[Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and that all living things need water.]

Prompt the discussion by showing images of plants and animals from books in the Needs of Plants and Animals unit. Ask:

• What do plants need to survive?
• What do animals need to survive?
• What is similar about what plants and animals need to survive?
• What is different?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of qualitative observations could include descriptions of the weather (such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and warm); examples of quantitative observations could include numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month. Examples of patterns could include that it is usually cooler in the morning than in the afternoon and the number of sunny days versus cloudy days in different months.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of quantitative observations is limited to whole numbers and relative measures such as warmer/cooler.]

Keep a daily class weather chart. Focus students’ attention on several months of weather data. Ask:

• What can we say about the weather this past month at our school?
• Describe the different kinds of weather we have had.
• How many sunny days have we had this month? How many rainy days?
• Were there more sunny days this month or in February?
• What was the coldest month?
• What other patterns do you notice?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could include how a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food and how tree roots can break concrete.]

Prompt the discussion by showing images from these two books from the Needs of Plants and Animals unit:

• Pages 14-15, 19 of the Investigating Monarchs book
• Any pages from the Above and Below book

[Clarification Statement: Examples of relationships could include that deer eat buds and leaves, therefore, they usually live in forested areas; and grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.]

Provide students with cards from the Animals and their Foods card set from the Needs of Plants and Animals unit. Invite them to arrange the pictures of animals with pictures of plants they might eat. Ask:

• Why did you put these pictures together?
• Where do you think an animal that eats this plant would live? Why?
• Where do you think a plant like this would live? Why?

Have students draw a habitat where they think the animal and plant they selected would live, and place their cards on it.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on local forms of severe weather.]

Prompt the discussion by showing page 3 of the book, Tornado! from the Sunlight and Weather unit. Ask:

• What is Lynn Burse’s job?
• Why is her job important?
• Page through the book, and invite students to ask questions about the purpose of weather forecasting.
• What kinds of severe weather do you know about?
• What would we need to know to prepare for and protect ourselves from severe weather?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of human impact on the land could include cutting trees to produce paper and using resources to produce bottles. Examples of solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles.]

Show the Investigating Monarchs book. Ask:

• What can we do to help Monarchs survive?

Show images of water and air pollution, ideally in your local area. Ask:

• What can we do to make sure that our water stays clean?
• What can we do to make sure that our air stays clean?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of pushes or pulls could include a string attached to an object being pulled, a person pushing an object, a person stopping a rolling ball, and two objects colliding and pushing on each other.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to different relative strengths or different directions, but not both at the same time. Assessment does not include non-contact pushes or pulls such as those produced by magnets.]

Ask:

• Show how you can make the pinball go a long distance. What kind of a push caused it do that?
• Show how you can make the pinball go a short distance. What kind of a push caused it do that?
• Show how you can make the pinball go left? Right? What kinds of pushes caused the pinball to move in that direction?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of problems requiring a solution could include having a marble or other object move a certain distance, follow a particular path, and knock down other objects. Examples of solutions could include tools such as a ramp to increase the speed of the object and a structure that would cause an object such as a marble or ball to turn.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include friction as a mechanism for change in speed.]

Using the class pinball machine from the Pushes and Pulls unit, have student volunteers demonstrate causing the pinball to move fast, move slow, and change direction. After each demonstration, ask:

• Does our pinball machine work to make a pinball move different speeds (change direction)?
• Can you think of a way we could change the pinball machine to make it better at changing speed (direction)?

Have students return to their box models and add a target. Ask:

• Can you figure out a way to cause your pinball to hit this target?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of Earth’s surface could include sand, soil, rocks, and water.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of temperature is limited to relative measures such as warmer/cooler.]

First, have them predict where the warmest places on the playground will be, and at what time it will be warmest. Then, have them make observations. Ask:

• Where is it warmest on our school’s playground? What is your evidence?
• When will it feel warmest? What is your evidence?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include umbrellas, canopies, and tents that minimize the warming effect of the sun.]

Ask:

• How will the structure you made work to make this area cooler?

Remind students of the book Room 4 Solves a Problem from the Needs of Plants and Animals unit. Ask:

• What problem did Room 4 solve?
• What did they do to solve the problem?

Read aloud page 23 of the book, about the new problem Room 4 has to solve—finding room in Ratty’s cage for a new rat. Let students know that you would like them to think of a solution to this problem. Ask:

• What might we want to know before coming up with a solution to this problem?
• Show the picture of the existing cage on page 22 of the book. What do you observe that will be important to know as you design a solution?

Building on the previous task (for K–2-ETS1-1), have students draw a picture of their solution to a rat cage big enough for a second rat. Ask them why each change they made to the cage will work to solve the problem.

Have students compare two versions of a pinball machine. Ask:

• What are the strengths of this pinball machine compared to the other pinball machine? What is your evidence?
• What are the strengths of the other pinball machine compared to the other pinball machine? What is your evidence?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of human problems that can be solved by mimicking plant or animal solutions could include designing clothing or equipment to protect bicyclists by mimicking turtle shells, acorn shells, and animal scales; stabilizing structures by mimicking animal tails and roots on plants; keeping out intruders by mimicking thorns on branches and animal quills; and detecting intruders by mimicking eyes and ears.]

Remind the class of the Animal and Plant Defenses unit, when they designed a solution for protecting the aquarium’s food supply inspired by plant and animal defenses. Have them look through the book Spikes, Spines, and Shells and think of a human problem that could be solved by mimicking the structure of a plant or animal’s external parts. Provide them with materials to create their biomimicry solution.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns of behaviors could include the signals that offspring make (such as crying, cheeping, and other vocalizations) and the responses of the parents (such as feeding, comforting, and protecting the offspring).]

Have students to view images in videos and books that depict parents and offspring interacting. Teachers can use the videos from the Animal and Plant Defenses unit or the Parents and Offspring book from that same unit or provide them with different videos and books. Ask:

• What patterns do you notice in how parents are helping their offspring survive?
• What patterns do you notice in how offspring behave?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include features plants or animals share. Examples of observations could include leaves from the same kind of plant are the same shape but can differ in size; and a particular breed of dog looks like its parents but is not exactly the same.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include inheritance or animals that undergo metamorphosis or hybrids.]

Provide students with images in videos and books, go out into nature where students can observe plants, or visit a zoo. Ask:

• How are young plants (or animals) like their parents?
• What is your evidence?
• In what ways are they different?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that the sun and moon appear to rise in one part of the sky, move across the sky, and set; and stars other than our sun are visible at night but not during the day.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of star patterns is limited to stars being seen at night and not during the day.]

If the Sky Mural from Spinning Earth unit is posted in the classroom, use it as it is a record of students’ observations on the location of the Sun in the sky. Ask:

• What patterns do you see?
• Can you predict where the Sun will be tomorrow at this time?
• What is your evidence?

Have students look at the Patterns of Earth and Space book and talk about the Moon (pages 24-25) and the stars (pages 28-31). Ask:

• Do you see a pattern in where the Moon appears in the sky?
• Can you predict where it will be at different times of day?
• Do you see a pattern in where the stars appear in the sky?

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on relative comparisons of the amount of daylight in the winter to the amount in the spring or fall.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to relative amounts of daylight, not quantifying the hours or time of daylight.]

Have the class keep a daylight journal, recording when it becomes light each day and when it becomes dark. Ask:

• What patterns do you notice in how much daylight there is at different times of the year?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of vibrating materials that make sound could include tuning forks and plucking a stretched string. Examples of how sound can make matter vibrate could include holding a piece of paper near a speaker making sound and holding an object near a vibrating tuning fork.]

Provide students with the kinds of sound makers that they investigated in Chapter 4 of the Light and Sound unit. Ask:

• Can vibrating materials make sound?
• How could you investigate that question?

After students have had the opportunity to investigate, ask:

• What have you concluded?
• What is your evidence?

Then, repeat this process with the question: Can sound make materials vibrate?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of observations could include those made in a completely dark room, a pinhole box, and a video of a cave explorer with a flashlight. Illumination could be from an external light source or by an object giving off its own light.]

Remind students of how in the Light and Sound unit, they: tried to make the classroom completely dark; read a book about searching for a completely dark place; and watched a video in a cave. Provide them with the opportunity to revisit these experiences. Ask:

• What evidence do we have about whether it is possible to see objects in the dark?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of materials could include those that are transparent (such as clear plastic), translucent (such as wax paper), opaque (such as cardboard), and reflective (such as a mirror).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the speed of light.]

Provide students with the materials they used in the Light and Sound unit. Have them plan how to test each material in order to see what happens when the light shines on the material. Ask:

• What patterns did you notice?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of devices could include a light source to send signals, paper cup and string “telephones,” and a pattern of drum beats.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include technological details for how communication devices work.]

Ask:

• What is the solution you designed?
• How does it solve the problem of communicating over a distance?
• What could improve your solution?

Show the class a light stencil that will project a puppet-show scene, like the ones they designed in the Light and Sound unit. Tell them that the scene meets some design goals, but not all of them. Ask:

• Which design goals are not met by this puppet-show scene?
• What changes could you make to the light stencil so that the puppet-show scene meets all of the design goals?
• Why do you think the changes you want to make would make the puppet-show scene meet all of the design goals?

Building on the previous task (for K–2-ETS1-1), have students create diagrams to plan the new light stencil they have designed to address the problems identified in the puppet-show scene. Have them label the materials they will use for each part of their stencils.

Building on the previous two tasks (for K–2-ETS1-1 and K–2-ETS1-1), use two of the new light stencils students have made to project two puppet-show scenes, side-by-side. (Teachers could also create two themselves). Have the class compare the two scenes, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each light stencil in meeting the design goals. If there are no apparent weaknesses, add an additional design goal that is met by one of the light stencil designs but not the other.

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to testing one variable at a time.]

Show students the materials they can use in their investigation. After they have had time to plan, have students describe their investigations. Ask:

• What will you keep the same in your investigation?
• What is the one thing that will be different?
• What observations will you make?
• Will you measure? If so, what? Why or why not?

Have students conduct their investigations. Ask:

• What is your conclusion?
• How does your evidence support your conclusion?

Search the Internet for videos of pollinators by using search terms such as “animals pollinating plants” and “plant pollinators.” Show students the videos and invite them to use what they saw to help them make a diagram of a robot built to pollinate plants.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the diversity of living things in each of a variety of different habitats.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include specific animal and plant names in specific habitats.]

Have students choose two different habitats featured in the Handbook of Habitats reference book from the Plant and Animal Relationships unit, and read those sections. Ask:

• What did you observe about the plants in the two habitats? How are they similar? How are they different?
• What did you observe about the animals in the two habitats? How are they similar? How are they different?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of events and timescales could include volcanic explosions and earthquakes, which happen quickly and erosion of rocks, which occurs slowly.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of timescales.]

Have students consult the Handbook of Land and Water reference book from the Changing Landforms unit, and their Changing Landforms Investigation Notebooks. Ask:

• What evidence can you find that Earth events can occur slowly?
• What evidence can you find that Earth events can occur quickly?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of solutions could include different designs of dikes and windbreaks to hold back wind and water, and different designs for using shrubs, grass, and trees to hold back the land.]

Set up three stream tables like the one students read about in the book Making Models of Streams in the Changing Landforms unit. (Search online for a do-it-yourself stream table.) Start one stream table so students can see how water causes erosion of the land in this setting. Discuss with the class possible solutions for slowing or preventing this erosion. Note: grass seeds will sprout and grow in the wet sand of a stream table and can be a solution the class can test. When they have decided what solutions to test, start additional stream tables, trying out a different solution in each one. Ask:

• What are the strengths of each solution?
• What are the weaknesses?

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative scaling in models.]

Provide students with clay or salt dough and a paper plate. Invite them to make a model of an island surrounded by water and use their model to tell a story of how water helped to shape the landforms. They can include several additional kinds of landforms and bodies of water on their model (e.g. mountain, cliff, valley, cave, lake, river, stream, valley, waterfall). When the model is dry, they can paint it to better show the bodies of water. When they are finished, ask:

• What landforms and bodies of water do you show in your model?
• In what ways would the water shown in your model have helped to shape the landforms?

Students can search online or go to the school library.

[Clarification Statement: Observations could include color, texture, hardness, and flexibility. Patterns could include the similar properties that different materials share.]

Provide students with a collection of substances; some that will dissolve in water and some that won’t. Ask them to describe each of the substances when dry, and then to investigate whether the substances will dissolve (i.e. become invisible when mixed with water). Ask:

• What is your plan for investigating these substances?

After they have conducted the investigation, ask:

• Which substances have similar properties when dry?
• Which substances have similar properties when mixed with water?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of properties could include strength, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of quantitative measurements is limited to length.]

The Handbook of Interesting Ingredients from the Properties of Materials unit has two-page spreads for each of a variety of ingredients. Both the “Important properties” and the “Cause and effect” sections for each ingredient include data obtained from testing. Provide students with some “intended uses” and invite them to determine which ingredients have the properties that are best suited for that purpose. Possible intended uses are to make mixtures that can be: a tasty dessert; a sticky glue; a refreshing soda.

Ask:

• Why did you choose these substances to make your mixture?
• What are the properties of your chosen substances that you want as part of your mixture?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of pieces could include blocks, building bricks, or other assorted small objects.]

Have students use building bricks to make two different objects. Ask:

• What do you observe about the two different objects you made? What is similar? What is different?
• What do you observe about the pieces that the two different objects you made are made of? What is similar? What is different?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of reversible changes could include materials such as water and butter at different temperatures. Examples of irreversible changes could include cooking an egg, freezing a plant leaf, and heating paper.]

The Can You Change It Back? book from the Properties of Materials unit features images of objects before and after they are heated. Have students choose two objects: one whose changes due to heating could be reversed, and one that could not. Ask them to explain why each object belongs in that category and to support their claim with evidence. Invite other students in the class to rebut claims they disagree with and provide counter evidence.

The Jess Makes Hair Gel book from the Properties of Materials unit ends with Jess wondering how he might make and test a recipe for toothpaste. Ask students to imagine that they are taking on that challenge:

• What questions would you have and what information would you want before you would be ready to plan your toothpaste?

Provide students with a simple design challenge. It could be inspired by the text and images in the What If Rain Boots Were Made of Paper? book from the Properties of Materials unit, such as a hat that will keep you warm in the winter (page 12), a boat that will float on water (page 12), a machine for exercising (page 14), or a way to get around (page 15). Or, students could think of their own invention. Have students draw their designs indicating the materials they would use  – have them label the materials in their drawing. When they are done, ask:

• Why is the shape you chose important?
• What material would you use for this part of your design?
• What properties does that material have?
• Why do you think that that material would help your design function well?

Remind students of the seed investigation they conducted in chapter 4 of the Plant and Animal Relationships unit. Have students refer to the data they collected on pages 66-69 of the Plant and Animal Relationships Investigation Notebook. Ask:

• Based on the data you collected, which seed type traveled the farthest?
• Which seed type resulted in a more consistent distance traveled?
• What are other strengths you noticed? Weaknesses?

[Clarification Statement: Changes organisms go through during their life form a pattern.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of plant life cycles is limited to those of flowering plants. Assessment does not include details of human reproduction.]

Have students look through the Handbook of Traits, the reference book for the Inheritance and Traits unit. This book has two-page spreads, each dedicated to describing the traits of 20 different organisms, and includes a graphic of the life cycle for each. Challenge students to draw a life cycle diagram that is true for all plants, all fish, or all mammals. Ask:

• What is common about the life cycle of the group of organisms you have chosen? What is common about the life cycle of all organisms?

Ask:

• Do wolves rely on each other to survive?
• What is your evidence?
• How would this help them survive?

[Clarification Statement: Patterns are the similarities and differences in traits shared between offspring and their parents, or among siblings. Emphasis is on organisms other than humans.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include genetic mechanisms of inheritance and prediction of traits. Assessment is limited to non-human examples.]

Have students revisit the Scorpion Scientist book, from the Inheritance and Traits unit. Ask:

• Look at the cover picture. Based on this, what can you say is similar about scorpions? What can vary?

Then have them revisit the Handbook of Traits, the reference book for the Inheritance and Traits unit. Ask:

• What evidence can you find that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents?
• What evidence can you find that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of the environment affecting a trait could include normally tall plants grown with insufficient water are stunted; and a pet dog that is given too much food and little exercise may become overweight.]

Remind students of how they figured out how Wolf #44 got its traits, in the Inheritance and Traits unit. Ask:

• What evidence do you have to support the explanation that some of Wolf #44’s traits came from the environment?

Invite them to think more broadly about other animals and plants.

• What evidence do you have that other animals’ traits come from the environment?
• Do plants also have traits that come from the environment? What is your evidence?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include type, size, and distributions of fossil organisms. Examples of fossils and environments could include marine fossils found on dry land, tropical plant fossils found in Arctic areas, and fossils of extinct organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include identification of specific fossils or present plants and animals. Assessment is limited to major fossil types and relative ages.]

Provide each student with a copy of the Fossil Skulls: Clues into Past Environments student sheet (found in the digital resources section of Lesson 2.2 in the Environments and Survival unit). Ask:

• What inferences can you make about past environments based on the structure and function of these fossil skulls?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of cause and effect relationships could be plants that have larger thorns than other plants may be less likely to be eaten by predators; and animals that have better camouflage coloration than other animals may be more likely to survive and therefore more likely to leave offspring.]

Remind students of the Environments and Survival unit when they investigated grove snails. Ask:

• What evidence do you have that the variation in the colors of grove snail shells (yellow or banded) was an advantage (overall) for grove snails’ survival?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]

Again, have students recall the Environments and Survival unit. Have them go to the Environments and Survival modeling tools from Lesson 2.5 (Traits and Survival A and Traits and Survival B). After students have interacted with the modeling tools, ask:

• Choose one of the two environments (Traits and Survival A or B). Why do you think some animals are more likely to survive and others are less likely to survive? What is your evidence?
• Are there animals that wouldn’t survive at all? Why do you think so?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]

This time, have students go to the Environment Change modeling tool in Lesson 3.3 and drag organisms onto both arrows to show which organisms are the most likely to survive and which are the least likely to survive in each environment (before and after an environmental change). Ask:

• What problem will this environmental change cause?
• What solution might there be to this problem?
• Do you think the solution would be good for the animals or bad for the animals? Why do you think that?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include average temperature, precipitation, and wind direction.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of graphical displays is limited to pictographs and bar graphs. Assessment does not include climate change.]

Provide students with average high temperatures for each month for an entire year, from the region where your school is located. After they have organized the data, ask:

• What is the typical high temperature in our region in spring? Summer? Fall? Winter?

Have students search through World Weather Handbook, the reference book for the Weather and Climate unit. Ask them to choose two locations, and describe what the climate in that area is like, by combining temperature and precipitation data.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of design solutions to weather-related hazards could include barriers to prevent flooding, wind resistant roofs, and lightning rods.]

Remind students of the structures they designed and tested to withstand a hurricane, in Chapter 4 of the Weather and Climate unit. Ask:

• Make a claim about the effectiveness of your design solution.
• What is your evidence to support your claim?
• Can you think of a way to improve your solution?

[Clarification Statement: Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of a ball can make it start moving; and balanced forces pushing on a box from both sides will not produce any motion at all.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size, or direction of forces. Assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.]

Provide students with materials from the Balancing Forces unit. After they have conducted their investigations, ask:

• What happens to the motion of an object when the forces acting on the object are balanced? What is your evidence?
• What happens to the motion of an object when the forces acting on the object are unbalanced? What is your evidence

[Clarification Statement: Examples of motion with a predictable pattern could include a child swinging in a swing, a ball rolling back and forth in a bowl, and two children on a seesaw.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include technical terms such as period and frequency.]

Demonstrate an object swinging on a string. Ask:

• What do you predict the motion of this object will be five seconds from now? In one minute? In five minutes?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of an electric force could include the force on hair from an electrically charged balloon and the electrical forces between a charged rod and pieces of paper; examples of a magnetic force could include the force between two permanent magnets, the force between an electromagnet and steel paperclips, and the force exerted by one magnet versus the force exerted by two magnets. Examples of cause and effect relationships could include how the distance between objects affects strength of the force and how the orientation of magnets affects the direction of the magnetic force.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to forces produced by objects that can be manipulated by students, and electrical interactions are limited to static electricity.]

Provide students with the Floating Paperclip Devices from Chapter 4 of the Balancing Forces unit, and with multiple ring magnets. Ask:

• What questions do you have that you could try and answer with the Floating Paperclip Device and more magnets?
• What did you figure out about your question?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of problems could include constructing a latch to keep a door shut and creating a device to keep two moving objects from touching each other.]

Have students draw and describe their magnetic invention.

Have students turn to pages 36-37 of the Biomimicry Handbook, the reference book from the Environments and Survival unit. This two-page spread features 18 photos of traits of organisms in nature. Invite students to choose one of these traits and use it to inspire the design of a solution to a problem of their own choosing. Provide criteria and constraints for success.

In Chapter 4 of the Environments and Survival unit, students design and test robot necks for a specific purpose. Have students return to this design challenge, this time generating more than one possible solution.

• How does each of your robot necks meet the criteria and constraints of the problem?

Building on the previous task (for 3–5-ETS1-2) have students use the Robograzer Simulation to carry out fair tests of the mouths they create for Robograzer. Ask:

• What are the strengths of the mouth you designed?
• What are the weaknesses?
• How could you improve the mouth?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin. **Each structure has specific functions within its associated system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to macroscopic structures within plant and animal systems.]

For animals, prompt students’ arguments on how the internal and external structures involved in animals’ vision support survival. In addition, have them describe the system of parts that are required for vision.

For plants, revisit the video Plants Growing Towards Light in Lesson 1.4 of the Vision and Light unit. Have students construct an argument, using evidence, that plants also have internal and external structures that support their growth and survival.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on systems of information transfer.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the mechanisms by which the brain stores and recalls information or the mechanisms of how sensory receptors function.]

Have students choose two of the animals featured in the book, Seeing Like a Shrimp, Smelling Like a Snake, from the Vision and Light unit. Ask them to draw diagrams of how each animal receives information through their senses, processes the information in their brain, and responds to the information in different ways.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence from patterns could include rock layers with shell fossils above rock layers with plant fossils and no shells, indicating a change from land to water over time; and a canyon with different rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom, indicating that over time a river cut through the rock.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include specific knowledge of the mechanism of rock formation or memorization of specific rock formations and layers. Assessment is limited to relative time.]

Have students choose one of the locales featured in the book, Through the Eyes of a Geologist, from the Earth’s Features unit, and identify the evidence and inferences that might have led to changes in that particular landscape over time.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of variables to test could include angle of slope in the downhill movement of water, amount of vegetation, speed of wind, relative rate of deposition, cycles of freezing and thawing of water, cycles of heating and cooling, and volume of water flow.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single form of weathering or erosion.]

Have students choose one or two of the rocky outcrops featured in the book, Rocky Wonders, from the Earth’s Features unit. Ask:

• What evidence can you gather through from observing the photo you chose about how the rocky outcrop was formed?
• Do you think the weathering and erosion was due to the effects of water, ice, wind, or plants?

[Clarification Statement: Maps can include topographic maps of Earth’s land and ocean floor, as well as maps of the locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and earthquakes.]

Have students focus on the Dynamic Planet Map featured in Lesson 4.5 of the Earth’s Features unit. Ask:

• What patterns in Earth’s features do you see?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind energy, water behind dams, and sunlight; non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and fissile materials. Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.]

Students can use the It’s All Energy reference book from the Earth’s Features unit to search for and combine information about the origin of energy and fuels, and their impact on the environment. Ask:

• Where do fuels come from?
• Where does energy come from?
• What is the impact on the environment of using these natural resources for energy?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of solutions could include designing an earthquake resistant building and improving monitoring of volcanic activity.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.]

Have students reread the book Warning: Tsunami! from the Waves, Information, and Communication unit. Then, have them come up with more than one idea for creating a tsunami warning system. Ask:

• What are the pros and cons of these different solutions?

[**Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence relating speed and energy could include change of shape on impact or other results of collisions.]

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measures of changes in the speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.]

Have students use the Energy Conversions simulation from the Energy Conversions unit to set up a system with the hand-crank as the energy source, and then observe the electrical system and the energy graphs below as they turn the crank slowly, and then again as they turn the crank quickly. Ask:

• What do you observe?
• Explain what happens to the electrical energy in the system as you turn the hand-crank slowly and then quickly.

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.]

Have students focus on these phenomena through the Energy Conversions simulation from the Energy Conversion unit. Ask:

• What do you observe?
• What evidence is there that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.]

Have students use the Waves, Information, and Communication simulation for the class to see. Have them go to the Instruments Mode and play the different instruments, watching the resultant collisions of particles. Tell students to tag one particle (by clicking on it) so they can track its movement. Ask:

• What questions do you have?
• What are your predictions?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of devices could include electric circuits that convert electrical energy into motion energy of a vehicle, light, or sound; and a passive solar heater that converts light into heat. Examples of constraints could include the materials, cost, or time to design the device.] [Assessment Boundary: Devices should be limited to those that convert motion energy to electric energy or use stored energy to cause motion or produce light or sound.]

Provide students with the materials from the Energy Conversion unit. Ask:

• Can you design a device that converts energy from one form to another?
  How will you test it?

After they have designed and tested their device, ask:

• Did you refine the device as you were working?
• How could you improve the device?

[Clarification Statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, analogies, and physical models using wire to illustrate wavelength and amplitude of waves.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include interference effects, electromagnetic waves, non-periodic waves, or quantitative models of amplitude and wavelength.]

Have students make three diagrams showing sound waves traveling:

1. from one mother dolphin (with a high-pitched dolphin call) to her calf located at a distance;
2. from a different mother dolphin (with a low-pitched dolphin call) to her calf located at a distance; and
3. a close up of how sound waves affect particles of water (they cause them to bump into each other transferring energy).

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include knowledge of specific colors reflected and seen, the cellular mechanisms of vision, or how the retina works.]

Have students make diagrams of this process.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of solutions could include drums sending coded information through sound waves, using a grid of 1’s and 0’s representing black and white to send information about a picture, and using Morse code to send text.]

Have students use the Code Communicator Tool from the Waves, Energy, and Information unit from Chapter 4 to generate solutions that use patterns to transfer information.

Have students consider the challenge of improving the electrical system in Ergstown, the fictional town in the Energy Conversions unit. Ask:

• What are the things you need to consider?
• How will you know you are successful?

Provide criteria and constraints, such as, they can only include two different energy sources; the plan must utilize energy-efficient lighting in homes, etc.

Have students work in pairs to draw diagrams of two possible improved electrical systems for Ergstown. Ask them to evaluate the two plans, including how they meet the criteria and constraints provided.

As a feature of the improved electrical system in Ergstown, ask students to decide whether they will ask the citizens of Ergstown to use LED or incandescent light bulbs. Have students use the Energy Conversions simulation to create and compare simple electrical systems—for instance, one that includes an LED and one that includes an incandescent light bulb. Ask them to plan and carry out fair tests in which they gather evidence about energy-efficient lighting.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that plant matter comes mostly from air and water, not from the soil.]

Provide students with the claim and the opportunity to gather evidence before they make their argument. Evidence could come from the multiple evidence sources that they accessed in the Ecosystem Restoration unit, including firsthand observations of the classroom terrariums and investigations using the digital model (the Ecosystem Restoration simulation).

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that matter that is not food (air, water, decomposed materials in soil) is changed by plants into matter that is food. Examples of systems could include organisms, ecosystems, and the Earth.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include molecular explanations.]

Prompt students with an image showing plants and animals in a specific environment, such as one of the photos in the Matter Makes It All Up book from the Ecosystem Restoration unit. Have them draw a diagram showing the movement of matter through that scene.

Alternatively, provide students with the Organism Cards they used in Lesson 1.7 of the Ecosystem Restoration unit, yarn, and scissors and invite them to create their own model of the ecosystem.

[**Clarification Statement: Absolute brightness of stars is the result of a variety of factors. Relative distance from Earth is one factor that affects apparent brightness and is the one selected to be addressed by the performance expectation.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to relative distances, not sizes, of stars. Assessment does not include other factors that affect apparent brightness (such as stellar masses, age, stage).]

Provide students with the claim and the opportunity to gather evidence before they make their argument. Evidence could come from the multiple evidence sources that they accessed in the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit, including investigations using the digital model (the Patterns of Earth and Sky simulation), the various physical models, and the various texts.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include the position and motion of Earth with respect to the sun and selected stars that are visible only in particular months.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include causes of seasons.]

Students could access the data they collected in the Investigating How Shadows Change activity attached to Lesson 2.3 of the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit. Students can also collect data from the Handbook of Constellations reference book and the Patterns of Earth and Sky simulation for day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

[Clarification Statement: **The geosphere, hydrosphere (including ice), atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system and each system is a part of the whole Earth System. Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to the interactions of two systems at a time.]

Provide them with a phenomenon to explain, which involves the interaction of multiple spheres, such as the rain shadow effect. Have students draw a diagram of the interactions that lead to the phenomenon and label the spheres and how they interact.

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, ground water, and polar ice caps, and does not include the atmosphere.]

Students can gather data from Water Encyclopedia, the reference book in The Earth System unit.

Students can search for information in several books in The Earth System unit, including Water Shortages, Water Solutions and Engineering Clean Water.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence supporting a model could include adding air to expand a basketball, compressing air in a syringe, dissolving sugar in water, and evaporating salt water.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the atomic-scale mechanism of evaporation and condensation or defining the unseen particles.]

Revisit The Scale Tool that is used in several Grade 5 units. Have students create a diagram with a subset of objects/organisms pictured in The Scale Tool, that shows their relative scale. They should include objects/organisms that are visible, but so small they are barely visible; objects/organisms that are invisible; and objects that are the invisible particles that make of matter.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of reactions or changes could include phase changes, dissolving, and mixing that forms new substances.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include distinguishing mass and weight.]

Provide students with water and sugar, and access to a kitchen scale. Have them design an investigation that involves weighing sugar and water before and after mixing. With access to a microwave and freezer, students could extend their investigation to investigate before and after heating or freezing.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of materials to be identified could include baking soda and other powders, metals, minerals, and liquids. Examples of properties could include color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, response to magnetic forces, and solubility; density is not intended as an identifiable property.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include density or distinguishing mass and weight.]

Provide students with several mystery substances: sugar, citric acid, flour, and cornstarch. Each of these substances is featured in the reference book, Food Scientist’s Handbook, in the Modeling Matter unit. Label them: substance A, B, C, and D. With access to water and cups (or resealable plastic bags), hand lenses, measuring spoons, and plastic stir sticks, students can observe the properties of these substances when dry and conduct solubility tests. By consulting the Food Scientist’s Handbook, students can compare the properties they observed of each mystery powder with the properties of the substances described in the book.

[**Clarification Statement: Examples of combinations that do not produce new substances could include sand and water. Examples of combinations that do produce new substances could include baking soda and vinegar or milk and vinegar.]

Provide students with baking soda and three liquids: water, vinegar, and milk. Ask students to plan and conduct an investigation to determine whether mixing the liquid with baking soda results in new substances or not and why.

[Clarification Statement: “Down” is a local description of the direction that points toward the center of the spherical Earth.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include mathematical representation of gravitational force.]

Provide students with the claim and the opportunity to gather evidence before they make their argument. Evidence could come from the multiple evidence sources that they accessed in the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit, including: The Way Things Fall video (with visual evidence used in Lesson 2.4), the Which Way is Up? Book, and the Mt. Nose physical model.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, and flow charts.]

Have students revisit the Ecosystem Restoration simulation, in which they can conduct “runs” of the model ecosystem with and without different kinds of organisms, the Sun, etc. Have students make a diagram showing where the energy that is released when animals eat food ultimately comes from.

Explain the fictional problem: As part of an upcoming World’s Fair, organizers would like to create a human-made island off the coast of some country and locate the fair there. Because so many of the World’s Fair activities will be outside, they want there to be a minimum amount of rain on this island. They know that the topography (shape) of the island will be important in predicting the amount of rainfall the island will get, and they know that the direction the wind typically blows will be important. They want the class to figure out: 1) what shape the human-made island should be; 2) whether there is a certain part of the island that is relatively flat where the fairgrounds should be located; and 3) whether they should locate the island in a place where the wind typically blows from west to east or east to west.

Tell students that eventually, they will use The Earth System simulation to figure these things out, but before they do that, the students will need to figure out: a) How they are going to determine the amount of rain the island gets. What ways could they measure that in the sim? b) How they are going to determine whether the shape of the landform is flat enough to have a fairground built on it and how they will quantify that; and c) What are additional problems that may need further discussion and defining.

As students report their findings, help the class come to resolution on how they will assess the amount of rain, the amount of buildable land.

Students will build on this work in the tasks for the following two Performance Expectations 3–5-ETS1.2 and 3–5-ETS1.3.

Building on the task for Performance Expectation 3–5-ETS1-1 described above, have students investigate using The Earth System simulation to figure out several possible solutions.

Let them know that a successful solution will figure out the shape of the island that has a maximum amount of flat space on which to build, and receives a minimum amount of rain. They will also need to recommend whether the island should be built in a place where the wind predominantly blows from west to east (on the right side in the simulation) or east to west (on the left side in the simulation).

Have each pair of students work to generate several possible solutions that they think might work and to compare the pros and cons of each potential solution.

Students will build on this work in the task for the following Performance Expectation: 3–5-ETS1.3.

Have students continue to consider their recommendations, narrowing to one suggested solution. Their solution must include the following information: 1) what shape the human-made island should be; 2) whether there is a certain part of the island where the fairgrounds should be located; and 3) whether they should locate the island in a place where the wind typically blows from west to east or east to west.

Students should also describe the amount of rainfall they think it is likely that the new fairgrounds will get, and the amount of buildable space on the island. If the class doesn’t come up with a different way to quantify these characteristics, have them use a relative scale (e.g. low, medium, high, very high).

[Clarification Statement: Examples of devices could include an insulated box, a solar cooker, and a Styrofoam cup.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include calculating the total amount of thermal energy transferred.]

[Clarification Statement: Examples of experiments could include comparing final water temperatures after different masses of ice melted in the same volume of water with the same initial temperature, the temperature change of samples of different materials with the same mass as they cool or heat in the environment, or the same material with different masses when a specific amount of energy is added.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include calculating the total amount of thermal energy transferred.]

In Lesson 3.3 of the Thermal Energy unit, students have the opportunity to plan and conduct an investigation to figure out why two samples that are different substances heat up at different rates. They use Different Substances Mode in the Thermal Energy simulation to plan their investigation and gather information on kinetic energy and temperature of two different substances when they are heated.

Have students also use the simulation to plan and conduct an investigation where they examine the kinetic energy and temperature when energy is added or removed from two samples that have different mass.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of empirical evidence used in arguments could include an inventory or other representation of the energy before and after the transfer in the form of temperature changes or motion of object.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include calculations of energy.]

Students can use information gained from the Thermal Energy simulation and the “How Air Conditioning Makes Cities Hotter” article as evidence to construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on developing evidence that living things are made of cells, distinguishing between living and non-living things, and understanding that living things may be made of one cell or many and varied cells.]

Provide students with any of the following resources to use as they plan and conduct their investigations:

• • a number of things both living (or once living) and not living (that were never alive), access to microscopes and, if possible, digital cameras
  • images from the article “Cells: The Basic Unit of Life” from the Microbiome unit
  • images of cells from the article set “Systems of the Human Body” from the Metabolism unit
  • Scale Cards from the Microbiome unit that have images of cells, bacteria, and salt grains

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the cell functioning as a whole system and the primary role of identified parts of the cell, specifically the nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, cell membrane, and cell wall.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of organelle structure/function relationships is limited to the cell wall and cell membrane. Assessment of the function of the other organelles is limited to their relationship to the whole cell. Assessment does not include the biochemical function of cells or cell parts.]

Have students revisit the article “Cells: The Basic Unit of Life” from the Microbiome unit. Using information from the article, have students create a 3-D model of an animal or plant cell including the nucleus, mitochondria, and cell membrane (if students create a plant cell, they should also include chloroplasts and the cell wall). To accompany their model, have students write an explanation to describe how the cell functions as a whole system, highlighting how each organelle depicted in the model contributes to the function of the cell.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the conceptual understanding that cells form tissues and tissues form organs specialized for particular body functions. Examples could include the interaction of subsystems within a system and the normal functioning of those systems.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the mechanism of one body system independent of others. Assessment is limited to the circulatory, excretory, digestive, respiratory, muscular, and nervous systems.]

Have students revisit the article set Systems of the Human Body from the Metabolism unit and the article “Cells: The Basic Unit of Life” from the Microbiome unit. As they read, students should use information in the articles to create evidence cards with quotes and images from the articles that support the claim: The body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells. Next, students can use the evidence cards they made to write an argument that supports the claim.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of behaviors that affect the probability of animal reproduction could include nest building to protect young from cold, herding of animals to protect young from predators, and vocalization of animals and colorful plumage to attract mates for breeding. Examples of animal behaviors that affect the probability of plant reproduction could include transferring pollen or seeds, and creating conditions for seed germination and growth. Examples of plant structures could include bright flowers attracting butterflies that transfer pollen, flower nectar and odors that attract insects that transfer pollen, and hard shells on nuts that squirrels bury.]

Students can gather information from the article “Invasion of the Periodical Cicadas” from the Traits and Reproduction unit. As they read, students should use information in the article to create evidence cards. Next, students can use the evidence cards they made as they write an explanation.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of local environmental conditions could include availability of food, light, space, and water. Examples of genetic factors could include large breed cattle and species of grass affecting growth of organisms. Examples of evidence could include drought decreasing plant growth, fertilizer increasing plant growth, different varieties of plant seeds growing at different rates in different conditions, and fish growing larger in large ponds than they do in small ponds.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include genetic mechanisms, gene regulation, or biochemical processes.]

Students can gather evidence from the article “Growing Giant Pumpkins” from the Traits and Reproduction unit. As they read, students should use information in the articles to create evidence cards with quotes and images from the article. Next, students can use the evidence cards they made as they write an explanation.

[Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include mechanisms for the transmission of this information.]

Students can gather information from the articles “The Big Climb” and “Systems of the Human Body” (Nervous System chapter) from the Metabolism unit.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on using models such as Punnett squares, diagrams, and simulations to describe the cause and effect relationship of gene transmission from parent(s) to offspring and resulting genetic variation.]

Have students revisit the article “Sea Anemones: Two Ways to Reproduce” from the Traits and Reproduction unit and then develop a model using Punnett squares or a diagram of asexual and sexual reproduction in sea anemones. After students create their models, have them explain why the offspring are different when sea anemones reproduce sexually versus asexually.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle. Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.] [Assessment Boundary: A quantitative understanding of the latent heats of vaporization and fusion is not assessed.]

Have students create conceptual or physical models that show how water moves through Earth’s systems. Prompt them to describe what causes water to change its phase and move through different parts of Earth’s systems.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather (defined by temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind) at a fixed location to change over time, and how sudden changes in weather can result when different air masses collide. Emphasis is on how weather can be predicted within probabilistic ranges. Examples of data can be provided to students (such as weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations) or obtained through laboratory experiments (such as with condensation).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include recalling the names of cloud types or weather symbols used on weather maps or the reported diagrams from weather stations.]

Students can use the Weather Patterns simulation to collect data by creating areas with different air pressure and analyze the resulting weather condition.

Teachers can also provide students with temperature, pressure, and humidity data from weather maps and have them use the weather maps to predict changes in weather conditions, emphasizing that weather can only be predicted probabilistically.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds; emphasis of ocean circulation is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the dynamics of the Coriolis effect.]

Students can refer to the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate simulation and the maps that they examined in Lesson 1.4 to create different models where they explain why different places have different regional climates. Prompt them to use a map to diagram what determines regional climates. To help them explain their model, prompt them to identify locations at different altitudes, at different latitudes, those that are next to different ocean currents, and those that are located near different geographic land features.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).]

In the Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship, students apply scientific principles they learned in the Earth’s Changing Climate unit to design a method for minimizing the energy from combustion for cooling buildings. Students assess, design, and evaluate solutions during the research and design phases of the internship.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of factors include human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and agricultural activity) and natural processes (such as changes in incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity). Examples of evidence can include tables, graphs, and maps of global and regional temperatures, atmospheric levels of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and the rates of human activities. Emphasis is on the major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures.]

At the conclusion of the Earth’s Changing Climate unit Chapter 3, have students record questions about the evidence they have used throughout the unit to learn what has caused global temperatures to rise. Encourage them to ask about evidence from data cards from Lessons 1.2, 1.5, and 3.1, and about evidence from simulation, and/or evidence from the unit’s articles.

On Day 1 of the Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship, students generate criteria for the design problem they will be working on during their internship, before getting the criteria chosen by Futura Engineering. On Day 10, students brainstorm the criteria and constraints for a new engineering problem they have defined related to civil engineering. Pose an engineering problem that is relevant to your school and challenge students to come up with criteria and constraints for solutions.

During the design phase of the Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship and the Metabolism Engineering Internship, students evaluate competing design solutions using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each of the three project criteria. They also use feedback from their project director to evaluate how well their submitted designs meet the project criteria, and discuss that feedback as a whole class to get a range of values for results that strongly, moderately, or weakly address the criteria. Students use the feedback and ranges to make a plan for improving their designs.

Change one of the criteria and then challenge students to return to the competing design solutions to reevaluate them based on the new criteria.

During the design phase of the Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship and the Metabolism Internship, students analyze their data by using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each criteria. These processes help them decide which designs to submit to the project director for feedback. Challenge students to return to the data to identify the second best design and explain why the data is less favorable for that design than for the best design.

On Day 10 of each Internship, students define a new engineering problem and develop criteria for that problem. Have students develop a model for testing, analyzing, and revising their design solutions for their new problems. Students can focus on ways to test how well their new solutions meet the newly-generated constraints and criteria. Challenge students to conduct additional rounds of analysis and revision to deepen the iterative testing process.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on developing models of molecules that vary in complexity. Examples of simple molecules could include ammonia and methanol. Examples of extended structures could include sodium chloride or diamonds. Examples of molecular-level models could include drawings, 3D ball and stick structures, or computer representations showing different molecules with different types of atoms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include valence electrons and bonding energy, discussing the ionic nature of subunits of complex structures, or a complete depiction of all individual atoms in a complex molecule or extended structure.]

Have students use what they learned from the “Atomic Zoom In” article and the Chemical Reactions simulation to create models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules such as water, carbon dioxide, or ethanol and different extended structures such as graphite, gold, or sodium chloride. Have students create their models by drawing them on paper or provide them with clay and toothpicks to create 3D ball and stick structures.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of reactions could include burning sugar or steel wool, fat reacting with sodium hydroxide, and mixing zinc with hydrogen chloride.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to analysis of the following properties: density, melting point, boiling point, solubility, flammability, and odor.]

Have students use the Chemical Reactions simulation to combine different substances and determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. In the simulation, they can select the View Properties feature to examine the substances’ color, phase at room temperature, odor, melting point, and boiling point. Prompt students to find two combinations of substances that do not undergo a chemical reaction when combined and two combinations of substances that do undergo a chemical reaction when combined by analyzing and interpreting the data on the substances’ properties before and after the substances are combined.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on natural resources that undergo a chemical process to form the synthetic material. Examples of new materials could include new medicine, foods, and alternative fuels.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to qualitative information.]

Have students return to the article “Synthetic Materials: Making Substances in the Lab” from the Chemical Reactions unit and gather information about the synthetic materials that come from natural resources or are based on natural resources to create medicines. Prompt them to make sense of this information and explain how these synthetic materials impact society.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on qualitative molecular-level models of solids, liquids, and gases to show that adding or removing thermal energy increases or decreases kinetic energy of the particles until a change of state occurs. Examples of models could include drawings and diagrams. Examples of particles could include molecules or inert atoms. Examples of pure substances could include water, carbon dioxide, and helium.]

Have students draw a diagram to show how the motion and temperature of water molecules change as thermal energy is added and as thermal energy is removed. Prompt them to use their model to show what happens at the particle level when liquid water turns into a gas and when liquid water turns into a solid.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on law of conservation of matter and on physical models or drawings, including digital forms, that represent atoms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the use of atomic masses, balancing symbolic equations, or intermolecular forces.]

Have students create a model of a chemical reaction between two substances and use it to describe how the total number of atoms does not change. Provide them with two substances, such as calcium chloride (CaCl2) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and prompt them to draw the atoms before and after the chemical reaction.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the design, controlling the transfer of energy to the environment, and modification of a device using factors such as type and concentration of a substance. Examples of designs could involve chemical reactions such as dissolving ammonium chloride or calcium chloride.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to the criteria of amount, time, and temperature of substance in testing the device.]

Have students design a hot pack or cold pack that involves chemical reactions. Provide them with ammonium chloride, calcium chloride, water, graduated cylinders, scales, scoops, and any materials needed to make the pack itself. Give students time to design, construct, and test a hot or cold pack that addresses the following criteria:

• Causes the greatest change in temperature
• Maximizes the time that the temperature change lasts
• Minimizes the amount of substances used

After each test, prompt them to analyze the results and modify their device in order to better meet the criteria.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on tracing movement of matter and flow of energy.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the biochemical mechanisms of photosynthesis.]

Students can gather information from the Matter and Energy in Ecosystems simulation. Have them take notes and/or take screenshots of the simulation, then write an explanation based on this evidence.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing that molecules are broken apart and put back together and that in this process, energy is released.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include details of the chemical reactions for photosynthesis or respiration.]

Invite students to plan, draw, and annotate a model that includes representations of molecules and energy.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on cause and effect relationships between resources and growth of individual organisms and the numbers of organisms in ecosystems during periods of abundant and scarce resources.]

Students can use data from the Populations and Resources simulation (3 Populations mode). Have students run the simulation for at least 20 time units before making any changes. They then should make a change to the greenleaf population (a resource population), lock the greenleaf population, press play and then after some time has passed go to Analyze to record data about the number of births in the weebug population before and after the change to the greenleaf population. Students can use this data to describe the cause and effect relationships between populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on predicting consistent patterns of interactions in different ecosystems in terms of the relationships among and between organisms and abiotic components of ecosystems. Examples of types of interactions could include competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial.]

Students can gather information for their explanations from the Matter and Energy in Ecosystems Sim, the Populations and Resources Sim, and the following article sets:

• “The Arctic Ecosystem” from the Populations and Resources unit
• “Sunlight and Life”  from the Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing the conservation of matter and flow of energy into and out of various ecosystems, and on defining the boundaries of the system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the use of chemical reactions to describe the processes.]

Have students revisit the Matter and Energy in Ecosystems simulation to gather evidence about the conservation of matter and flow of energy in ecosystems. Next, invite students to draw and label their own model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.]

Students can use the Weather Patterns simulation to collect data by creating areas with different air pressure and analyzing the resulting weather condition. Provide students with temperature, pressure, and humidity data from weather maps and have them use the weather maps to predict changes in weather conditions, emphasizing that weather can only be predicted probabilistically.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of ecosystem services could include water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social considerations.]

Students can gather information from the article “How Ecosystems Clean Earth’s Water” from the Populations and Resources unit. Then provide them with 3 possible design solutions to a problem and have them evaluate each one in order to choose the solution that best maintains biodiversity and ecosystem services. One example of a problem is: there is a wetland and forest area that a city wants to convert into a public park. The city is trying to decide between 3 possible design solutions. Which design solution should they choose to best maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services?

• Design solution 1: Cut down half of the forest and pave over all of the wetlands into public park space. Include a playground, one basketball court, and seating areas for picnicking and meeting within the forest area.
• Design solution 2: Convert the entire area into public park space. Cut down the forest and pave over the wetlands to make room for two playgrounds, three basketball courts, and a community center. Also build a community garden with plants that attract bees and butterflies and create an artificial lake for boating and ducks.
• Design solution 3: Convert half of the forest and half of the wetlands into public park space. Make room for a playground, one basketball court, and seating areas along the wetlands and in the forest for picnicking and meeting.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation, which act together to form minerals and rocks through the cycling of Earth’s materials.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the identification and naming of minerals.]

Have students revisit the Rock Transformations simulation. They can use energy mode to examine how energy from the Sun and energy from Earth’s interior drives the cycling of Earth’s materials. Then have them draw a diagram to show how different energy sources affect rock material in different ways.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how processes change Earth’s surface at time and spatial scales that can be large (such as slow plate motions or the uplift of large mountain ranges) or small (such as rapid landslides or microscopic geochemical reactions), and how many geoscience processes (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts) usually behave gradually but are punctuated by catastrophic events. Examples of geoscience processes include surface weathering and deposition by the movements of water, ice, and wind. Emphasis is on geoscience processes that shape local geographic features, where appropriate.]

For reference, students can use the Rock Transformation simulation to look at how processes such as weathering and uplift can change Earth’s surface. Prompt them to pay close attention to the time counter at the top of the screen. Students can then look at the Plate Motion simulation to see how these processes affect the Earth’s surface on a global scale. Have them incorporate evidence from both simulations into their explanation.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of data include similarities of rock and fossil types on different continents, the shapes of the continents (including continental shelves), and the locations of ocean structures (such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches).] [Assessment Boundary: Paleomagnetic anomalies in oceanic and continental crust are not assessed.]

Have students use the following evidence sources from the Plate Motion unit: “The Ancient Mesosaurus” article from Lesson 1.2 and the Earthquake Map from Lesson 1.3. In addition, provide a simple map of the Earth’s continents, and a map showing ocean ridges (use the phrase “Ocean ridges map” in an internet image search). Have students annotate each source of evidence. Then have them describe past plate motion and explain how evidence from each source supports their claim.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how these resources are limited and typically non-renewable, and how their distributions are significantly changing as a result of removal by humans. Examples of uneven distributions of resources as a result of past processes include but are not limited to petroleum (locations of the burial of organic marine sediments and subsequent geologic traps), metal ores (locations of past volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with subduction zones), and soil (locations of active weathering and/or deposition of rock).]

Have students return to the article “Why Can’t I Find Gold in My Backyard?” from the Rock Transformations unit and gather information about where resources such as gold, oil, and soil can be found. Prompt them to make sense of this information and focus on one resource to write a thorough explanation about how certain geoscience processes have caused an uneven distribution of that resource.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), surface processes (such as mass wasting and tsunamis), or severe weather events (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods). Examples of data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite systems to monitor hurricanes or forest fires) or local (such as building basements in tornado prone regions or reservoirs to mitigate droughts).]

Have students revisit the Futura Geohazards Engineer’s Dossier from the Plate Motion Engineering Internship and then have them run a test of sensors in the TsunamiAlert Design Tool to collect data about how well the placement of the sensors mitigated the effects of the earthquakes and resultant tsunamis. They can use the information from the Dossier to aid them in analyzing and interpreting the results of the test and make a plan for how they will move the sensors before the next test.

On Day 1 of the Phase Change Engineering Internship, students generate criteria for the design problem they will be working on during their internship, before getting the criteria that have been chosen by Futura Engineering. On Day 10, students brainstorm the criteria and constraints for a new engineering problem they have defined related to chemical engineering.

Pose an engineering problem that is relevant to your school and challenge students to come up with criteria and constraints for solutions.

During the design phase of the Plate Motion Engineering Internship and the Phase Change Engineering Internship, students evaluate competing design solutions using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each of the three project criteria. They also use feedback from their project director to evaluate how well their submitted designs meet the project criteria, and discuss that feedback as a whole class to get a range of values for results that strongly, moderately, or weakly address the criteria. Students use the feedback and ranges to make a plan for improving their designs.

Change one of the criteria and then challenge students to return to the competing design solutions to reevaluate them based on the new criteria.

During the design phase of the Phase Change Engineering Internship and the Plate Motion Engineering Internship, students analyze their data by using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each criteria. These processes help them decide which designs to submit to the project director for feedback. Challenge students to return to the data to identify the second best design and explain why the data is less favorable for that design than it is for the best design.

On Day 10 of each Internship, students define a new engineering problem and develop criteria for that problem. Have students develop a model for testing, analyzing, and revising their design solutions for their new problems. Students can focus on ways to test how well their new solutions meet their newly-generated constraints and criteria. Challenge students to conduct additional rounds of analysis and revision to deepen the iterative testing process.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of practical problems could include the impact of collisions between two cars, between a car and stationary objects, and between a meteor and a space vehicle.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to vertical or horizontal interactions in one dimension.]

In Chapter 4 of the Force and Motion unit, students have the opportunity to help a film student figure out why the collision scene she tried to recreate did not work. In the collision scene, a vehicle collided with a second vehicle at the edge of the cliff, but neither vehicle fell off the cliff. In the film student’s attempt at recreating the scene, the second vehicle fell off the cliff.

Have students take this task further and design a solution to the student’s problem. Prompt students to design the props, considering mass, friction, and the forces involved, to prevent both vehicles from falling off the cliff after the collision.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on balanced (Newton’s First Law) and unbalanced forces in a system, qualitative comparisons of forces, mass and changes in motion (Newton’s Second Law), frame of reference, and specification of units.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to forces and changes in motion in one-dimension in an inertial reference frame and to change in one variable at a time. Assessment does not include the use of trigonometry.]

In Lesson 2.1 of the Force and Motion unit, students have the opportunity to plan and conduct investigations using physical objects to examine the effect of same size forces on objects with different mass. From this investigation, they gather evidence that an object’s mass can affect its change in velocity when a force is exerted on it.

Have students use the Force and Motion simulation or the same physical objects they used in Lesson 2.1 to plan an investigation to gather evidence on the effect of balanced and unbalanced forces on an object’s motion.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of devices that use electric and magnetic forces could include electromagnets, electric motors, or generators. Examples of data could include the effect of the number of turns of wire on the strength of an electromagnet, or the effect of increasing the number or strength of magnets on the speed of an electric motor.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment about questions that require quantitative answers is limited to proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking.]

Present students with data accessed from the Electromagnets Mode and Permanent Magnets Mode in the Magnetic Fields simulation. Show data related the effect of different number of coils around an electromagnet, distance from a magnet, and/or the number of magnets on the motion of the objects in the system and the energy in the system. Prompt students to ask questions about the data to determine factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence for arguments could include data generated from simulations or digital tools; and charts displaying mass, strength of interaction, distance from the Sun, and orbital periods of objects within the solar system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include Newton’s Law of Gravitation or Kepler’s Laws.]

Students can gather information from the “Escaping a Black Hole” article in the Magnetic Fields unit and teachers can present students with data on objects in the solar system that shows their mass, strength of interaction with the Sun, distance from the sun, and their orbital period. Prompt them to then use this information as evidence in their arguments.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of this phenomenon could include the interactions of magnets, electrically-charged strips of tape, and electrically-charged pith balls. Examples of investigations could include first-hand experiences or simulations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to electric and magnetic fields, and limited to qualitative evidence for the existence of fields.]

In the Magnetic Fields unit, students evaluate experiments on how well the experiments isolate variables. They also conduct their own investigations on the forces between magnets. Through investigations with magnets and the Magnetic Fields simulation, students gather evidence that magnets exert forces on each other even though they are not in contact.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on descriptive relationships between kinetic energy and mass separately from kinetic energy and speed. Examples could include riding a bicycle at different speeds, rolling different sizes of rocks downhill, and getting hit by a wiffle ball versus a tennis ball.]

Students have the opportunity to construct and interpret graphical displays of data about kinetic energy, mass, and speed in Lesson 4.3 of the Force and Motion unit. In this activity, students use the Force and Motion simulation to gather data on kinetic energy and velocity, and kinetic energy and mass. They graph each set of data and use the data to describe the relationship between kinetic energy and mass, and between kinetic energy and speed.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on relative amounts of potential energy, not on calculations of potential energy. Examples of objects within systems interacting at varying distances could include: the Earth and either a roller coaster cart at varying positions on a hill or objects at varying heights on shelves, changing the direction/orientation of a magnet, and a balloon with static electrical charge being brought closer to a classmate’s hair. Examples of models could include representations, diagrams, pictures, and written descriptions of systems.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to two objects and electric, magnetic, and gravitational interactions.]

In Lesson 3.3 of the Magnetic Fields unit, students have the opportunity to develop models where they describe how the amount of potential energy stored in a system depends on the distance between the magnets. They create diagrams to show the potential energy in systems of magnets at varying distances apart.

Have students use information from the “Potential for Speed” article set or from their investigations with the physical materials used in Lesson 2.2 to create models of other systems and show how the potential energy in the system varies depending on the arrangements of the objects.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing waves with both qualitative and quantitative thinking.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include electromagnetic waves and is limited to standard repeating waves.]

In Lesson 2.3 of the Light Waves unit, students have the opportunity to examine mathematical representations of waves and discuss different wave properties. Have them discuss how different types of light have different wavelengths and how the amplitude of the wave is related to the energy of the wave.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on both light and mechanical waves. Examples of models could include drawings, simulations, and written descriptions.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to qualitative applications pertaining to light and mechanical waves.]

Throughout the Light Waves unit, students use the Light Waves simulation to observe and describe how light interacts with various materials. They draw diagrams to describe how UV light is absorbed by DNA to cause skin cancer, and to describe how UV light is reflected, transmitted, and absorbed by different molecules in the atmosphere. Have students consider that sound waves can only be transmitted through matter, and have them create diagrams of examples of when a sound wave is reflected, absorbed, and transmitted through different materials.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on a basic understanding that waves can be used for communication purposes. Examples could include using fiber optic cable to transmit light pulses, radio wave pulses in wifi devices, and conversion of stored binary patterns to make sound or text on a computer screen.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include binary counting. Assessment does not include the specific mechanism of any given device.]

Students can gather information from the Light Waves article, “How Fiber-optic Communication Works,” on using fiber optic cables to transmit light pulses to support the claim.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on conceptual understanding that changes in genetic material may result in making different proteins.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include specific changes at the molecular level, mechanisms for protein synthesis, or specific types of mutations.]

Before developing their own model, students can gather information from the “Glowing Jellies” and “The Deadly Dare: Rough-Skinned Newt Defenses” articles from the Natural Selection unit. Teachers can also project the Traits and Reproduction simulation for students to gather additional information.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on finding patterns of changes in the level of complexity of anatomical structures in organisms and the chronological order of fossil appearance in the rock layers.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the names of individual species or geological eras in the fossil record.]

Have students use the Evolutionary History simulation to find a pattern in anatomical structures in different species. Then, have them trace back the pattern through the fossil record to find a common ancestor. Students should use All Fossils mode, select Tree view, and Place All fossils. Next, they should choose a species still in existence today (such as dromedary camels) as a starting point. Challenge students to also identify which species is more closely related to the common ancestor based on the similarities of their structures. They can also consider where the fossils may have been found in the rock layers.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on explanations of the evolutionary relationships among organisms in terms of similarity or differences of the gross appearance of anatomical structures.]

Students can refer to the Species Cards in Lesson 1.2 of the Evolutionary History unit as they write their explanation.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on inferring general patterns of relatedness among embryos of different organisms by comparing the macroscopic appearance of diagrams or pictures.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of comparisons is limited to gross appearance of anatomical structures in embryological development.]

Have students revisit the article “Comparing Embryos: Evidence for Common Ancestors” from the Evolutionary History unit. Students should use the pictorial data in the image in the article to compare patterns of similarities in the embryological development across multiple species to identify relationships not evident in the fully formed anatomy.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on using simple probability statements and proportional reasoning to construct explanations.]

Have students open the Natural Selection simulation and revisit Camouflage mode. Students should press Run and then Analyze results after 50 generations. Have students use the data from the simulation as evidence to write an explanation of how genetic variation increased some individuals chance of survival and reproduction using simple probability statements and proportional reasoning.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy); and, on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries.]

Have students revisit the article “How to Make a Venomous Cabbage” from the Natural Selection unit. As they read, have them gather information about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection and the impacts these technologies have on society. Then, provide students with several reliable online sources they can use to conduct further research on this topic. Next, have students discuss their findings in groups and synthesize information from several sources in a written explanation.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on using mathematical models, probability statements, and proportional reasoning to support explanations of trends in changes to populations over time.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include Hardy Weinberg calculations.]

Have students revisit the article they read in the “Mutations: Not Just for Superheroes” article set from the Natural Selection unit. Ask them to create a histogram describing the population at three time points they read about in the article: many generations before the mutation were introduced into the population, when the mutation was introduced, and many generations after the mutation were introduced. To accompany their histograms have students write probability statements and use proportional reasoning to support an explanation of the trends in changes to the population over time.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual.]

Have students revisit the Futura Geohazards Engineer’s Dossier from the Plate Motion Engineering Internship and then have them run a test of sensors in the TsunamiAlert Design Tool to collect data about how well the placement of the sensors mitigated the effects of the earthquakes and resulting tsunamis. They can use the information from the Dossier to aid them in analyzing and interpreting the results of the test and make a plan for how they will move the sensors before the next test.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual.]

Students can gather information from the Earth, Moon, and Sun simulation about the lunar phases and eclipses of the sun and moon. For information about seasons have them revisit the article, “The Endless Summer of the Arctic Tern” in the Earth, Moon, and Sun unit. They can then create a physical, graphical, or conceptual model of the Earth-sun-moon system and use it to aid their description. Ask:

• How can you use your model to show the cyclic patterns of movement of Earth and the Moon?
• How does this movement cause eclipses to occur?
• How does this movement cause seasons to occur?

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis for the model is on gravity as the force that holds together the solar system and Milky Way galaxy and controls orbital motions within them. Examples of models can be physical (such as the analogy of distance along a football field or computer visualizations of elliptical orbits) or conceptual (such as mathematical proportions relative to the size of familiar objects such as students’ school or state).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include Kepler’s Laws of orbital motion or the apparent retrograde motion of the planets as viewed from Earth.]

Have students revisit the article, “Gravity in the Solar System” in the Earth, Moon, and Sun unit. Using the information from the article, students should create a physical or conceptual model of the solar system with arrows to indicate the force of gravity. Ask:

• How did gravity cause the solar system to be created?
• How does gravity continue to affect the solar system?

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the analysis of data from Earth-based instruments, space-based telescopes, and spacecraft to determine similarities and differences among solar system objects. Examples of scale properties include the sizes of an object’s layers (such as crust and atmosphere), surface features (such as volcanoes), and orbital radius. Examples of data include statistical information, drawings and photographs, and models.] [Assessment Boundary : Assessment does not include recalling facts about properties of the planets and other solar system bodies.]

Have students analyze and interpret data from the article “Scale in the Solar System” from the Earth, Moon, and Sun unit. Also look at the NASA website to provide them with additional data about the sizes of solar system objects and their orbital radii.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how analyses of rock formations and the fossils they contain are used to establish relative ages of major events in Earth’s history. Examples of Earth’s major events could range from being very recent (such as the last Ice Age or the earliest fossils of homo sapiens) to very old (such as the formation of Earth or the earliest evidence of life). Examples can include the formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, the evolution or extinction of particular living organisms, or significant volcanic eruptions.][Assessment Boundary : Assessment does not include recalling the names of specific periods or epochs and events within them.]

Have students return to the article “Steno and the Shark” from the Evolutionary History unit and gather information about how scientists can use rock strata to understand Earth’s history. Prompt students to make a scientific explanation about what they might be able to tell about the fossils pictured in the rock strata image in the article. Teachers could also provide students with additional data from the USGS website.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence include grade-appropriate databases on human populations and the rates of consumption of food and natural resources (such as freshwater, mineral, and energy). Examples of impacts can include changes to the appearance, composition, and structure of Earth’s systems as well as the rates at which they change. The consequences of increases in human populations and consumption of natural resources are described by science, but science does not make the decisions for the actions society takes.]

Have students use Human Activities mode in the Earth’s Changing Climate simulation to collect evidence to use in their written arguments.

On Day 1 of the Force and Motion Engineering Internship, students generate criteria for the design problem they will be working on during their internship, prior to getting the criteria chosen by Futura Engineering. On Day 10, students brainstorm the criteria and constraints for a new engineering problem they have defined related to mechanical engineering.

On Day 1 of the Natural Selection Engineering Internship, students generate criteria for the design problem they will be working on during their internship, prior to getting the criteria chosen by Futura Engineering. On Day 10, students brainstorm the criteria and constraints for a new engineering problem they have defined related to biomedical engineering.

Pose an engineering problem that is relevant to your school and challenge students to come up with criteria and constraints for solutions.

During the design phase of the Force and Motion Internship and the Natural Selection Engineering Internship, students evaluate competing design solutions using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each of the three project criteria. They also use feedback from their project director to evaluate how well their submitted designs meet the project criteria, and discuss the feedback as a whole class to get a range of values for results that strongly, moderately, or weakly address the criteria. Students use the feedback and ranges to make a plan for improving their designs.

Change one of the criteria and then challenge students to return to the competing design solutions to reevaluate them based on the new criteria.

During the design phase of the Force and Motion Engineering Internship, students analyze their data by graphing their results and then comparing graphs of different design solutions. They also analyze their data by using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each criteria. These processes help them decide which designs to submit to the project director for feedback. Challenge students to return to the data to identify the second best design. Have them explain why the data is less favorable for that design than for the best design.

During the design phase of the Natural Selection Engineering Internship, students analyze their data by using a color coding system to identify which designs best meet each criteria. These processes help them decide which designs to submit to the project director for feedback.

In the research phase of the Force and Motion Engineering Internship, students build and test their own Egg Drop models, in which they need to build a structure to protect an egg dropped from a certain height. Students do one round of analysis and revision to their model. Challenge students to conduct additional rounds of analysis and revision to deepen the iterative testing process for the Egg Drop models.

On Day 10 of the Force and Motion Engineering Internship and the Natural Selection, students define a new engineering problem, and constraints, and criteria for that problem. Have students develop a model for testing, analyzing, and revising design solutions for their new problems. Students should focus on ways to test how well their new solutions meet their newly-generated constraints and criteria.