Unit 1 - Energy - Synthesizer Song
Unit 2 - Chemical Reactions - Bathbombs Video
Unit 3 - Organisms - Protein Soup
Unit 4 - Metabolic Reactions - Self Study
(in collaboration with Lyla's PE Course)
Unit 5 - Ecosystem Dynamics - Orangutan Study
(in collaboration with Lyla's Global Studies Course)
Unit 6 - Earth's Systems - Diorama Room
Unit 7 - Earth & Human Activity - NGO Proposal
(in collaboration with Lyla's Global Studies Course)
Over the course of the year, students build core science and general scholarly competencies such as developing models, conducting investigations, and collaborating with peers. Students also explore aspects of scientific scholarship, methodologies, and history through project based instructional units. Unit 8, a cornerstone project on Engineering Design focused around Temple Grandin's *Calling All Minds* will be introduced early in the year and returned to several times throughout the course.
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
Calling All Minds
The Obstacle is the Way
Dragons of Eden
Sugar Love
OpenSciEd Instructional Materials
OpenSciEd Simulation Library](https://www.openscied.org/curriculum/middle-school/simulation-library/)
CoreKnowledge.org
Sucking is the First Step to Being Kinda Good at Something
* General Academic Skill Building
* Publishing and Maintaining Online Portfolio
* Journaling & Family Blogging
* Discussion and Class Interaction
* Teamwork
*Provide rubrics used for major course activities and projects (anything we'd like to show schools how we correlated between projects, learning, and outcomes).*
**4th Grade**
**4th Physical Science**
4-PS3: Energy
4-PS3-1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
4-PS3-3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
4-PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
4-PS4-1. Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.
4-PS4-2. Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.
4-PS4-3. Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
**4th Life Science**
4-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
**4th Earth & Space Science**
4-ESS1: Earth's Place in the Universe
4-ESS1-1. Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
4-ESS2: Earth's Systems
4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.
4-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
4-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and that their uses affect the environment.
4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
**4th Engineering Design**
3-5-ETS1: Engineering Design
3-5-ETS1-1 Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
3-5-ETS1-2 Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
3-5-ETS1-3 Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
**Middle School**
**MS Physical Science**
MS-PS1: Matter and its Interactions
MS-PS1-1. Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
MS-PS1-5. Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
MS-PS1-6. Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
MS-PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
MS-PS2-4. Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
MS-PS3: Energy
MS-PS3-1. Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.
MS-PS3-2. Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
MS-PS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
MS-PS3-4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
MS-PS3-5. Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
MS-PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
MS-PS4-1. Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
MS-PS4-3. Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
**MS Life Science**
MS-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
MS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.
MS-LS1-3. Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
MS-LS1-5. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
MS-LS1-8. Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
MS-LS2: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Relationships in Ecosystems
MS-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
**MS Earth and Space Science**
MS-ESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe
MS-ESS1-1. Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
MS-ESS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.
MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
**MS Engineering Design**
MS-ETS1 Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Outcomes Courtesy of Next Generation Science Standards.