# data[].attributes.body
How do organisms get their traits? This is an unspoken question that underlies things many of us wonder about beginning at an early age, such as Why does my sibling have curly hair whereas mine is straight? How come I am shorter than others in my family? Why is my sister a faster runner than I am? In the Inheritance and Traits: Variation in Wolves unit, students dive deep into exploring patterns in the traits of organisms to answer the question of how those traits come to be. Students assume the role of wildlife biologists helping a class of students near the fictional Graystone National Park to solve the mystery of Wolf 44—a wolf they have observed to be different from the rest of its pack, which serves as the anchor phenomenon for the unit.

# data[].attributes.headline
late FALL: Bridges! (pull from Mystery Science & EiE unit)

# data[].attributes.subject
late FALL: Bridges! (pull from Mystery Science & EiE unit)

# data[].attributes.body
Last week, we started exploring how building with different shapes makes certain types of bridges - including pillar and arch bridges - more structurally sound.
Students were challenged to only use two pieces of paper, scissors, and washer weights to design and test bridges spanning a 6 inch canyon. They experimented with pillar supports, stabilizers, and truss designs. This week, we will look at how shapes make up tall towers and experiment with suspension bridges.
-keva blocks over "bridge"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To obtain kit materials, visit our online store to purchase a kit that includes materials for up to 30 learners.

Each unit includes a letter to send home with student for materials donation for the unit. Click here to download a copy of this letter in Spanish.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
To Get to the Other Side: Designing Bridges

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When civil engineers design bridges, they must take into account factors like balance and motion. This unit introduces the principles behind bridge design with the storybook Javier Builds a Bridge, about a boy who needs a safe footbridge to get to his island play fort.

# data[].attributes.headline
Weather & Climate Amplify unit with FOSS Water & Weather

# data[].attributes.subject
Weather & Climate Amplify unit with FOSS Water & Weather

# data[].attributes.headline
mid FALL: Building STRONG with materials

# data[].attributes.subject
mid FALL: Building STRONG with materials

# data[].attributes.body
-focus on shapes, beams
-gumdrop structures
-testing how much weight things can hold

# data[].attributes.headline
early FALL: Building TALL collaboratively (2-3 Weeks)

# data[].attributes.subject
early FALL: Building TALL collaboratively (2-3 Weeks)

# data[].attributes.body
-using Bildopolis cardboard structures
-using pipes & connectors
-define base, supports, beams, roof
-test different sizes/types of bases and structures

# data[].attributes.headline
Early WINTER: Designing Water Filters EiE Unit

# data[].attributes.subject
Early WINTER: Designing Water Filters EiE Unit

# data[].attributes.body
-good build off water/weather unit
The water you drink is clean and safe thanks to the environmental engineers who design and manage our water supply and water treatment systems. In this unit, the storybook Saving Salila’s Turtle introduces students to the problem of water pollution—and to some solutions. Students will investigate the properties of filter materials, apply their knowledge of water, and think like environmental engineers as they plan, construct, test and improve their own water filters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many EiE lessons use materials that are commonly available at grocery, hardware, or craft stores. To obtain kit materials, either visit our EiE store to purchase a kit that includes materials for up to 30 students, or create your own kit based on the materials list printed in the teacher guide or the downloadable list below.

Each unit includes a letter to send home with student for materials donation for the unit. Click here to download a copy of this letter in Spanish.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Water, Water Everywhere: Designing Water Filters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The water you drink is clean and safe thanks to the environmental engineers who design and manage our water supply and water treatment systems. In this unit, the storybook Saving Salila's Turtle introduces students to the problem of water pollution-and to some solutions.

# data[].attributes.headline
SPRING: Environments & Survival Amplify Unit

# data[].attributes.subject
SPRING: Environments & Survival Amplify Unit

# data[].attributes.body
There is an astounding diversity of traits among organisms living in different environments on Earth. How do the traits of different organisms make them more likely or less likely to survive in their environments? What happens to organisms when their environment changes? Biologists continue to study how organisms’ traits affect their ability to avoid predators and to get food and water. Many engineers in the field of biomimicry engineering draw inspiration from the traits of organisms to design innovative solutions for a vast array of problems, such as painless needles inspired by mosquito stingers or body armor inspired by fish scales. In the Environments and Survival unit, students assume the role of biomimicry engineers studying a population of grove snails to understand how the snails’ traits influence their survival in a changing environment. Students apply what they learn to plan, make, and test designs that solve problems. Reporting to the lead engineer at an engineering firm, students work to explain why the snails with yellow shells in the population aren’t surviving as well as the snails with banded shells. Motivated to figure out why some snails are more likely to survive than others, students use physical models, read informational texts, analyze data, and engage in student-to-student discussions to investigate factors affecting organisms’ survival. Students write scientific explanations about their findings to communicate ideas back to the engineering firm.
**PULL FINAL PART (LESSON 4) AND USE FOR BIOMIMICRY UNIT AT END OF YEAR: At the end of the unit, to help the engineering firm design a robot that aims to mitigate the effect of an environmental change, students use their newfound understanding of how the traits of organisms affect the organisms’ survival.

# data[].attributes.body
-exploring building with different shapes
-bridge building (mystery science, EiE bridge unit)
-using paper, cardboard, support beams to build things that are stronger than they appear
-different types of bridges
-skyscrapers & taller building (test with wind)

# data[].attributes.body
ADAPT this middle school EiE unit: When it rains, it pours—and when water can't soak through pavement, rain collects pollution that washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans. Use your environmental engineering skills to redesign a city and control stormwater runoff.
-look at BUILT environments, great connection to natural environments Amplify unit SB will do
-sewage systems
-roads
-focus on systems and how engineers organize systems
-look at our own neighborhoods and communities
-good build up from bridges (which are also civil engineering)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When it rains, it pours-and when water can't soak through pavement, rain collects pollution that washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans. Use your environmental engineering skills to redesign a city and control stormwater runoff.

# data[].attributes.headline
SPRING: Biomimicry & Bio-inspired Design

# data[].attributes.subject
SPRING: Biomimicry & Bio-inspired Design

# data[].attributes.body
-look at form/function/purpose of designs as inspired and related to nature
-physical things like helmets, backpacks, materials like velcro, systems, etc
-pull Lesson 4 from Environments & survival amplify unit
-use biomimicry padlet from COVID distance learning
-look at robots specifically (3-4 weeks) and systems (2-3 weeks)
-full PBL arc
At the end of the unit, to help the engineering firm design a robot that aims to mitigate the effect of an environmental change, students use their newfound understanding of how the traits of organisms affect the organisms’ survival.

# data[].attributes.body
Measurement, the process of quantifying observations, is one of the cornerstones of science. Measurement compares nature - the unknown - to a standard unit - the known. Through such comparison, the organization of the world becomes more comprehensive. The Measuring Matter Module has four investigations that introduce students to tools and procedures for making comparisons of matter in its common forms - solid, liquid, and gas. In this module, students will:

Apply the conventions of measurement - accuracy, position, orientation, repetition.

Use tools to make accurate measurements and represent measurements by using numbers and units; use measurement data to construct explanations.

Plan a procedure, and apply it to solve a problem.

Use tables and graphs to organize and display data for analysis.

Weigh materials to confirm conservation of matter.

Investigate the relationship between phase change and heating and cooling.

Make and separate a number of simple mixtures; mix materials to observe solutions and reactions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Measurement, the process of quantifying observations, is one of the cornerstones of science. Measurement compares nature - the unknown - to a standard unit - the known. Through such comparison, the organization of the world becomes more comprehensive. The Measuring Matter Module has four investigations that introduce students to tools and procedures for making comparisons of matter in its common forms - solid, liquid, and gas. In this module, students will:

Apply the conventions of measurement - accuracy, position, orientation, repetition.

Use tools to make accurate measurements and represent measurements by using numbers and units; use measurement data to construct explanations.

Plan a procedure, and apply it to solve a problem.

Use tables and graphs to organize and display data for analysis.

Weigh materials to confirm conservation of matter.

Investigate the relationship between phase change and heating and cooling.

Make and separate a number of simple mixtures; mix materials to observe solutions and reactions.

For a description of each investigation in the Measuring Matter Module and the correlations to the National Science Education Standards, download the Module Overview PDF.

To view the PDF version of the module summary, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. Acrobat Reader is available free from Adobe.

©2012 UC Regents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is the SSI WDF WebContent version of the page provides basic information about a particular module. Each FOSS module has some text explaining its subject, aims, and methods. Linked from the module detail, as well as from the module OVERVIEW, which comes from the scope and sequence.

# data[].attributes.body
The FOSS Weather and Water Course focuses on Earth’s atmosphere, weather, and water. A good understanding of meteorology as an earth science isn’t complete without an introduction to the physics and chemistry that drive weather. Understanding weather is more than reading a thermometer and recording air-pressure measurements. The course consists of nine investigations. Students first learn about atoms and molecules, changes of state, and heat transfer. Then they investigate the water cycle, air masses, and fronts, winds and severe weather.

FOSS EXPECTS STUDENTS TO

Investigate the properties of Earth’s atmosphere and the processes that produce weather, including energy transfer, atmospheric pressure, and water cycle.

Study principles that govern temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation, and severe weather.

Collect and analyze local and global weather data using instruments and reports from various media.

Investigate fresh water as a vital resource.

Become familiar with and acquire vocabulary concerning these concepts: heat, radiation, conduction, convection, density, pressure, condensation, water cycle, drainage, and climate.

Exercise language, social studies, and math skills in the context of science.

Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, relating, and inferring.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
GOALS
The FOSS Weather and Water Course focuses on Earth's atmosphere, weather, and water. A good understanding of meteorology as an earth science isn't complete without an introduction to the physics and chemistry that drive weather. Understanding weather is more than reading a thermometer and recording air-pressure measurements. The course consists of nine investigations. Students first learn about atoms and molecules, changes of state, and heat transfer. Then they investigate the water cycle, air masses, and fronts, winds and severe weather.
FOSS EXPECTS STUDENTS TO

Investigate the properties of Earth's atmosphere and the processes that produce weather, including energy transfer, atmospheric pressure, and water cycle.

Study principles that govern temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation, and severe weather.

Collect and analyze local and global weather data using instruments and reports from various media.

Investigate fresh water as a vital resource.

Become familiar with and acquire vocabulary concerning these concepts: heat, radiation, conduction, convection, density, pressure, condensation, water cycle, drainage, and climate.

Exercise language, social studies, and math skills in the context of science.

Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, relating, and inferring.

For a description of each investigation in the Weather and Water Course and the correlations to the National Science Education Standards, download the Course Summary PDF.

To view the PDF version of the course summary, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in. Acrobat Reader is available free from Adobe.

©2005 UC Regents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is the SSI WDF WebContent version of the page provides basic information about a particular module. Each FOSS module has some text explaining its subject, aims, and methods. Linked from the module detail, as well as from the module OVERVIEW, which comes from the scope and sequence.