from our Teacher Voice Team. It brings the curriculum even more in line with TEKS standards, HQIM criteria, and best practices in instructional design, while staying true to Exploros’ vision for collaborative, student-centered, SOCIAL Social Studies™.
Rollout Schedule
The refresh will be released unit by unit throughout the school year, always ahead of your instructional progression. You will not see changes in a unit you’re currently teaching. Each updated unit will be available before you begin planning or instruction.
Important Note: These revisions focus on improving clarity, alignment, and engagement but do not change the overall yearly scope and sequence. The order of units and the major concepts covered throughout the year remain the same; changes have been made within the units themselves to better support teaching and learning.
For the latest updates, unit experience lists, and release dates, go here: Editable Pacing Guide Templates for Texas Social Studies Teachers
What to Expect in Each Updated Unit
When a refreshed unit goes live, you’ll see:
Updated experiences that are tighter, more consistent, and more engaging
New experiences where needed, with others thoughtfully combined for clarity
Updated Priority Experiences Planning Documents reflecting the new structure
Vocabulary Lists in the Teacher Pack: Each Teacher Pack now includes the key vocabulary for that experience, along with the complete unit vocabulary list.
Vocabulary and Unit Review Experience at the End of Each Unit Playlist: A dedicated Unit Vocab/Review experience has been added to the end of every experience playlist. These include:
Unit vocabulary review
Review of key people and key events from the unit
Check for understanding of main unit ideas
Practice quiz to give students an opportunity to prepare for the unit assessment
Unit Assessments: What was formerly called Unit Reviews is now Unit Assessments to clearly communicate that these activities go beyond simply reviewing content, they assess student knowledge of the TEKS. Each assessment includes a variety of STAAR question types, such as multiple choice, hot text, hot spot, drag and drop, multi-select, inline choice, and multi-part EBSR. As part of the refresh, we focused on STAAR alignment, and these updated assessments are designed to meet that goal and give students consistent practice in STAAR test-taking.
Updated Unit Playlists: Each unit now has a core set of Core (Priority) Experiences, the essential lessons that form the foundation of the unit. Surrounding these are additional extension experiences that provide opportunities to go deeper, practice inquiry and analysis, and enrich student understanding. You still have full flexibility to customize your playlists and select the experiences that work best for your classroom.
Key Changes in Version 2.0 (v.2.0)
The refresh focuses on quality, clarity, and ease of use, while keeping the flexibility and student voice.
Lesson & Scene Design
More consistent lesson structure and pacing across all experiences
Clearly defined roles for each scene to support planning and instruction
Scene | Role |
1. Engage | Strong emphasis on student-led inquiry with enhanced teacher notes to help you prepare for the experience. |
2. Explore | Focus on reading and thinking activities that set students up for explanation in the next scene. |
3. Explain | Builds on Explore by frontloading key ideas; includes writing, listening, and explaining-thinking opportunities. |
4. Elaborate | Extension scene to deepen content, build skills, and explore sources. Skip Element feature allows Scene 4 to be skipped without losing essential content. |
5. Evaluate | STAAR-like exit quiz with a variety of question types. |
Content & Assessment Alignment
Improved alignment between standards, objectives, and assessments
Easier to see what students are learning and how mastery is demonstrated
Source Refinement
We’ve enhanced how sources are presented to improve clarity, accessibility, and instructional value. Updates include more complete and visually engaging articles, as well as a balanced mix of primary and secondary sources with refined placement for maximum impact.
More complete and accessible articles with images
Balanced use of primary and secondary sources and refined placement of sources for maximum impact
Teacher Support
Enhanced teaching notes now include planning tips, instructional guidance, and timing considerations. Each scene features more notes on how to enhance instruction with your teacher moves to support lesson plan internalization. Scenes also include clear timing, vocabulary, objectives, content considerations, and sensitivity notes (such as “might” or “can” notes for going deeper or fostering inquiry).
See the Lesson Plan Internalization Guide and Teacher Moves article for additional support.
Refined Playlist with Core and Extension Experiences
Core: Essential experiences that form the foundation of the unit.
Extension: Additional experiences available for deeper inquiry and enrichment.
Flexibility: Full flexibility to customize playlists to fit your classroom.
Impact for Teachers & Students
This refresh is designed to make:
Planning more efficient
Instruction more impactful
Student learning more meaningful and engaging
Here’s what hasn’t changed:
Engaged Classrooms: No bystanders—every student has a voice.
Support for All Teachers: Supports for beginning teachers and tools for master teachers
Actionable Insights: Live view of student posts, exit quizzes, unit reviews, Pre/Post tests
High-Quality Instructional Materials: Our curriculum includes everything you and your students need to engage in a high-quality social studies classroom that is aligned to TEKs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Do I need to retrain myself on how to use Exploros with my students?
No. The platform and core functionality will remain the same. Updates focus on lesson content and teacher supports, not on changing how you navigate or assign experiences.
2. What if I already made plans with the old Exploros experiences and units?
These revisions focus on improving clarity, alignment, and engagement but do not change the overall yearly scope and sequence. The order of units and the major concepts covered throughout the year remain the same; changes have been made within the units themselves to better support teaching and learning.
3. How will assessments be affected?
Assessments will be updated for stronger alignment with TEKS and lesson objectives, but the format (pre/post, scene-based) will remain the same.
4. Will my students notice the changes?
Students may notice smoother lesson flow, clearer directions, and more engaging sources, but they won’t need to learn a new system.
5. Can I still skip around and choose lessons in a different order?
Yes. The playlists provide a recommended order, but you can continue to adapt pacing and sequence to fit your students’ needs.
6. Will there be training or resources to help me use the updated lessons?
Yes. Teacher notes, curriculum meetings, webinars, and other training options will be available (see the Training Options article).
7. Are extension experiences optional?
Yes. They’re designed to enrich the core experiences, so you can choose which ones to add based on time, interest, or skill focus.
8. What about the other courses?
They are planned to eventually be updated to version 2.0, but no timeline is set yet. Stay tuned!
9. Will experiences be shorter or longer after the refresh?
Experiences will be more consistent in timing. We’ve designed each scene with approximate times in mind to ensure that experiences are more consistent overall. However, our experiences are designed to foster student engagement, and this means each classroom's experience will be different. The overall unit length and yearly pacing remain the same.
10. Will these updates help with technology balance?
Yes. Teaching notes now include ideas for discussion, group work, and offline activities so students aren’t on devices for the entire lesson.
11. Will this affect how my district evaluates curriculum use?
No. These updates maintain alignment with TEKS and HQIM criteria, so any district requirements for curriculum use or standards coverage remain supported.