Disciplinary Core Ideas
In this unit, students analyze the science phenomena of different forces that can act on all structures. They begin by exploring how forces act on different materials and shapes. They then use what they know about forces to design a skyscraper prototype in this lesson, evaluating how their design relates to the ability of the skyscraper to withstand the weight of the structure and the people on it, as well as the force of wind.
In this unit, students bring together what they have learned about the interactions of energy and matter to explore the science phenomena of relationships between energy, force, and motion. In this lesson, they investigate how windmills transfer the kinetic energy in wind so that it can be used to do work, and then use that knowledge to analyze balanced and unbalanced forces.
In this unit, students first use windmills to analyze how wind energy provides a force that causes windmills to turn. Then, in this lesson, they explore the science phenomenon of how patterns in motion can be used to predict future movements. This page provides a snapshot of key components of the lesson.
In this unit, students continue to explore the science phenomenon of forces, analyzing how structures have to be able to withstand all of the forces that act on them. Students begin by testing different materials and shapes to see how they respond to different types of forces.
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.
