Disciplinary Core Ideas
In this unit, students figure out phenomena of Earth’s interacting systems, focusing on how the hydrosphere interacts with and is influenced by the other systems. In this lesson, students apply their scientific knowledge of Earth’s water system to engineer water filtration devices to figure out how to reduce the impacts of water pollution on the environment. This page provides an overview of key aspects of this lesson.
In this unit, students use sleds and roller coasters to explore the relationship between energy, forces, and motion. In this lesson, students apply what they know about energy and forces to engineer a roller coaster. This page is a high-level extract of this lesson.
In this unit, students focus on how sound energy is transferred from one place to another in waves. In this engineering lesson, students apply what they have learned about sound energy to design a sound absorbing wall. This page highlights each component of this lesson.
In this unit, students focus on light energy, investigating the science phenomena of how light moves when it interacts with different kinds of matter. Students use scientific knowledge about light to engineer a device that uses mirrors to redirect light. This page is a high-level extract of this lesson.
In this unit, students focus on the Earth-Sun-moon system to explore how gravity pulls objects including satellites into orbit. In this lesson, students engineer an insulating solution for a prototype satellite that minimizes the amount of thermal energy transferred into or out of it.
In this unit, students build on their scientific knowledge about matter, energy, and heat transfer to explore the phenomena of weather and climate. They investigate how the sun powers the global water cycle, which in turn has very local impacts that affect the phenomena of regional climates around the world. They then use that knowledge to figure out and design a technology that solves the problem of drought-related water shortages.
In this unit, students explore forest ecosystems, studying the science phenomena of interactions between living things and the environment. In this lesson, students build on their understanding of how energy affects the growth of organisms by exploring the phenomena of forest food webs, and analyzing how the phenomena of drought can have a ripple effect through the ecosystem. This page showcases all components of this lesson.
In this unit, students explore how engineers and architects design structures that help human populations survive and thrive in their environment. Students take on the challenges of civil engineers as they design different types of bridges to discover a design that can carry the maximum load. This page highlights the components of this lesson.
In this unit, students apply what they have previously learned about forces, motion, and matter to the solar system, focusing on the phenomena of gravity’s role in the universe. In this lesson, students engineer a solution to collisions between moving objects in space. This page is a high-level extract of this lesson.
In this unit, students evaluate how Earth is heated unevenly by investigating how the angle that the sun’s rays hit Earth affects temperatures at different locations. In this lesson, students use their scientific knowledge of phenomena related to global warming and climate to engineer a model greenhouse that reaches a specific temperature. This pages provides a snapshot of this lesson.
