Constructing explanations and designing solutions

In this unit, students explore observable patterns that result from Earth’s rotation and the moon’s orbit around the sun. They use these patterns to make predictions about the future appearances of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky.

In this unit, students focus on the relationship between Earth’s movement in the solar system and the changing seasons, exploring seasonal patterns in the changing amounts of daylight, temperature, and the environment.

In this unit, students discover living things, beginning with an investigation into the differences between living and nonliving things. Students then explore how water helps plants grow and develop the structures they need to survive.

In the last unit, students analyzed how engineers can mimic plant and animal structures to solve problems facing people. In this unit, students begin by exploring animal behaviors of parents and offspring that help the offspring survive.

In this unit, students explore the science phenomena of animal behaviors of parents and offspring that help the offspring survive. This page is a high-level extract of lesson two in which students mimic the beaver’s behavior of building dams to design their own dams that solve the problem of flooding.

In the last unit, students explored animal behaviors of parents and offspring that help the offspring survive and then designed a dam to stop the flow of water. In this unit, students explore the science phenomena of how animals communicate with one another using sound.

In the last unit, students explored the relationship between vibrations and sound. In this unit, students continue to explore the phenomena of human senses, focusing on how objects can be seen when they are illuminated by a source of light, and how light passes through opaque, transparent, and translucent materials differently. Students then investigate how a beam of light changes when it hits a mirror.

In this unit, students explore the science phenomena of light and the relationship between sight and light. In this lesson, students carry out an investigation to observe how materials with different properties interact with light in various ways.

In 2nd grade, students conduct investigations, carry out experiments, and apply their scientific knowledge to engineer prototype solutions. In this unit, students investigate the science phenomenon of properties of different kinds of matter, connecting a material’s properties with the functions for which it is used. 

In the last unit, students explored the properties of different kinds of matter, connecting a material’s properties with the functions for which it is used. In this unit, students focus on Earth materials and the science phenomena of processes that change them (specifically weathering and erosion). 

In this unit, students explore the science phenomena of different processes that change Earth’s surface over time. Once students have investigated how wind and water change the shape of the land, they use their scientific knowledge to engineer a solution that prevents rainwater from washing away a sandy hillside. This page showcases key components of this lesson. 

In the last unit, students explored how weathering and erosion change Earth materials, and then designed an engineering solution that reduces erosion. In this unit, students are introduced to the science phenomena of landforms on Earth’s surface, exploring how scientists use maps to represent the shapes and kinds of land and water on Earth’s surface.

In 3rd grade, students ask questions and conduct experiments to explore the world around them. In this unit, students unpack the phenomena of tiny particles called atoms that make up all matter in the universe. This page showcases key parts of the first lesson in this unit.

In this unit, students use the scientific process to analyze Earth’s place in the solar system. They begin by modeling how matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms, and changes state when heat is added or removed. This page provides an overview of lesson 1B in which students explore the science phenomena of how heat affects matter.