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Why are living things different from one another?

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Unit Summary

This unit on genetics starts out with students noticing and wondering about photos of two cattle, one of whom has significantly more muscle than the other. The students then observe photos of other animals with similar differences in musculature: dogs, fish, rabbits, and mice. After developing initial models for the possible causes of these differences in musculature, students explore a collection of photos showing a range of visible differences.

In the first lesson set, students use videos, photos, data sets, and readings to investigate what causes an animal to get extra-big muscles. Students figure out how muscles typically develop as a result of environmental factors such as exercise and diet. Then, students work with cattle pedigrees, including data about chromosomes and proteins, to figure out genetic factors that influence the heavily muscled phenotype and explore selective breeding in cattle. In the second lesson set, students use what they've learned from explaining cattle musculature to help them explain other trait variations they've seen. They investigate plant reproduction, including selective breeding and asexual reproduction (in plants and other organisms) and other examples of traits that are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Students figure out that environmental and genetic factors together play a role in the differences we see among living things.

Simulations

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This 8th grade science unit on genetics builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-LS1-5*. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

MS-LS3-1. Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, effects to the structure and function of the organism.

MS-LS3-2. Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.

MS-LS4-5. Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

MS-LS1-2*. Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

MS-LS1-4*. Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants, respectively.

*PEs marked with an asterisk are partially developed in this unit and shared with other units, as explained in the DCI column. Also, regarding the strike through LS3.B-"and some are neutral to the organism"-in middle school there is a boundary of scale in working with genetic information. Generally, we stick with the scale of working with chromosomes and do not get into the more-detailed model of genetic information at the DNA level. We do not learn about base pairs, the four nucleotides, or the sequencing of those nucleotides because those are reserved for high school. Because of this boundary, it makes building an evidence-based model of neutral mutations on an organism very difficult. This is because the evidence the class needs that a change in the structure of genetic information occurs without seeing an effect at the phenotype level happens at the nucleotide sequence level. For this reason, we limited the effect of mutations to those where students can detect a phenotypic difference.

LS1.B: Genetic factors as well as local conditions affect the growth of the adult plant. Students specifically investigate the combination of local environmental effects and genetic influences on plant growth in Lessons 13, 15, and 17. In Lesson 3, students investigate environmental effects on musculature and the combination of environmental effects with genetic influences on other trait variations in Lessons 15 and 16. Students are focused on determining how genetic factors influence the growth of organisms in Lessons 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14. This DCI element is shared with Unit 7.3 Metabolic Reactions.

LS1.B: Organisms reproduce, either sexually or asexually, and transfer their genetic information to their offspring. Transferring genetic information via sexual reproduction is the focus of Lesson 5 specifically (in animals) and Lesson 13 (in plants), where students also encounter asexual reproduction, and they continue to explore how organisms reproduce asexually in Lesson 14.

LS3.A: Genes are located in the chromosomes of cells, with each chromosome pair containing two variants of each of many distinct genes. Each distinct gene chiefly controls the production of specific proteins, which in turn affects the traits of the individual. Changes (mutations) to genes can result in changes to proteins, which can affect the structures and functions of the organism and thereby change traits. Students investigate cattle karyotypes in Lesson 5 and then connect chromosomes to genes, alleles, and proteins in Lesson 6, where they also encounter an example of genetic modification that resulted in changes to the myostatin protein, thereby affecting the structure of animals' musculature. Students continue to explore the gene-to-protein-to-trait story in Lessons 7 and 8, where they hear about the original mutation that led to a new allele, which gave rise to heavy musculature. Additional mutation examples are added in Lessons 13 and 16.

LS3.A: Variations of inherited traits between parent and offspring arise from genetic differences that result from the sub-set of chromosomes (and therefore genes) inherited. Students contrast the phenotypes of parents and offspring in Lesson 5 and connect those differences to chromosomes (genes) in Lesson 6. In Lesson 14, students specifically contrast the variation between parent and offspring due to sexual reproduction with the inheritance of identical genetic information due to asexual reproduction.

LS3.B: In addition to variations that arise from sexual reproduction, genetic information can be altered because of mutations. Though rare, mutations may result in changes to the structure and function of proteins. Some changes are beneficial, others are harmful, and some are neutral to the organism. Students are introduced to the natural mutation that leads to extra-big muscles in Lesson 8, and they explore the benefits and drawbacks of this mutation in Lesson 9. In Lesson 16 students encounter other examples of mutations and again consider their effects and how rare they are.

LS3.B: In sexually reproducing organisms, each parent contributes half of the genes acquired (at random) by the offspring. Individuals have two of each chromosome and hence two alleles of each gene, one acquired from each parent. These versions may be identical or may differ from each other. In Lesson 5, students discover that sex cells contain single copies of chromosomes, and these combine so offspring have two sets of chromosomes. They connect genes and alleles to this pattern in Lesson 6, and in Lesson 8 students use their understanding of random assortment along with probability calculations, and Punnett squares to determine the chances of possible genotypic outcomes of various parent crosses. They apply that algorithm to other organisms in Lesson 10, Lesson 13, and Lesson 16.

LS4.B: In artificial selection, humans have the capacity to influence certain characteristics of organisms by selective breeding. One can choose desired parental traits determined by genes, which are then passed on to offspring. Students explore selective breeding in Lessons 9 (in animals) and 13 (in plants).

LS1.B: Plants reproduce in a variety of ways, sometimes depending on animal behavior and specialized features for reproduction. Students investigate plant reproductive structures in Lesson 13, focusing on how certain pollinators interact with specialized flower parts. The PE related to this DCI element is shared with Unit 8.6.

LS1.A: Within cells, special structures are responsible for particular functions, and the cell membrane forms the boundary that controls what enters and leaves the cell. In Lesson 2, students investigate the structure and function of muscle cells, building on knowledge they bring from Unit 6.6, which shares this DCI element. Then in Lesson 5 and beyond when students investigate chromosomes, they are able to build on their previous understanding of the structure and function of the nucleus specifically.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information: This unit intentionally develops this practice. Students work with a new element (evaluating competing accounts in Lesson 9) and gradually become more independent in their use of all the other elements of this practice. Throughout the unit students obtain and evaluate information from a variety of sources, including articles, audio interviews, videos, charts, graphs, and images. They have formal and informal opportunities to communicate information orally and in writing. To support their use of this practice, in Lesson 3 students co-construct a version of the checklist tool they've used in prior units and use it in Lessons 6, 10, 13, 14, and 15 with opportunities to obtain, evaluate, and communicate increasingly complex information. Students are formally assessed on this practice in Lesson 10, and then they reflect on their use of this practice in a self-assessment in Lesson 14.

Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking: This unit intentionally develops the practice of using mathematics and computational thinking. Students calculate the probability of offspring phenotypes from various parental crosses in Lessons 8, 10, 14, and 16. In Lesson 8 students take note that the series of ordered steps they're using is an algorithm (an element of this practice they have not used previously). In addition, students use digital tools to analyze very large data sets for patterns and trends in Lesson 16.

Developing and Using Models: Modeling is key to the sensemaking in this unit. Although no new elements of this practice are introduced, students use models to make sense of and explain almost every aspect of what they figure out in this unit. Students have frequent opportunities to develop models with a partner, in small groups, or as a class when they are making sense of new science ideas. Students then use models independently to explain those science ideas and relationships on assessments in Lessons 7, 10, and 17.

The following practices are also key to the sensemaking in the unit:

Asking questions and defining problems

Planning and carrying out investigations

Constructing explanations and designing solutions

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect: This crosscutting concept is key to the sensemaking students do in this unit. Students' more independent use of cause-effect thinking is supported by removing scaffolds and applying these ideas to explain increasingly complex phenomena. They begin by using a cause-and-effect framing tool from [material: DF] to predict outcomes and summarize investigation findings in Lesson 3, and this tool is revisited with less scaffolding in Lessons 4, 6, 12, and 14. In Lesson 6 students consider whether the relationship among alleles, proteins, and phenotype is causal or correlational. The class develops an initial model in Lesson 1 to explain the possible causes of extra-big muscles, and then in Lesson 4 students revise that model to represent multiple causes contributing to the phenotype they see. In Lesson 10 they revise a cause-effect chain tool to include multiple causes, carefully considering the language involved. In Lessons 15, 16, and 17 students develop a model to explain how both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the variation we see in living things. In those final models, as well as in their work calculating the probability of offspring phenotypes from various parental crosses in Lessons 8, 10, and 14, students apply the idea that some cause-effect relationships can only be described using probability.

Structure and Function: This crosscutting concept is key to the sensemaking in this unit. Students explicitly use a structure-function lens to consider several of the ideas they're developing in this unit. Specific wording in videos and readings as well as guiding questions on handouts and slides and in discussions scaffold students as they explore structure-function relationships in complex biological systems. They investigate how proteins have specific structures to do their jobs (Lessons 2 and 6), and they learn that if there is a change to the structure of a gene it can affect the protein produced (Lesson 7). Students also investigate the specialized structures of plants that affect the probability of successful reproduction (Lesson 13).

The following crosscutting concepts are also key to the sensemaking in the unit:

How is the unit structured?

The unit is organized into two lesson sets.

Lesson set 1 consists of Lessons 1-10. The class decides at the end of Lesson 1 to focus on figuring out how animals can get extra-big muscles, expecting that making progress on understanding that phenomenon will help us be able to explain other variations we've noticed in other organisms. We first explore possible causes for building muscles that we have in our background knowledge, but after hearing from a farmer that heavily muscled cattle do not exercise nor eat a special diet and see pictures of baby cattle born with extra-big muscles, we investigate how animals can inherit this trait variation. We end this lesson set by applying the model we figured out about cattle muscles to explain selective breeding in goldfish.

Lesson set 2 consists of Lessons 11-17. The focus of this lesson set is to explain variations we see in other living things. We are first curious to see how our model will work with plants, since they seem very different from cattle, and then we go on to investigate other examples of organisms whose trait variation is caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors. In the final lesson, students apply this more-complex model to explain height variation in redwood trees.

Where does this unit fall within the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence?

This unit is designed to be taught after students have experienced Unit 6.6 and Unit 7.4. As such, work in this unit can leverage ideas about cell structure and function as well as understanding about how our bodies break down food molecules into smaller pieces that can be used for different functions.

Additionally, this unit uses and builds on "cause and effect" supports that were established in Unit 8.3, and the checklist for "obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information" that can support students' work in this unit was previously used in Unit 7.4 and Unit 6.6.

This unit is designed to be taught prior to Unit 8.6, in which students investigate structures that modern animals do or do not have in common with ancient animals and how certain traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing. In that unit, students will build on ideas they developed in this unit about mutations, sexual reproduction, and inheritance.

The Scope & Sequence document has additional information about the sequence of the courses.

What additional strategies are available to support equitable science learning in this unit?

OpenSciEd units are designed to promote equitable access to high-quality science learning experiences for all students. Each unit includes strategies which are integrated throughout the OpenSciEd routines and are intended to increase relevance and provide access to science learning for all students. OpenSciEd units support these equity goals through several specific strategies such as (1) integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles during the unit design process to reduce potential barriers and provide more-accessible ways in which students can engage in learning experiences; (2) developing and supporting classroom norms that provide a safe learning culture; (3) supporting classroom discourse to promote students in developing, sharing, and revising their ideas; and (4) specific strategies to supporting emerging multilingual students in science classrooms.

Many of these strategies are discussed in the Teacher Guides in sidebar callout boxes titled "Attending to Equity" and subheadings such as "Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners" or "Supporting Universal Design for Learning." Other callout boxes with strategies are found as "Additional Guidance", "Alternate Activity," and "Key Ideas" and various discussion callouts. Finally, each unit includes the development of a Word Wall as part of students' routines to "earning" or "encountering" scientific language.

For more information about each of these different strategies with example artifacts, please see the OpenSciEd Teacher Handbook .

What mathematics is required to fully access the unit's learning experiences?

In Lesson 2, students analyze muscle cell data presented in box plots. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include the following:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.4 : Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.

In Lesson 3, students analyze and interpret data from graphs and charts about the effects of dietary protein and exercise on muscle growth. This work draws upon multiple Common Core Mathematics Standards from elementary grades 1-5 within the domain of Measurement and Data, under the category of Represent and Interpret Data. For example:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.B.3 : Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step "how many more" and "how many less" problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs.

In Lesson 8, students examine several examples of pedigrees to discover patterns in the proportion of genotypes in offspring that result from specific crosses. They also use simple mathematical models to help predict the probability that a known cross will result in a particular genotype. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include the following:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.5 : Understand that the probability of a chance event is a number between 0 and 1 that expresses the likelihood of the event occurring. Larger numbers indicate greater likelihood. A probability near 0 indicates an unlikely event, a probability around 1/2 indicates an event that is neither unlikely nor likely, and a probability near 1 indicates a likely event.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.6: Approximate the probability of a chance event by collecting data on the chance process that produces it and observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the approximate relative frequency given the probability.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.7: Develop a probability model and use it to find probabilities of events. Compare probabilities from a model to observed frequencies; if the agreement is not good, explain possible sources of the discrepancy.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.2: Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.4: Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.

In Lesson 16, students co-construct and analyze a histogram from arm-span length data. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include the following:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.4 : Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.

How do I shorten or condense the unit if needed? How can I extend the unit if needed?

The following are example options to shorten or condense parts of the unit without completely eliminating important sensemaking for students:

Lesson 2: If you feel your students already have a solid understanding of muscle structures, skip the video and reading at the beginning of Lesson 2 and start at the gallery walk comparing the muscles from organisms with typical muscles to those with extra-big muscles. Your students will miss an opportunity to practice integrating qualitative scientific information in written text with that contained in media and visual displays to clarify claims and findings, If you make this adjustment, be sure to still put "protein" on the Word Wall and discuss examples such as myosin and actin to support students' understanding of proteins before Lessons 5 and 6, specifically.

Lesson 3: If you feel students can do without evidence that dietary protein and exercise both do influence muscle growth, skip readings 1 and 2 and instead begin with readings 3 and 4 where the class splits into two groups to determine the specific role of each of these environmental factors.

Lesson 9: Rather than having all students read all three articles and compare them, do the readings as a jigsaw activity where students each read only one article. Continue with the comparison discussion as written in the Teacher Guide . This adjustment will reduce the time the lesson requires, but it will also limit students' experience with a new element of SEP 8: "Evaluate data, hypotheses, and/or conclusions in scientific and technical texts in light of competing information or accounts". You could also choose to skip the step where students look up some of the sources cited in a reading to develop the habit of checking for credibility, again at the expense of the practice with obtaining and evaluating information.

Lesson 12: Replace the classroom lab extraction of genetic material from strawberries in favor of watching the provided video. Students could also view the provided video of the negative control investigation instead of seeing it as an in-person classroom demonstration.

Lesson 13: If students are already secure in the knowledge that flowers are the part of the plant involved in making seeds and that seeds are plant offspring, you can skip ahead to observing seeds in the fruits themselves. Also, skip the flower dissection and have students go straight to using the plant structures diagram to label plant parts as reproductive structures, if you need to save time. Finally, choose only one opportunity for students to explain what they've figured out about plant reproduction-peer feedback with a partner or completing the exit ticket-rather than doing both.

To extend or enhance the unit, consider the following:

Lesson 14: Students could spend more time researching details about organisms that reproduce asexually and/or students could communicate the information they've learned in a different format than the suggested slide or to a different audience than just their peers.

Lesson 16: Let your students explore the Arm Span Data Set and online data tool by themselves before discussing it as a class.

Lesson 17: Provide time for students to work on the alternate activity described in the Teacher Guide where students obtain and evaluate information about how climate change is affecting redwood trees and then communicate that information to an audience of their choice in a format appropriate for that audience.

After Lesson 16 or 17: Students can return to the specific examples of trait variations they brought in during Lesson 1 and apply the model they've developed in this unit to explain those. As additional practice with "obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information", students could do additional research to find details about those trait variations, such as the function of specific protein(s), the number of genes, and/or the specific environmental factors that influence that trait variation.

Gail Housman, Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Tara McGill, Field Test Unit Lead & Reviewer, Northwestern University

Holly Hereau, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Natalie Keigher, Writer, Lisle Junior High School

Karin Klein, Writer, Independent Contractor, Northwestern University

Wayne Wright, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist, Concolor Research

Ravit Golan Duncan, Advisory Team Chair, Rutgers University

Brian Donovan, Advisor, BSCS Science Learning

Carrie Tzou, Advisor, University of Washington, Bothell

Barbara Hug, Advisor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Andrea Poppiti, Field Test Teacher and Advisor, Virginia Beach City Public Schools

BSCS Science Learning

Stacey Luce, Copyeditor and Editorial Production Lead

Renée DeVaul, Project Coordinator and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Additional Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following people for their significant contributions to this unit:

Kyle Kehrli and Wilbur Kehrli, American Blue Cattle Breeders, Winthrop, IA

Connie Brooks, MNP Farm, Fair Grove, MO

Jud Parker, Liberty Cattle Company, Fairfield, IA

Penny Heidenreich, Stockton, IL

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In this NGSS-aligned high quality unit, students figure out what causes an animal to get extra-big muscles and how living things are different from one another.

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Item Specifications are broken down with vocab and complexity based on the 3D design of the NGSS standard.

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OpenSciEd Middle School Program Overview

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Middle School Science Storylines by DCI with PE bundles

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OpenSciEd Teacher's Handbook

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OpenSciEd Teacher Tools & Resources to Support Curriculum Implementation

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Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object?

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Unit Summary

How does a one-way mirror work? Though most everyone knows that one-way mirrors exist, having students model how they work turns out to be a very effective way to develop their thinking about how visible light travels and how we see images. Initial student models reveal a wide variety of ideas and explanations that motivate the unit investigations that help students figure out what is going on and lead them to a deeper understanding of the world around them.

A video of an experience with a one-way mirror, gets students to organize and write down their initial ideas and then they dig in to test those ideas and figure out what is really happening. Students build a scaled box model of what they saw in the video to test out their ideas. Using two boxes combined together with a one-way mirror in between the two, students vary the presence of light in the two boxes to figure out how a one-way mirror works and improve their initial models so they accurately explain how light is reflected and transmitted through materials and the basics of how these behaviors of light result in the images we see.

As the first unit in the OpenSciEd program, during the course of this unit, students also develop the foundation for classroom norms for collaboration that will be important across the whole program.

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):
MS-PS4-2:

Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
MS-LS1-8:

Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

The unit expands students' understanding of particle models and energy transfer, which include these Grade 6-8 DCI elements:
PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation

When light shines on an object, it is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the object, depending on the object's material and the frequency (color) of the light.

The path that light travels can be traced as straight lines, except at surfaces between different transparent materials (e.g., air and water, air and glass) where the light path bends.

To fully explain why a person on one side of the one-way mirror primarily "sees" one thing, students must account for how the eyes detect light inputs and transform them into electrical signals sent to the brain. Therefore this unit includes the following:
LS1.D: Information Processing

Each sense receptor responds to different inputs (electromagnetic, mechanical, chemical), transmitting them as signals that travel along nerve cells to the brain. The signals are then processed in the brain, resulting in immediate behaviors or memories.

*There is a strike through part of the DCI elements that are not developed in this unit. The placement of this OpenSciEd Unit 6.1 and associated units are shown in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Asking Questions & Defining Problems

Developing & Using Models

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Systems & System Models

Structure & Function

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

In Lesson 3 students will collect light sensor data under very specific measurement conditions in which any deviation from the protocol could result in measurement error. Even given the detailed protocol students follow, the light sensor will not consistently report a single value, so students will need to determine a range that seems as accurate as possible given the measurement conditions. When they rank order the materials by transmissivity and reflectivity, they will use ranges that could overlap for some materials, and students may need to estimate the central tendency within the range of values to help them determine their rankings. This work is largely done as a whole group and can be more or less guided by you. However, the following math concept may be helpful:

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.2: Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape. Additionally, students collect these data using base tens (x10 lux).

The following math concept will be useful in explaining why they are selecting this setting on the light sensors.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.1: Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

Consult with your students' math teacher(s) prior to Lesson 3 to coordinate your approach to the math concepts listed above with what your students will experience in their math classes.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the first unit in the OpenSciEd materials and intended to be used at the start of 6th grade. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit later in the OpenSciEd curriculum. These modifications include the following:

The unit spends time introducing the students to a Driving Question Board. This would not be necessary if taught after other OpenSciEd units.

The unit helps the class develop and practice a shared set of classroom norms. If this unit is taught later in a school year, the norm-building process would need to happen in an earlier unit and could be streamlined here.

This unit focuses on reinforcing many grades 3-5 elements in all three dimensions. This reinforcement is intentional as preparation for students to begin building on those elements in the grades 6-8 space. If this unit is taught later in the OpenSciEd sequence, modification to these elements would need to happen so that this unit is less about reinforcing grades 3-5 and more about building elements in grades 6-8.

This unit is the first unit in an intentional sequence to build two Performance Expectations: MS-PS4-2 and MS-LS1-8. The DCIs associated with these Performance Expectations are fully covered across multiple units. The approach to these DCIs will need to change if this unit is taught after other units addressing the same, or closely related, DCIs.

Lindsey Mohan, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Zoe Buck Bracey, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Audrey Mohan, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Tracey Ramirez, Writer, The Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Abe Lo, Reviewer, PD design, BSCS Science Learning

Michael Novak, Conceptual design, Northwestern University

Misty Richmond, Pilot Teacher, James Ward Elementary School, Chicago Public Schools

Ty Scaletta, Pilot Teacher, Alcott College Prep Elementary School, Chicago Public Schools

Keetra Tipton, Pilot Teacher, Aptakisic Junior High School, Buffalo Grove, IL

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist, Concolor Research

David Fortus, Unit Advisory Chair, Weizmann Institute of Science

Susan Gomez-Zwiep, Advisory Team, BSCS Science Learning

Dominique Poncelet, Advisory Team, Southeast Middle School, Oklahoma City Public Schools

BSCS Science Learning

Maria Gonzales, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Copyeditor and Editorial Production Lead

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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How does a one-way mirror work? Though most everyone knows that one-way mirrors exist, having students model how they work turns out to be a very effective way to develop their thinking about how visible light travels and how we see images.

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How can containers keep stuff from warming up or cooling down?

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Unit Summary

What keeps different cups or containers from warming up or cooling down? Students begin this 6th grade science unit by experimenting whether a new plastic cup sold by a store keeps a drink colder for longer than the regular plastic cup that comes free with the drink. Students find that the drink in the regular cup warms up more than the drink in the special cup. This prompts students to identify features of the cups that are different, such as the lid, walls, and hole for the straw, that might explain why one drink warms up more than the other.

In this 6th grade science unit, students investigate the different cup features they conjecture to explain the phenomenon, starting with the lid. They model how matter can enter or exit the cup via evaporation. However, they find that in a completely closed system, the liquid inside the cup still changes temperature. This motivates the need to trace the transfer of energy into the drink as it warms up. Through a series of lab investigations and simulations, students find two ways to transfer energy into the drink: (1) the absorption of light and (2) thermal energy from the warmer air around the drink. They are then challenged to design their own drink container that can perform as well as the store-bought container, following a set of design criteria and constraints.

Simulations

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This 6th grade science unit on thermal energy builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-PS1-4*: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

MS-PS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer

MS-PS3-4: Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample

MS-PS3-5: Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.

MS-PS4-2*: Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

MS-ETS1-4: Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

*These performance expectations are developed across multiple units. This unit reinforces or works toward these NGSS PEs that students should have previously developed or will develop more fully in future units. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, PS4-2 is first built in Unit 6.1. In this new context of particle models and energy transfer, students learn more about how absorption of light occurs at the particle level. This unit begins to address changes in state that are part of PS1-4; then changes in state are more fully developed in the next unit, 6.3, on water cycling. In 6.3, students learn that evaporation and condensation occur when energy is added or removed from the substance.

The 6th grade science unit on thermal energy expands students' understanding of particle models and energy transfer, which include these Grade 6-8 DCI elements:
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

Gases and liquids are made of molecules or inert atoms that are moving about relative to each other. (MS‑PS1‑4)

In a liquid, the molecules are constantly in contact with others; in a gas, they are widely spaced except when they happen to collide. In a solid, atoms are closely spaced and may vibrate in position but do not change relative locations. (MS‑PS1‑4)

The changes of state that occur with variations in temperature or pressure can be described and predicted using these models of matter. (MS‑PS1‑4)

PS3.A: Definitions of Energy PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation

When light shines on an object, it is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the object, depending on the object's material and the frequency (color) of the light. (MS‑PS4‑2)
ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting an Engineering Problem

The more precisely a design task's criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that is likely to limit possible solutions. (secondary to MS‑PS3‑3)
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions

A solution needs to be tested and then modified on the basis of the test results in order to improve it. There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. (secondary to MS‑PS3‑3)

*There is a strike through part of the DCI elements that are not developed in this unit. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, students will develop an understanding of changes in state, particularly as they relate to pressure, in OpenSciEd Unit 6.3, and frequency (color) of light in OpenSciEd Unit 8.4. The placement of this OpenSciEd Unit 6.2 and associated units are shown in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Developing & Using Models

Planning & Carrying Out Investigations

Analyzing & Interpreting Data

Constructing Explanations & Designing Solutions

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

Beginning in Lesson 4 and throughout the unit, students focus on pooling and then averaging test results and building an understanding of temperature as a measure of average particle movement. They take measurements in the tenth or hundredth in decimal points, and must consider negative and positive numbers as they mass systems. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.3 Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.4 Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.3 Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number, while a measure of variation describes how its values vary with a single number.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.5 Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, debits/credits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.

Calculating a mean of a data set is a target idea in 6th-grade CCMS. Prior to Lesson 4 in this unit, talk to your grade's math teacher to find out when students will learn how to calculate the mean of a numerical data set in math class this year. If they have worked on this already, ask the math teacher for an example data set they worked with and any suggested modification to your anchor chart for calculating a mean. If students haven't yet worked through any examples in their math classes, then the pooled temperature data in this lesson will be an example you save to refer to in future lessons in concert with this anchor chart. Also ask the math teacher if students have worked with using negative numbers to represent quantities in the real world. This will inform your decision about how to represent temperature changes in the pooled class data table.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the second unit in 6th grade in the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence and it focuses on thermal energy. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum. These include:

Lindsey Mohan, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Zoe Buck Bracey, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Ari Jamshidi, Writer, Stanford University

Abe Lo, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Michael Novak, Writer & Reviewer, Northwestern University

Tracey Ramirez, Writer, Charles A. Center at UT-Austin

Dawn Novak, Pilot teacher, Maple School

Tyler Scaletta, Pilot teacher, North Shore Country Day School

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

David Fortus, Unit Advisory Chair, Weizmann Institute of Science

BSCS Science Learning

Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Alyssa Markle, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Additional Acknowledgement

This unit was adapted from Energy: How can we design a device to warm something up?, originally co-developed by San Francisco Unified School District and SCALE at Stanford University 2017-2018. Used with permission. Energy: How can we design a device to warm something up? was developed with funding from Lucas Education Research, part of the George Lucas Education Foundation.

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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6th Grade Science Thermal Energy - MS-PS1-4. MS-PS3-3, MS-PS3-4, MS-PS3-5, MS-PS4-2, MS-ETS1-4

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What keeps different cups or containers from warming up or cooling down? Students begin this 6th grade science unit by experimenting whether a new plastic cup sold by a store keeps a drink colder for longer than the regular plastic cup that comes free with the drink.

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Why does a lot of hail, rain, or snow fall at some times and not others?

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6.3 Weather, Climate & Water Cycling

Unit Summary

*REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!*
CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS
This 6th grade science unit on weather, climate, and water cycling is broken into four separate lesson sets. In the first two lesson sets, students explain small-scale storms. In the third and fourth lesson sets, students explain mesoscale weather systems and climate-level patterns of precipitation. Each of these two parts of the unit is grounded in a different anchoring phenomenon.

The unit starts out with anchoring students in the exploration of a series of videos of hailstorms from different locations across the country at different times of the year. The videos show that pieces of ice of different sizes (some very large) are falling out of the sky, sometimes accompanied by rain and wind gusts, all on days when the temperature of the air outside remained above freezing for the entire day. These cases spark questions and ideas for investigations, such as investigating how ice can be falling from the sky on a warm day, how clouds form, why some clouds produce storms with large amounts of precipitation and others don't, and how all that water gets into the air in the first place.

The second half of the 6th grade science weather and climate unit is anchored in the exploration of a weather report of a winter storm that affected large portions of the midwestern United States. The maps, transcripts, and video that students analyze show them that the storm was forecasted to produce large amounts of snow and ice accumulation in large portions of the northeastern part of the country within the next day. This case sparks questions and ideas for investigations around trying to figure out what could be causing such a large-scale storm and why it would end up affecting a different part of the country a day later.

Unit Examples

Simulations

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This 6th grade science unit on weather and climate builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-PS1-4: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

MS-ESS2-4: Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

MS-ESS2-5: Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.

MS-ESS2-6: Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

The 6th grade science weather and climate unit expands students' understanding of weather and climate, and the role of water in Earth's surface processes which include these grades 6-8 elements of the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs). It addresses all but the crossed-out sections of the ones shown below.
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes

Global movements of water and its changes in form are propelled by sunlight and gravity.

The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.

Variations in density due to variations in temperature and salinity drive a global pattern of interconnected ocean currents.

Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land .

ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things . These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns.

Because these patterns are so complex, weather can only be predicted probabilistically .

The ocean exerts a major influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents.

This unit builds on DCI elements that students should have developed in the prior OpenSciEd unit 6.2. These ideas are elicited and are used in new contexts (primarily different because of time and temporal scale). In many cases, the unit helps students extend these DCIs. The plain text beneath each of the DCI elements below describes how the ideas are used and where they are extended.

PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter: Gases and liquids are made of molecules or inert atoms that are moving about relative to each other. In a liquid, the molecules are constantly in contact with others; in a gas, they are widely spaced except when they happen to collide. In a solid, atoms are closely spaced and may vibrate in position but do not change relative locations.
This particle model is reused and extended in Lessons 3-11, 13-14, and 17-18. It is used to model (1) how energy is transferred from the ground to the air (through conduction), (2) why air changes its density (due to changes in the speed of air particles), (3) why density would affect the amount of air pressure detected by a barometer (due to differences in the amount of force applied to the barometer from changes in the weight of a column of air particles overhead), and (4) how the cooling of water vapor in the air can cause the molecules in it to slow down enough that they stick to, rather than bounce off of, neighboring particles in collisions, thereby causing the particles to condense or solidify out of the air.

PS3.A: Definitions of Thermal Energy: The temperature of a system is proportional to the average internal kinetic energy and potential energy per molecule (whichever is the appropriate building block for the system's material). When the kinetic energy of an object changes, there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time.
The idea that thermal energy transfer can occur through conduction is used to explain how the air above the ground is heated by it, and how warm rising air cools off as it moves higher up, This idea is reused in Lessons 5-8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, and 22.

PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation When light shines on an object, it is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the object, depending on the object's material and the frequency (color) of the light.
The idea that light is absorbed by the ground and converted to thermal energy is an idea that is reused in Lessons 3, 6-8, 10, 14, 17, 18, 20, and 22 in this unit.

Disciplinary Core Ideas are reproduced verbatim from A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Idea s. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/13165. National Research Council; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Board on Science Education; Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. National Academies Press, Washington, DC.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Cause and Effect

Systems and System Models

Matter and Energy

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

In this unit, students will need to have prior experiences in working with the ideas in the bolded sections of the related Common Core Math Standards listed below.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.5: Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values ( e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.

CSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.8: Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. Include use of coordinates and absolute value to find distances between points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.2: Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3: Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.

Additionally, when students generate and interpret the tables of data in Lessons 2, 4, and 11, they will draw on what they have learned across a number of Represent and Interpret data standards for grades 1-5, w ithin the domain of Measurement and Data in the Common Core Mathematics Standards.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the third unit in 6th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum. These include the following adjustments:

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 6.2, supplemental teaching of the following would be required:

Gases and liquids are made of molecules or inert atoms that are moving about relative to each other. In a liquid, the molecules are constantly in contact with others; in a gas, they are widely spaced except when they happen to collide. In a solid, atoms are closely spaced and may vibrate in position but do not change relative locations.

The temperature of a sample of matter is proportional to the average internal kinetic energy per molecule in that sample.

When the kinetic energy of a particle object changes, there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time; kinetic energy can be transferred from one particle to another through particle collision. This form of energy transfer (conduction) can occur between solid, liquids and gases when they make contact with each other.

When light shines on an object, it is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through the object, depending on the object's material and the color of the light. Energy from the light that is absorbed by a sample of matter is converted to increased particle motion energy in that sample of matter.

The total kinetic energy of particles in a sample of matter is also referred to as the thermal energy of that matter.

Identifying independent and dependent variables and controlling for other variables, can help you conduct fair tests, which is a necessary condition for producing data that can serve as the basis for evidence in supporting or refuting a potential cause and effect relationship in a system.

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 6.1 (or at the start of the school year), supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. Experience with using light sensors and reading and interpreting their output would need to be added.

Michael Novak, Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Renee Affolter, Writer, Boston College

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Audrey Mohan, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Lindsey Mohan, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Dawn Novak, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Tracey Ramirez, Writer, The Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Abe Lo, Reviewer, BSCS Science Learning

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

Colleen O'Brien, Pilot Teacher, Williston Central School

Heather Galbreath, Pilot Teacher, Lombard Middle School

Vanessa Hannana, Pilot Teacher, Indian Woods Middle School

Whitney Smith, Pilot Teacher, Indian Woods Middle School

Ann Rivet, Unit Advisory Chair, Teachers College, Columbia University

Elisabeth Cohen, Advisory Team, Weather Outreach

BSCS Science Learning

Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Copyeditor and Editorial Production Lead

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has been identified as a quality example of a science unit. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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Weather & Climate for 6th Grade - MS-PS1-4, MS-ESS2-4, MS-ESS2-5, MS-ESS2-66th Grade Science Weather and Climate - OpenSciEd

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6.3 Weather, Climate & Water Cycling *REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!* CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS This 6th grade science unit on weather, climate, and water cycling is broken into four separate lesson sets. In the first two lesson sets, students explain small-scale storms. In the third and fourth lesson sets, students explain mesoscale weather systems and climate-level patterns of precipitation.

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How do living things heal?

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Unit Summary

This unit launches with students hearing about an injury that happened to a middle school student that caused him to need stitches, pins, and a cast. They analyze doctor reports and develop an initial model for what is going on in our body when it heals. Students investigate what the different parts of our body are made of, from the macro scale to the micro scale. They figure out parts of our body are made of cells and that these cells work together for our body to function.

Once students have figured out what their bodies are made of and how the parts of their body work together to be able to move, they wonder how the parts of our body heal. They start by watching a timelapse of a knee scrape and notice that over time the part that was scraped is filled in with new skin cells. Students investigate what happens when cells make more cells, what cells need to make more cells, and how cells get what they need to make more cells. Students return to the healing timeline they made at the start of the unit and apply what they have figured out about the interactions between the different systems in the body to explain the various events of healing that took place for the injury at the start of the unit. Finally, they apply their model for healing to explain growth at growth plates in children's bodies as they become adults.

Simulations

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds towards the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-LS1-1. Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.

MS-LS1-2.* Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.

MS-LS1-3.* Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

MS-LS1-8.* Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.

*PEs marked with an asterisk are partially developed in this unit and shared with other units, as explained in the DCI column.

Regarding the strike through in LS1.D-"and synthesize... or storage as memories"-this PE is revisited in multiple units in OpenSciEd. In order to support students in having a genuine need to figure out things about each of the different receptors, they will engage with this PE in the OpenSciEd Unit 6.1: Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object? (One-way Mirror Unit) unit in reference to receptors in the eye, in the OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) unit in reference to receptors in your nose, in the OpenSciEd Unit 8.1: Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other? (Collisions Unit) unit in reference to receptors in your skin and brain, and in the Sound Unit unit in reference to the receptors in your ears. In this unit, students will be engaging with this PE as they gather more information about nerves in general-what they do, how they look, and how they function.

The unit expands students' understanding of cells, systems, and structure and function which include these Grade 6-8 DCI elements:

LS1.A: All living things are made up of cells, which is the smallest unit that can be said to be alive. An organism may consist of one single cell (unicellular) or many different numbers and types of cells (multicellular).

LS1.A: Within cells, special structures are responsible for particular functions, and the cell membrane forms the boundary that controls what enters and leaves the cell.

LS1.A: In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues and organs that are specialized for particular body functions

LS1.D: Information Processing. Each sense receptor responds to different inputs (electromagnetic, mechanical, chemical), transmitting them as signals that travel along nerve cells to the brain. The signals are then processed in the brain, resulting in immediate behaviors or memories.
Other aspects of this PE are developed in additional OpenSciEd units, beginning their initial work on MS-LS1-8 in the One-way Mirror Unit. The current version of this unit, OpenSciEd Unit 6.6: How do living things heal? (Healing Unit), primarily addresses the role of nerve cells in sending signals to the brain. Students will revisit and expand on their understanding of this DCI in later units in the OpenSciEd program, including returning to it in the OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) unit in 7th grade and the Sound Unit unit in 8th grade.

Connections to the Nature of Science

Which elements of NOS are developed in the unit?

Science investigations use a variety of methods and tools to make measurements and observations. (NOS-SEP)

Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation. (NOS-CCC)

How are they developed?

Students make observations about the structure and function of different parts of the body at different scales through watching a dissection and then using microscopes to see the cellular level.

Students use microscopes to make observations of what different parts of living things are made up of. Through a small sample on a slide, they find these parts are made of cells and conclude the entire body part is made of the same type of cells.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the sixth unit in 6th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence and the first life science unit. OpenSciEd 7th grade units Unit 7.3, Unit 7.4, and 8th grade Unit 8.5 will all build off the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) that students develop by working on the following NGSS performance expectations MS-LS1-1, MS-LS1-2, MS-LS1-3 in this unit. If this unit is taught later in the OpenSciEd sequence, be mindful that elements of these DCIs might need additional scaffolding in the other life science units.

Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier in the middle school curriculum. These include:

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 6.1 or at the start of the school year, supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. (These supports are built into 6.1.) In this unit, students will build on the crosscutting concepts of system thinking, scale and proportion (moving from macroscopic to microscopic), and patterns from earlier 6th grade OpenSciEd units.

If taught before 6.1 and 6.2, students will benefit from additional scaffolding for structure and function.

If taught before, 6.4, students will benefit from additional scaffolding for scale, proportion, and quantity.

If taught before, 6.2 and 6.4, students will benefit from additional scaffolding for systems and system models. In this unit, students will build on the science and engineering practices of modeling, planning and carrying out investigations, and engaging in argument from evidence from earlier 6th grade OpenSciEd units.

If taught before 6.1 students will benefit from additional scaffolding for developing and using models.

If taught before, 6.2 and 6.3, students will benefit from additional scaffolding for planning and carrying out investigations. If taught before, 6.2 students benefit from additional scaffolding for engaging in argument from evidence.

What mathematics is required to fully access the unit's learning experiences?

In Lesson 4, students calculate the total magnification of their microscope's view, such as a 40x objective times a 10x eyepiece is 400x total magnification. In Lesson 4, students also use millimeter graph paper to help gain perspective about how close-up they're seeing things with the microscope and to estimate the field of view at different magnifications. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include the following:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.B.5 Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.A.2 Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.

Also in Lesson 4, you may choose to take time to explore the mathematics of ratios of blood cells based on the percentages of each type mentioned in the reading. If you choose to extend the investigation in this way, the prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include the following:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.1: Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3.C: Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent.

What are recommended adult-level learning resources for the science concepts in this unit?

The OpenSciEd instructional model focuses on the teacher being a member of the classroom community, supporting students to figure out scientific ideas motivated by their questions about phenomena. Students iteratively build their understanding of phenomena as the unit unfolds. To match the incremental build of a full scientific explanation across the unit, the science content background necessary for you to teach individual lessons incrementally builds too. Throughout the unit, we provide just-in-time science content background for you that is specific to the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) that will be figured out in a lesson. Places to look for this guidance include the "Where we are going" and "Where we are not going" sections for each lesson. Additionally, the expected student responses, keys, and rubrics have illustrated important science ideas that should be developed in each lesson. In addition to this information, the K-12 Science Framework is a great resource to learn more about the DCIs in this unit (LS1.A; LS1.D), including what students have learned previously and where they are headed in high school. In addition to the science content background information embedded in the lesson resources, below we provide recommended resources that can help build your understanding of phenomena and Performance Expectations bundle for this unit:

How does this unit support disability, inclusion, and social emotional learning?

This unit focuses on how parts of our body systems work together to perform functions, such as healing. In this unit, teachers and students will be exploring the ways that injury impacts the human body and how the body recovers from injury. Related to this phenomenon of healing is the topic of disability. Many students and teachers have not had the opportunity to learn about disability in any formal way despite the fact that many students have directly experienced a temporary or lifelong visible or invisible disability.

This unit makes an intentional effort to support students' and teachers' approach to this topic with sensitivity and confidence when you discuss disability, as it pertains to injury and healing with your students. Additionally, injury and healing can trigger trauma for some students. Therefore, be sure you plan ahead and consider how to support your students before and during the unit to ensure that they feel comfortable discussing, viewing, and figuring out what is happening as the body heals from injury.

Dawn Novak, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Jamie Deutch Noll, Field Test Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Sue Gaspar, Writer, University Of Illinois Extension

Gail Housman, Writer, Northwestern University

Ari Jamshidi, Writer, University of California, Berkeley

Meghan McCleary, Writer, University Of Illinois Extension

Tracey Ramirez, Writer, The Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Wayne Wright, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Gretchen Brinza, Pilot Teacher, Sauganash Elementary School

Keetra Tipton, Pilot Teacher, Aptakisic Junior High School

Abe Lo, Reviewer, PD design, BSCS Science Learning

Tara McGill, Conceptual design, Northwestern University

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist, Concolor Research

Barbara Hug, Unit Advisory Chair, University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign

Stina Krist, Unit Advisory Chair, University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign

Molly Reisz, Advisory Team, Dennison Middle School

BSCS Science Learning

Maria Gonzales, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Rachel Poland, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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Engage your students with our 6th grade cells & systems unit that meets NGSS MS-LS1-1, MS-LS1-2, MS-LS1-3, and MS-LS1-8 performance expectations.

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What causes Earth's surface to change?

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6.4 Plate Tectonics & Rock Cycling

Unit Summary

Mountains move! And there are ocean fossils on top of Mt. Everest! In this plate tectonics and rock cycling unit, students come to see that the Earth is much more active and alive than they have thought before. The unit launches with documentation of a 2015 Himalayan earthquake that shifted Mt. Everest suddenly to the southwest direction. Students also discover that Mt. Everest is steadily moving to the northeast every year and getting taller as well. Students wonder what could cause an entire mountain to move during an earthquake.

Students investigate other locations that are known to have earthquakes and they notice landforms, such as mountains and ridges that correspond to earthquake patterns. They read texts, explore earthquake and landform patterns using a data visualization tool, and study GPS data at these locations. Students develop an Earth model and study mantle convection motion to explain how Earth's surface could move from processes below the surface. From this, students develop models to explain different ways plates collide and spread apart, ultimately explaining how Mt. Everest could move all the time in one direction, and also suddenly, in a backward motion, during an earthquake. The unit ends with students using what they have figured out about uplift and erosion to explain how a fossil was found at Mt. Everest without having to dig for it.

Simulations

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds towards the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-ESS1-4: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

MS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

MS-ESS2-2: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

MS-ESS2-3: Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth

The geologic time scale interpreted from rock strata provides a way to organize Earth's history. Analyses of rock strata and the fossil record provide only relative dates, not an absolute scale. (MS‑ESS1‑4)

Tectonic processes continually generate new ocean seafloor at ridges and destroy old seafloor at trenches. (HS.ESS1.C GBE) (secondary to MS‑ESS2‑3)

ESS2.A: Earth's Materials and Systems

All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet's systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth's hot interior. The energy that flows and the matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth's materials and living organisms. (MS‑ESS2‑1)

The planet's systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth's history and will determine its future. (MS‑ESS2‑2)

ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions

Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth's plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart. (MS‑ESS2‑3)

ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes

Water's movements-both on land and underground -cause weathering and erosion, which change the land's surface features and create underground formations . (MS‑ESS2‑2)

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

While this unit engages students in multiple SEPs across the lesson level performance expectations for all the lessons in the unit, there are four focal practices that this unit targets to support students' development:

Developing & Using Models

Using Mathematics & Computational Thinking

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Stability and Change

How is the unit structured?

The unit is organized into two main lesson sets, each of which help make progress on a sub-question related to the driving question for the entire unit. Lessons 1-9 focus on developing science ideas behind what causes a mountain to grow and/or move. Lessons 10-13 transition to focusing on what can cause other mountains to change elevation and location. In Lesson 14, students apply what they have figured out about how Earth's surface changes to explain how a fossil can be found on a mountain top.

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

This unit exposes students to movement data using different measurements and time scales, and, importantly, the movement of two objects in relationship to one another. Students wrestle with GPS movement data in different directions and also visualizing the depth and breadth of earthquake patterns using a visualization tool. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.3 Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.4 Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.2 Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.

It is important to note that this unit is reinforcing some elementary mathematics standards in a new context and using scales at which students may have not considered before; thus, we anticipate that while some of the mathematics in this unit is aligned to upper elementary math development, it may be a new challenging context for students to apply the mathematics ideas.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the fourth unit in 6th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum. These include:

If taught before Unit 6.2 Thermal Energy, students will not have developed ideas about thermal energy being transferred between particles and that particles of a material at a higher temperature transfer energy faster than particles of a material at a lower temperature. This idea is built on in the next unit, Unit 6.3 Weather, Climate & Water Cycling. Prior to lesson 8, students will need support in visualizing what is occurring to particles as temperature changes so they can figure out what happens to solid rock that gets heated to very high temperatures under the surface of Earth.

If taught before Unit 6.3 Weather, Climate & Water Cycling, students will not have developed ideas about density in relation to energy being absorbed by particles and then being transferred between particles. Again prior to lesson 8, students will need some experience with what it means at a particle level when one section of material is denser or less dense than another section of material.

What are some common ideas that students might have?

Students will be challenged in this unit to think about processes that occur on very long time scales and also at very large spatial scales. This will likely be the first time they have thought about Earth system processes happening on scales this large-so large they are really hard to even imagine. Students will likely bring with them some knowledge of different geological time periods (e.g., Triassic and Jurassic time = time of the dinosaurs), but it is really not important for them to know the different names and time periods on a geological time scale. This unit challenges students to think conceptually about how long these processes take to occur, but they will not be asked to identify or name time periods.

To represent these spatial scale ideas students will transition between top-down perspectives and cross-section perspectives to represent movement of the mantle and the plates of Earth's crust. Some students may readily come to class with a cross-section perspective, but likely many students will need guidance on drawing cross-sections, at least initially.

Many students may come to the unit with some ideas about "plates" and "plate tectonics." It is common for students to think that the continents are the plates and they "float" around slowly in the ocean. This unit purposely uses a map with ocean floor topography (called bathymetry) to help students visualize that the bottom of the ocean is part of Earth's crust too, as the ocean has "plates" that move as well, and many plates include parts of continents and parts of ocean floors.

Finally, many students may come to the unit thinking the inside of the Earth is liquid lava. This is because all the images they see of hot stuff coming out of the Earth is liquified rock, in the form of lava. In actuality, the mantle is made of molten rock that is more solid than liquid, but it behaves as a very thick semi-solid, similar to putty. This unit uses fluids to demonstrate convection, but it is important to emphasize to students that the inside of the Earth is not fluid lava. Because we cannot replicate the movement of solids at really, really high temperatures, we utilize fluids like water and oil, because they show convection at lower temperatures.

What additional strategies are available to support equitable science learning in this unit?

OpenSciEd units are designed to promote equitable access to high-quality science learning experiences for all students. Each unit includes strategies which are integrated throughout the OpenSciEd routines and are intended to increase relevance and provide access to science learning for all students. OpenSciEd units support these equity goals through several specific strategies such as: 1) integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles during the unit design process to reduce potential barriers and provide more accessible ways in which students can engage in learning experiences; 2) developing and supporting classroom norms that provide a safe learning culture, 3) supporting classroom discourse to promote students in developing, sharing, and revising their ideas, and 4) specific strategies to supporting emerging multilingual students in science classrooms.

Many of these strategies are discussed in the teacher guides in sidebar callout boxes titled "Attending to Equity" and subheadings such as "Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners" or "Supporting Universal Design for Learning." Other callout boxes with strategies are found as "Additional Guidance," "Alternate Activity," and "Key Ideas" and various discussion callouts. Finally, each unit includes the development of a Word Wall as part of students' routines to "earning" or "encountering" scientific language.

For more information about each of these different strategies with example artifacts, please see the OpenSciEd Teacher Handbook.

Dawn Novak, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Whitney Smith, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Audrey Mohan, Field Test Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Lindsey Mohan, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Ari Jamshidi, Writer, Berkeley

Karin Klein, Writer, Independent Contractor, BSCS Science Learning

Tracey Ramirez, Writer, The Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Kirsten Smith, Writer and Pilot Teacher , Pound Middle School, NE

Abe Lo, Reviewer & PD design, BSCS Science Learning

Michael Novak, Writer, Reviewer, & Conceptual design, Northwestern University

Gretchen Brinza, Pilot Teacher, Boulder Valley School District, CO

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist, Concolor Research

Matthew Rossi, Unit Advisory Chair, University of Colorado-Boulder

Paige Kelpine, Advisory Team & Pilot Teacher

Rachel Poland, Advisory Team, Innovation Middle School, CA

BSCS Science Learning

Maria Gonzales, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. Read the review for this and all of our other units at nextgenscience.org.

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6th Grade Plate Tectonics - MS-ESS1-1, MS-ESS2-1, MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-3

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In this free high-quality unit, students examine how a mountain moves and how there can be ocean fossils on top of Mt. Everest.

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How can we make something new that was not there before?

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7.1 Chemical Reactions & Matter

Unit Summary

*REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!*
CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS
Students' conceptual understanding of chemical reactions is foundational to much science learning. Understanding atomic level reactions is crucial for learning physical, life, earth, and space science. Even more importantly, they open up new windows of curiosity for students to see the world around them. By seventh grade, students are ready to take on the abstract nature of the interactions of atoms and molecules far too small to see.

To pique students' curiosity and anchor the learning for the unit in the visible and concrete, students start with an experience of observing and analyzing a bath bomb as it fizzes and eventually disappears in the water. Their observations and questions about what is going on drive learning that digs into a series of related phenomena as students iterate and improve their models depicting what happens during chemical reactions. By the end of the unit, students have a firm grasp on how to model simple molecules, know what to look for to determine if chemical reactions have occurred, and apply their knowledge to chemical reactions to show how mass is conserved when atoms are rearranged.

Embedded in this unit are a variety of assessments, including self, peer, formative, and summative assessment tasks. This unit concludes with a transfer task in which students apply what they have figured out to two different related phenomena, elephant's toothpaste and the crumbling of the marble that makes up the Taj Mahal.

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-PS1-1: Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures. [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 description of all individual atoms in a complex molecule or extended structure is not required.]

MS-PS1-2: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. [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.]

MS-PS1-5: Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved. [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.]

The following PE will be developed over three OpenSciEd units; OpenSciEd Unit 6.1: Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object? (One-way Mirror Unit) , OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) , and OpenSciEd Unit 8.2: How can a sound make something move? (Sound Unit) . This unit will address only the chemical inputs that transmit signals to the brain through smell. The other units will address electromagnetic and mechanical inputs, as well as the connection to signals processing in the brain, resulting in immediate behaviors or memories.

MS-LS1-8. Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories. [Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include mechanisms for transmission of this information]

MS-LS1.D: Information Processing: Each sense receptor responds to different inputs ( electromagnetic , mechanical , chemical), transmitting them as signals that travel along nerve cells to the brain. The signals are then processed in the brain, resulting in immediate behaviors or memories.

PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

Substances are made from different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways.

Atoms form molecules that range in size from two to thousands of atoms.

Solids may be formed from molecules, or they may be extended structures with repeating subunits (e.g., crystals).

Each pure substance has characteristic physical and chemical properties (for any bulk quantity under given conditions) that can be used to identify it.

PS1.B: Chemical Reactions

Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants.

The total number of each type of atom is conserved, and thus the mass does not change.

LS1-D: Information Processing

Each sense receptor responds to different inputs ( electromagnetic, mechanical , chemical), transmitting them as signals that travel along nerve cells to the brain. The signals are then processed in the brain, resulting in immediate behaviors or memories.

Disciplinary Core Ideas are reproduced verbatim from A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/13165. National Research Council; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Board on Science Education; Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. National Academies Press, Washington, DC. This material may be reproduced and used by other parties with this attribution. If the original material is altered in any way, the attribution must state that the material is adapted from the original.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

While this unit engages students in multiple SEPs across the lesson level performance expectations for all the lessons in the unit, there are three focal practices that this unit targets to support students' development in a learning progression across the 7th grade year for the SEPs. These are:

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

In addition, there are two supporting practices that students will utilize over the course of the unit. These practices are two that students have developed over the course of 6th grade in the OpenSciEd sequence and will be used as supporting practices in this unit:

Developing and Using Models

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

While this unit engages students in multiple CCCs across the lesson level performance expectations for all the lessons in the unit, there are three focal practices that this unit targets to help support students' development in a learning progression. These are:

1. Patterns

2. Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

3. Energy and Matter

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

The bolded sections of the related common core math standards are ones that students engage in.

Density is a property that students measure, graph, and calculate from mass and volume data in Lesson 8. They will be using the following two math concepts in that lesson:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.2.A Decide whether two quantities are in a proportional relationship, e.g., by testing for equivalent ratios in a table or graphing on a coordinate plane and observing whether the graph is a straight line through the origin.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.2.B Identify the constant of proportionality (unit rate) in tables, graphs, equations, diagrams, and verbal descriptions of proportional relationships.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

Because this unit is taught using a conceptual approach to developing a model of matter that requires the existence of compound particles and smaller constituent parts (atoms), pre-teaching the idea that atoms exist and that they make up molecules is counterproductive to the trajectory of this unit. Students may have heard of the words "atoms" and "molecules" in other contexts and should be encouraged to try to apply any ideas about the particulate nature of matter they may bring to the table in the first part of the unit. But, since OpenSciEd units in 6th grade develop a particulate model of matter that doesn't distinguish between molecules and atoms, the middle of this unit will be the first time that students will find the need for such distinction based on something they can't explain about the anchoring phenomena. Many subsequent units in 7th grade OpenSciEd will use the ideas developed in this unit, to explain other phenomena, and will rely on the development of the following ideas developed in this unit. The unit that requires each idea listed here is identified in parentheses.

Every substance has characteristic properties that can be used to identify it (e.g., solubility, odor, melting point, boiling point, flammability, density, color). These do not change regardless of the amount of the substance. (7.2, 7.3)

Substances are made from different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways. The number, type, and arrangement of atoms in the molecules that make up a substance are unique to that substance. (7.2)

Atoms form molecules. (7.2, 7.3, 7.4)

In a chemical reaction, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants. (7.2, 7.3, 7.4)

In a chemical reaction, the total number of each type of atom is conserved, and thus the mass does not change. (7.2, 7.3, 7.4)

There are two ways to break apart matter-physical processes and chemical processes. (7.3, 7.4)

Chemical processes involve the rearrangement of particles that make up the matter; this includes chemical reactions, phase changes, and dissolving. (7.2)

Dawn Novak, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Michael Novak, Field Test Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Holly Hereau, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Gail Housman, Writer, Northwestern University

Betty Stennett, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Keetra Tipton, Writer, Sunset Ridge School, Northfield, IL

Wayne Wright, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Renee Affolter, Reviewer, Boston College

Tyler Scaletta, Pilot Teacher, Alcott College Prep Elementary School, Chicago Public Schools

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

Joseph Krajcik, Unit Advisory Chair, Michigan State University

Michael Clinchot, Teacher Advisor, John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science

Brian MacNevin, Teacher Advisor, Northwest Educational Service District 189

BSCS Science Learning

Christine Osborne, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Denise Rubens, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator and Copyediting

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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7.1 Chemical Reactions & Matter - OpenSciEd

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7.1 Chemical Reactions & Matter *REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!* CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS Students' conceptual understanding of chemical reactions is foundational to much science learning. Understanding atomic level reactions is crucial for learning physical, life, earth, and space science.

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How can we use chemical reactions to design a solution to a problem?

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7th Grade Chemical Reactions & Energy - MS-PS1-6, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4

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Teach MS-PS1-6 and MS-ETS1-2 thru 4 with our 7th grade chemical reactions and energy unit. OpenSciEd provides science resources to classrooms across the nation.

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How do things inside our bodies work together to make us feel the way we do?

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Unit Summary

This unit on metabolic reactions in the human body starts out with students exploring a real case study of a middle-school girl named M'Kenna, who reported some alarming symptoms to her doctor. Her symptoms included an inability to concentrate, headaches, stomach issues when she eats, and a lack of energy for everyday activities and sports that she used to play regularly. She also reported noticeable weight loss over the past few months, in spite of consuming what appeared to be a healthy diet. Her case sparks questions and ideas for investigations around trying to figure out which pathways and processes in M'Kenna's body might be functioning differently than a healthy system and why.

Students investigate data specific to M'Kenna's case in the form of doctor's notes, endoscopy images and reports, growth charts, and micrographs. They also draw from their results from laboratory experiments on the chemical changes involving the processing of food and from digital interactives to explore how food is transported, transformed, stored, and used across different body systems in all people. Through this work of figuring out what is causing M'Kenna's symptoms, the class discovers what happens to the food we eat after it enters our bodies and how M'Kenna's different symptoms are connected.

Unit Examples

Simulations

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-LS1-3: Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

MS-LS1-5: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

MS-LS1-7: Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

MS-PS1-1: Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures. *

MS-PS1-2: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. *

* This unit reinforces these NGSS PEs that students should have previously developed. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, these are first built in Unit 7.1. In this new context of metabolic reactions, students will engage in the analysis and interpretation of various forms of data on how molecules change or do not change as they move through digestion. Chemical reactions starting in our mouths and stomachs and continuing throughout the rest of the digestive system drive this change, breaking down large food molecules into smaller ones. Some molecules, like fiber, stay the same throughout digestion and, therefore, do not undergo chemical reactions.

The current version of the unit expands students' understanding of metabolic reactions, which include these Grade 6-8 DCI elements:
LS1.A Structure and Function LS1.B Growth and Development of Organisms

The growth of an animal is controlled by genetic factors, * food intake, and interactions with other organisms, and each species has a typical adult size range.
LS1.C Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy.
PS3.D Energy in Processes and Everyday Life

Cellular respiration in plants and * animals involves chemical reactions with oxygen that release stored energy. In these processes, complex molecules containing carbon react with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and other materials.

*There is a slash through the pieces of the DCIs that are not developed in this unit. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, students will develop an understanding of genetic factors in the OpenSciEd Unit 8.5, how plants do chemical reactions to obtain and store energy in the subsequent OpenSciEd Unit 7.4, and interactions with other organisms in the ecosystem dynamics in OpenSciEd Unit 7.5.

In addition, this unit introduces the concept of food as fuel and lays the groundwork for future units in which students figure out that both food and other sources of fuels are sources of matter and sources of energy, drawing connections between chemical reactions that transfer and convert energy in living and nonliving systems. This connects to the idea identified on page 196 of Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012): "By middle school, a more precise idea of energy-for example, the understanding that food or fuel undergoes a chemical reaction with oxygen that releases stored energy-can emerge."

You can view the placement of this OpenSciEd Unit 7.3 and associated units within the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Developing & Using Models

Analyzing & Interpreting Data

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

In Lesson 8 students use a NetLogo simulation to discover the relationship between the rate of food absorption and the height of villi that line the small intestine. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.8: Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.2: Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.6: Approximate the probability of a chance event by collecting data on the chance process that produces it and observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the approximate relative frequency given the probability.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.8.C : Design and use a simulation to generate frequencies for compound events.

Students analyze and interpret M'Kenna's height and weight growth charts in Lesson 10. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5.C: Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.

In addition, within the domain of Measurement and Data in the Common Core Mathematics Standards, students will be drawing on what they have learned across a number of standards under the category of Represent and Interpret data for Grades 1-5 when they are generating and interpreting the tables and graphs of their data collected from the simulation and during analysis of several food molecule graphs in many lessons across the unit.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the third unit in 7th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier in the middle school curriculum. These include:

Introducing the students to the concept of a Driving Question Board and a shared set of classroom norms. This would not be necessary if taught after other OpenSciEd units.

Supplemental teaching of the nature of matter, so that students see matter as made of particles.

Supplemental teaching of the foundations for chemical reactions in PEs MS-PS1-1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures and MS-PS1-2 Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred . This unit is designed to come directly after two units involved in the foundations of chemical reactions and explicitly builds on those understandings. It is critical to note that students need the idea of chemical reactions and the idea that matter can be rearranged through these reactions yielding resultant materials with different properties to develop the explanations in this unit.

Supplemental teaching of PE s MS-LS1-1 Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells and MS-LS1-2 Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function. This unit does not introduce cells to students. It uses that prerequisite knowledge to build understanding that the organization of the body goes from cells, to tissues, to organs, to subsystems to multiple subsystems working together in one body system.

Tara McGill, Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Michael Novak, Field Test Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Kate Cook-Whitt, Writer, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance

Kathryn Fattalah, Writer, The Nora Project

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Lindsey Mohan, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Jamie Noll, Writer, Northwestern University

Barbara Taylor, Writer, Charles A. Dana Center at University of Texas Austin

Heather Galbreath, Pilot Teacher, Lombard Middle School

Michael Clinchot, Teacher Advisor, John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science

Nicole Vick, Reviewer, Abingdon-Avon High School

Betty Stennett, Reviewer, BSCS Science Learning

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

Kelsey Edwards, Project Coordinator, Northwestern University

Barbara Hug, Unit Advisory Chair, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

BSCS Science Learning

Natalie Giarratano, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Alyssa Markle, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Achieve's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has been identified as a quality example of a science unit. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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This unit on metabolic reactions in the human body starts out with students exploring a real case study of a middle-school girl named M'Kenna, who reported some alarming symptoms to her doctor. Her symptoms included an inability to concentrate, headaches, stomach issues when she eats, and a lack of energy for everyday activities and sports that she used to play regularly.

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Where does food come from and where does it go next?

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7.4 Matter Cycling & Photosynthesis

Unit Summary

*REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!*
CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS
This unit on the cycling of matter and photosynthesis begins with 7th grade students reflecting on what they ate for breakfast. Students are prompted to consider where their food comes from and consider which breakfast items might be from plants. Then students taste a common breakfast food, maple syrup, and see that according to the label, it is 100% from a tree.

Based on the preceding unit, students argue that they know what happens to the sugar in syrup when they consume it. It is absorbed into the circulatory system and transported to cells in their body to be used for fuel. Students explore what else is in food and discover that food from plants, like bananas, peanut butter, beans, avocado, and almonds, not only have sugars but proteins and fats as well. This discovery leads them to wonder how plants are getting these food molecules and where a plant's food comes from.

Students figure out that they can trace all food back to plants, including processed and synthetic food. They obtain and communicate information to explain how matter gets from living things that have died back into the system through processes done by decomposers. Students finally explain that the pieces of their food are constantly recycled between living and nonliving parts of a system.

Simulations

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-LS1-6: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

MS-PS1-3: Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

Partial NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs) addressed by this unit:

MS-LS1-2: Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function. (Specifically, chloroplasts and mitochondria.)

The unit expands students' understanding of matter cycling and photosynthesis, which include these Grade 6-8 DCI elements:
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Plants, algae (including phytoplankton), and many microorganisms use the energy from light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be used immediately or stored for growth or later use.
LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems

Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem.

Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments.

The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

Each pure substance has characteristic physical and chemical properties (for any bulk quantity under given conditions) that can be used to identify it.
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions

Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants.
PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life

The chemical reaction by which plants produce complex food molecules (sugars) requires an energy input (i.e., from sunlight) to occur. In this reaction, carbon dioxide and water combine to form carbon-based organic molecules and release oxygen. (secondary)

The placement of this OpenSciEd Unit 7.4 and associated units are shown in the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Constructing Explanations and Design Solutions

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communication Information

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

Energy and Matter

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

In Lesson 6, to represent the process of photosynthesis in a plant, 7th grade students use a NetLogo simulation to discover the relationship of how the inputs within the plant interact and affect the amounts of outputs and represent the process of photosynthesis in a plant.

Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.NS.C.8: Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5.B Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5.C: Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.

In addition, within the domain of Measurement and Data in the Common Core Mathematics Standards, students will be drawing on what they have learned across a number of standards under the category of Represent and Interpret data for grades 1-5 when they are generating and interpreting the tables and graphs of their data collected from the simulation and during analysis of several input/output graphs in many lessons across the unit.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the fourth unit in 7th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier in the middle school curriculum. These include:

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 7.1 or at the start of the school year, supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. (These supports are built into 7.1.)

This unit is designed to come after two units involved in the foundations of chemical reactions and explicitly builds on those understandings. It is critical to note that students need the idea of chemical reactions and the idea that matter can be rearranged through these reactions yielding resultant materials with different properties to develop the explanations in this unit. Without these ideas, the questions raised make no sense to students, and they don't have what they need to develop the disciplinary core ideas. If not being done in the standard OpenSciEd sequence, teachers would need to make sure there are other ways students have developed these foundational ideas, reflected in the PEs MS-PS1-1: Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures and MS-PS1-2: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. Students will also need an understanding that all matter is made of particles, which is foundational ideas for these PEs. MS-PS1-5: Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

The unit is also designed to come after the extension of chemical reactions to living things that occurs in OpenSciEd Unit 7.3. If students have not done that unit before taking this unit on, there will need to develop the idea that there are chemical reactions in living things, reflected in the PE MS-LS1-7: Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.

Supplemental teaching of PEs MS-LS1-1: Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells and MS-LS1-2: Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function. This unit does not introduce cells to students. It uses that prerequisite knowledge to build understanding that living things are made of cells and those cells have structures for specific jobs. This unit will add to that knowledge by looking at the role of chloroplasts and mitochondria.

Jamie Noll, Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Tara McGill, Field Test Unit Lead and Reviewer, Northwestern University

Dawn Novak, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Meghan McCleary, Writer, University of Illinois Extension

Sue Gasper, Writer, University of Illinois Extension

Katy Fattaleh, Writer, The Nora Project

Michael Novak, Writer, Northwestern University

Kate Cook-Whitt, Writer, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Tyler Scaletta, Writer, Chicago Public Schools

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

Kelsey Edwards, Project Coordinator, Northwestern University

Christina Murzynski, Project Coordinator, Northwestern University

Misty Richmond, Pilot Teacher, James Ward School

Mary Colannino, Teacher Advisor, Hugh B. Bain Middle School

Elizabeth Xeng de los Santos, Advisory Team, University of Nevada - Reno

Chris Griesemer, Advisory Team, University of California - Davis

Cindy Passmore, Unit Advisory Chair, University of California - Davis

BSCS Science Learning

Christine Osborne, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Alyssa Markle, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this photosynthesis unit for 7th grade students has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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Photosynthesis 7th Grade - MS-LS1-6, MS-LS2-3, MS-PS1-3, MS-LS1-2

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7.4 Matter Cycling & Photosynthesis *REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!* CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS This unit on the cycling of matter and photosynthesis begins with 7th grade students reflecting on what they ate for breakfast. Students are prompted to consider where their food comes from and consider which breakfast items might be from plants.

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How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there?

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Unit Summary

This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.

Students spend the first lesson set better understanding the complexity of the problem, which cannot be solved with simple solutions. They will figure out that palm oil is derived from the oil palm trees that grow near the equator, and that these trees are both land-efficient and provide stable income for farmers, factors that make finding a solution to the palm oil problem more challenging. Students will establish the need for a better design for oil palm farms, which will support both orangutans and farmers. The final set of lessons engage students in investigations of alternative approaches to growing food compared to large-scale monocrop farms. Students work to design an oil palm farm that simultaneously supports orangutan populations and the income of farmers and community members.

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

MS-LS2-5: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

LS2.A: Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with non-living factors. Students investigate how organisms (see Lessons 8) and populations of organisms (Lessons 7, 9-12) depend on interactions with other populations particularly as they search for food resources. Students focus on plant interactions with non-living factors in Lesson 3.

LS2.A: In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. Students investigate competition between orangutans in a simulation in Lesson 8 and circle back to competition in Lesson 13.

LS2.A: Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources. Students build these ideas through simulations and additional case studies across Lessons 8-11.

LS2.A: Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and non-living, are shared. Students model different interactions in the rainforest and oil palm systems, including predation, competition, and mutualism between orangutans and fruit tree populations (see Lessons 11-13).

LS2.C: Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. Students model different disruption scenarios and predict how those disruptions would shift populations. Students hear from farmers about the strategies they employ to protect themselves from disruptions (see Lessons 13, 15, 16).

LS2.C: Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth's terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem's biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. Students compare rainforest systems to oil palm systems in terms of the biodiversity found in each system (see Lesson 13). Students learn that farmers are interested in supporting biodiversity in Lesson 14.

LS4.D: Changes in biodiversity can influence humans' resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on-for example, water purification and recycling. Students figure out that people engage with different ways to grow food compared to monocrop in order to obtain different benefits, or services (see Lessons 15-16).

ESS3.C: Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth's environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. Students focus on understanding the problem, which involves humans altering the biosphere in ways that negatively impact orangutans (Lessons 2-4) and alterations in their own communities (Lessons 5). Students also encounter ways humans farm for food that positively support biodiversity in Lesson 14.

ETS1.A: The more precisely a design task's criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that are likely to limit possible solutions. Students use criteria and constraints, based on the science and engineering ideas developed in the unit, with a particular attention to what land-use strategies work for different stakeholders and the limits of their application. Students make their first pass at criteria and constraints in Lesson 6 and revisit them to make them more precise in Lesson 17. Students evaluate design based on criteria and constraints in Lesson 18.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Asking Questions and Defining Problems: This unit is anchored by a complex socioscientific issue. Students' initial questions on the DQB lead them to investigate simple fixes to a complex problem. The first lesson set serves to complicate the problem for them, culminating in defining it more clearly later in Lesson 6. Students define a design problem that can be solved through the development of a , but a designed system that is limited by both scientific and social factors.

Developing and Using Models: Students develop new understandings about how to use a computer model to generate data to test ideas about population dynamics in the rainforest and farm designs. They evaluate the limitations of the computer model in comparison to the complex real-world systems the model is representing.

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations: Students engage in planning and carrying out investigations with independent and control variables in a computer simulation. They use the simulation in the unit as a way to collect data and produce data about design solutions and proposed systems under a range of conditions.
Mathematics and Computation Thinking: Students calculate ratios of orangutans to land area to understand population density. They characterize and use graphical representations of populations over time to draw conclusions about resource availability and farm designs. The lesson 10 assessment on Monarch butterflies allows for assessment of this practice.

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect: Cause and effect is a lens students apply throughout the unit, focusing on establishing cause and effect relationships in order to predict phenomena. Students use cause and effect in the context of natural systems and in their designs land-use systems.

System and System Models: Students develop system models to allow them to understand the different components and interactions occurring within the system. They discuss limitations of their system models for representing the complexity of the real-world systems (e.g., simulations representing limited components and interactions).

Stability and Change: Stability and change is a consistent lens students apply throughout the unit as they make sense of small changes in the system that have large impacts, as well as sudden and gradual changes over time. They look to stabilize orangutan populations and farmers income in their final designs.

How will I need to modify the unit if taught out of sequence?

This is the fifth unit in 7th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle-school curriculum. These include:

If taught before the OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) or at the start of the school year, supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. (These supports are built into the Bath Bombs Unit )

If taught before the Maple Syrup Unit , supplemental teaching of matter cycling between organisms and food webs would be required. In particular, students having experienced the Maple Syrup Unit will want to immediately investigate the ingredients in candy during the anchor lesson because students traced many ingredients back to plants in that unit. This may not be the case for students who have not experienced the Maple Syrup Unit , so the motivation to look at candy ingredients on day 1 of Lesson 1 may need additional support from you. The unit also relies on students having a recent learning experience around producers and consumers and the interconnection between the two in a food chain. This is particularly important for Lessons 11-13. Food webs are taught in 5th grade and students can work from this level of understanding, if needed. Lastly, Lesson 3 expects that students can readily identify the conditions that plants need to grow. The lesson has students briefly articulate these conditions so that students use most of the instructional time to identify growing conditions for oil palm plants. Additional time may need to be spent in this lesson if students have not learned about plant growth (MS-LS1-6).

This unit is highly dependent on 6th-grade math concepts. If this unit is taught in 6th grade, it is suggested to work very closely with a 6th grade math teacher to understand when students will learn the mathematical concepts and process (listed below) so that this unit can reinforce those concepts in a real-world problem context but not come before students have developed these ideas in their math classes (or working in conjunction with math and science simultaneously).

What mathematics is required to fully access the unit's learning experiences?

During Lesson Set 2, students will engage in population thinking, rate and ratio reasoning, and encounter many graphical representations of data (e.g., line graphs, histograms) that they will need to interpret. They will calculate ratios in Lesson 7, create histograms together in Lesson 8, and interpret single data points in a distribution during both Lessons 8 and 9. Students will also work with the concept of "trend" in Lessons 9 and 10. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.2 Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3 Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3.c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3.d Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.2 Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.C.5 Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.1 Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.2 Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution, which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.B.5.c Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern, with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.

What additional strategies are available to support equitable science learning in this unit?

OpenSciEd units are designed to promote equitable access to high-quality science learning experiences for all students. Each unit includes strategies which are integrated throughout the OpenSciEd routines and are intended to increase relevance and provide access to science learning for all students. OpenSciEd units support these equity goals through several specific strategies such as: 1) integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles during the unit design process to reduce potential barriers and provide more accessible ways in which students can engage in learning experiences; 2) developing and supporting classroom norms that provide a safe learning culture, 3) supporting classroom discourse to promote students in developing, sharing, and revising their ideas, and 4) specific strategies to supporting emerging multilingual students in science classrooms.

Many of these strategies are discussed in the teacher guides in sidebar callout boxes titled "Attending to Equity" and subheadings such as "Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners" or "Supporting Universal Design for Learning." Other callout boxes with strategies are found as "Additional Guidance", "Alternate Activity," and "Key Ideas" and various discussion callouts. Finally, each unit includes the development of a Word Wall as part of students' routines to "earning" or "encountering" scientific language.

For more information about each of these different strategies with example artifacts, please see the OpenSciEd Teacher Handbook.

Lindsey Mohan, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Renee Affolter, Writer, Reviewer, & PD Design, Boston College

Kate Cook Whitt, Writer, Maine Math and Science Alliance

Candice Guy-Gaytán, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Ty Scaletta, Writer, Pilot teacher, Chicago Public Schools

Guy Ollison, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Barbara Taylor, Writer, Charles A. Center at UT-Austin

Michael Novak, Conceptual design, Northwestern University

Heather Young, Sim Developer, Oregon Public Broadcasting

Cathie Stimac, Sim Design, Oregon Public Broadcasting

Charles Hickey, Pilot teacher, Weymouth Public Schools

Jennifer Loud, Pilot teacher, Weymouth Public Schools

Julie Callanan, Pilot teacher, Advisor, Framingham Public Schools

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

Cindy Passmore, Unit Advisory Chair, UC-Davis

Steve Babcock, Advisor, Louisiana State University

Karla White, Teacher Advisor, Bethany Public Schools

Dr. Cheryl Knott, Natalie Robinson, and Dr. Andrea Blackburn from Boston University and the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program

Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University

BSCS Science Learning

Rachel Paul, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Natalie Giarratano, Copyeditor (field test), Independent Contractor

Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead Valerie Maltese, Communications and Advancement Manager

Renee DeVaul, Project Manager

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live.

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Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other?

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Unit Summary

Oh, no! I've dropped my phone! Most of us have experienced the panic of watching our phones slip out of our hands and fall to the floor. We've experienced the relief of picking up an undamaged phone and the frustration of the shattered screen. This common experience anchors learning in the Contact Forces unit as students explore a variety of phenomena to figure out, "Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other?"

Student questions about the factors that result in a shattered cell phone screen lead them to investigate what is really happening to any object during a collision. They make their thinking visible with free-body diagrams, mathematical models, and system models to explain the effects of relative forces, mass, speed, and energy in collisions. Students then use what they have learned about collisions to engineer something that will protect a fragile object from damage in a collision. They investigate which materials to use, gather design input from stakeholders to refine the criteria and constraints, develop micro and macro models of how their solution is working, and optimize their solution based on data from investigations. Finally, students apply what they have learned from the investigation and design to a related design problem.

Unit Examples

Simulations

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):
Physical Science PEs

MS-PS2-1 Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects. [ 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.]

MS-PS-2-2 Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object. [ 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 and in an inertial reference frame and to change in one variable at a time. Assessment does not include the use of trigonometry.]

MS-PS3-1 Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object. [ 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.]

MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-3 Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

The following PE will be developed over three OpenSciEd units: OpenSciEd Unit 6.1: Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object? (One-way Mirror Unit) , OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) , and OpenSciEd Unit 8.2: How can a sound make something move? (Sound Unit) . This unit will address only the mechanical inputs that transmit signals to the brain through touch. The other units will address electromagnetic and other mechanical inputs (sound) and chemical inputs as well as the connection to signals processing in the brain. This unit, however, does make an important connection to how those signals are stored as memories and how damage to particular structures (axons on neurons) can cause memory loss in concussions.

MS-LS1-8. Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories. [ Assessment Boundary : Assessment does not include mechanisms for transmission of this information.]

This unit helps develop the following elements of Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs):
PS2.A: Forces and Motion

For any pair of interacting objects, the force exerted by the first object on the second object is equal in strength to the force that the second object exerts on the first, but in the opposite direction (Newton's third law).

The motion of an object is determined by the sum of the forces acting on it; if the total force on the object is not zero, its motion will change. The greater the mass of the object, the greater the force needed to achieve the same change in motion. For any given object, a larger force causes a larger change in motion.

All positions of objects and the directions of forces and motions must be described in an arbitrarily chosen reference frame and arbitrarily chosen units of size. In order to share information with other people, these choices must also be shared.

PS3.A: Definitions of Energy

Motion energy is properly called kinetic energy ; it is proportional to the mass of the moving object and grows with the square of its speed.
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions

There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem.

Sometimes parts of different solutions can be combined to create a solution that is better than any of its predecessors.

ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution

Although one design may not perform the best across all tests, identifying the characteristics of the design that performed the best in each test can provide useful information for the redesign process-that is, some of those characteristics may be incorporated into the new design.
LS1.D: Information Processing

Each sense receptor responds to different inputs ( electromagnetic, mechanical, chemical), transmitting them as signals that travel along nerve cells to the brain. The signals are then processed in the brain, resulting in memories. immediate behaviors or

Besides the disciplinary core ideas that are part of the foundation boxes for the target PEs in this unit, additional connections to the following DCIs are also developed and used in this unit:
PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer

When the kinetic energy of an object changes, there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time.
PS3.C: Relationship Between Energy and Forces

When two objects interact, each one exerts a force on the other that can cause energy to be transferred to or from the object.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

While this unit engages students in multiple SEPs across the lesson-level performance expectations for all the lessons in the unit, there is one focal practice that this unit targets to support students' development in a learning progression across the 8th grade year for the SEPs:

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

In addition, there are three supporting practices that students will utilize over the course of the unit:

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

This unit is designed to be taught at the start of 8th grade. If it is taught in 6th or 7th grade, be prepared to provide students greater support in the following SEPs. For more detailed information about the focal Science and Engineering Practices in this unit, read the unit front matter in the Teacher Edition.

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

While this unit engages students in multiple CCCs across the lesson-level performance expectations for all the lessons in the unit, there are four focal CCCs that this unit targets to support students' development in a learning progression for the CCCs across the 8th grade year:

Systems and system models

Energy and matter

Structure and function

Stability and change

For more detailed information about the focal Crosscutting Concepts in this unit, read the unit front matter in the Teacher Edition.

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

Because this unit is taught using a conceptual approach to describing the relationship among force, mass, and change in motion during collisions, students need only have experience with qualitatively reasoning about direct and inverse relationships (e.g., as force increases, change in motion increases; but as mass increases, change in motion from a given force decreases).

But because the focus of MS-PS3-1 is on quantitative understanding of the relationship of the kinetic energy of an object to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object, students will need to leverage the following experiences from grade 7 CCS math to use in this unit in Lessons 7 and 10:

Working with unit rates and ratios is within the 6th and 7th grade Common Core Math Standards. By the beginning of 8th grade, students should be well versed in how to do this calculation. It will be leveraged in Lessons 7 and 10 of this unit when students recognize that the relationship between mass and kinetic energy is directly proportional. Such a relationship is one they have encountered in graphs many times in Common Core mathematics since 6th grade. Recognizing the relationship between speed and kinetic energy as nonlinear will also be straightforward. But describing the change in kinetic energy as being related to the square of the speed of an object will be challenging. Students will have encountered working with squared relationships in 6th grade in finding the surface area of a cube with sides of length s , and in 8th grade they will be working with squaring the side lengths of a right triangle in their work with the Pythagorean theorem. Coordinate with your math teachers to determine where you students will be at in their familiarity with thinking about relationships like these.

Students calculate and use a type of ratio called a scale factor in Lesson 7. Students will have encountered this concept before in math class in one or both of these contexts:

7.G.A.1 Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale.

7.RP.A.2 Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.

There are multiple connections between the work students will be doing in Lesson 7 and the work they will be doing in math class this year (grade 8). These include the following:
8.F.B.5 Describe qualitatively the functional relationship between two quantities by analyzing a graph (e.g., where the function is increasing or decreasing, linear or nonlinear).

8.EE.A.1 Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions.

Because data from investigations are often scattered due to source of error, even when the expected trend in the data is linear, students are introduced to lines of best fit in Lesson 4 in this unit. They reuse this construct in the Lesson 10 assessment. Students do not have to have encountered this idea in previous mathematics instruction. Lesson 4 assumes that this may be the first time students encountered this idea.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the first unit in 8th grade in the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum.

Before this unit, students should understand the following ideas from their experiences in OpenSciEd Unit 6.1: Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object? (One-way Mirror Unit) and in Unknown material with identifier: cl :

The brain pieces together the information to tell us what we "see."

Large groups of cells work together to form tissues or organs that work together to perform particular body functions.

They should also understand the following ideas from their experiences in Cup Design Unit and Storms Unit :

Motion energy is properly called kinetic energy (part of PS3.A).

Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles of matter (part of PS3.A).

Energy is transferred in particle-level collisions within and between gases, solids, and liquids (e.g. through conduction).

Michael Novak, Unit Lead, Northwestern University

Susan Kowalski, Field Test Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Zoë Buck Bracey, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Joel Donna, Writer, University of Wisconsin - River Falls

Shelly Ledoux, Writer, The Dana Center at University of Texas - Austin

Dawn Novak, Writer and Reviewer, BSCS Science Learning

Whitney Smith, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Tara McGill, Review, Northwestern University

Christina Schwarz, Unit Advisory Chair, Michigan State University

Thomas Clayton, Teacher Advisor, Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights, NJ

Amanda Leighton, Teacher Advisor, Haddonfield Middle School, Haddonfield, NJ

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

BSCS Science Learning

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Renee DeVaul, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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Oh, no! I've dropped my phone! Most of us have experienced the panic of watching our phones slip out of our hands and fall to the floor. We've experienced the relief of picking up an undamaged phone and the frustration of the shattered screen.

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How can a sound make something move?

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Unit Summary

*REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!*
CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS
In this unit, students develop ideas related to how sounds are produced, how they travel through media, and how they affect objects at a distance. Their investigations are motivated by trying to account for a perplexing anchoring phenomenon - a truck is playing loud music in a parking lot and the windows of a building across the parking lot visibly shake in response to the music.

They make observations of sound sources to revisit the K-5 idea that objects vibrate when they make sounds. They figure out that patterns of differences in those vibrations are tied to differences in characteristics of the sounds being made. They gather data on how objects vibrate when making different sounds to characterize how a vibrating object's motion is tied to the loudness and pitch of the sounds they make. Students also conduct experiments to support the idea that sound needs matter to travel through, and they will use models and simulations to explain how sound travels through matter at the particle level.

Simulations

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-PS4-1. Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing waves with both qualitative and quantitative thinking.]

MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on both light and mechanical waves. Examples of models could include drawings, simulations, and written descriptions.]

This unit helps develop the following elements of Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs):
PS4.A: Wave Properties

A simple wave has a repeating pattern with a specific wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. (MS-PS4-1)

A sound wave needs a medium through which it is transmitted. (MS-PS4-2)

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Developing & Using Models

Using Mathematics & Computational Thinking

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Scale, Proportion & Quantity

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

This unit calls upon understandings from all three grade levels in middle school CCSS. Later lessons, in particular, ask students to apply skills and understandings from grade 8 CCSS. Since this unit falls at the beginning of the 8th grade year of the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, it's important to identify which math concepts and skills students may need extra support in applying as these concepts are fundamental to students engaging in Science and Engineering Practices like analyzing and interpreting data as well as using mathematical and computational thinking.

Mathematical concepts and skills from middle school CCSS are used in the following lessons:

In Lesson 4, students collect and analyze data in the form of distance vs. time graphs showing the motion of a vibrating stick over time. Students characterize the shape of these graphs as wave patterns, and describe differences in properties like the vertical distance between peaks and troughs of waves when looking at graphs for louder vs. softer sounds. They will also connect the properties of these functions to the physical differences they represent using the axes of the graph to inform what the graph represents. This data analysis calls on the ability to describe the relationship between two quantities using a graph (CCSS.MATH.8.F.B.5) as well as the ability to compare two functions expressed graphically in order to determine key properties about each function (CCSS.MATH.8.F.A.2).

In Lesson 5, students are expected to exercise these same skills and understandings to interpret differences between graphs of distance vs. time for a stick simulating higher- and lower-pitched sounds. In addition, students define the frequency as the amount of vibrations the stick goes through in a second. They calculate this frequency by finding the unit rate (vibrations per second) using the overall number of vibrations and the total time passed (CCSS.MATH.6.RP.A.2).

In Lesson 5 and 6, students work independently to interpret graphs of time vs. distance to describe sounds in terms of pitch and loudness using qualitative properties of the functions shown on each graph (CCSS.MATH.8.F.A.2). Depending on the math understandings that students display in Lessons 4 and 5, students might need support in reading and interpreting these graphs. It may help some students to go over the axes of the graph as a class to draw attention to what the graph is showing, and students may benefit from probing questions like, "What differences do you notice between these graphs? How do those differences compare to what we saw in the graphs we made with the motion detector?".

In Lesson 13, students discuss and use mathematical methods of finding the average of data sets, including calculating mean and median as a way to combine results from different groups in order to improve the accuracy of the class's data. They also work together as a class to decide how to account for or discard outliers in the class's data in order to best represent what each group found in their investigations (CCSS.MATH.6.SP.B.5). Depending on their experience using these concepts in math classes, students may need reminders of how mean and median are calculated. You can support students in recalling these procedures by taking a sample data set (either from the investigation or a random example set) and working together as a class to describe how students could find the mean and median of the set. By doing this with the class or with small groups that could use this extra practice, you can support students with mathematical methods needed to analyze the data the class has collected to draw conclusions about the lesson question.

Later in Lesson 13, students gather data describing how the energy of a vibration changes with changes to the frequency and amplitude of the vibration. They then use this data to describe and graph functions that represent the relationships between energy and frequency and energy and amplitude. From their numerical data and the graphs they create, students will see that there is a proportional relationship between frequency and energy transferred; when we increase the frequency of the vibrations, the energy transferred increases in proportion (CCSS.MATH.7.RP.A.2). While frequency and energy have a linear relationship, amplitude and energy have a nonlinear relationship where increasing amplitude causes much greater increases in energy compared to increasing frequency. Some students may recognize the pattern on the amplitude vs. energy graph as exponential, where increasing amplitude causes a much greater increase in energy than in a linear relationship like that between frequency and energy (CCSS.MATH.8.F.A.3).

By the end of Lesson 13, Students are expected to use these qualitative properties of the graphs for frequency vs. energy and amplitude vs. energy to conclude that the energy vs. amplitude function has a greater rate of change than does the energy vs. frequency function (CCSS.MATH.8.F.A.2). Depending on students' experience with linear and nonlinear functions, students may identify these differences in different ways. Some students may only be able to state that the amplitude vs. energy graph is steeper or increases more quickly, and they may need support in connecting this observation to the idea that increasing amplitude causes a greater increase in energy compared to frequency. Further, some students may benefit from using the data tables they generate in their investigations to find numerical patterns to support their observations of the two graphs. In this numerical data, for example, they might notice that doubling the frequency doubles the energy but doubling the amplitude makes the energy increase by 4 times. These numerical patterns may be helpful to call out and emphasize for students who are still developing their skills at reading and analyzing graphs.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the second unit in 8th grade in the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum.

If students haven't developed lines of evidence from previous grades (PS1 in grade 5) that air is matter and therefore air has mass, you may need to conduct additional investigations first to establish these ideas. (e.g. massing a soda bottle before and after opening it; massing a volleyball before and after adding air. )

If students haven't developed lines of evidence from previous grades (PS1A in MS) that (a) solids, liquids, and gases are made of particles; (b) the spacing between those particles is different for a solid and liquid versus a gas; and (c) that the particles in liquid or gas are moving, you will need to establish these ideas first. The unit rests on explaining sound as the collision of particles that transfers energy - so so students need to see matter as composed of particles and see how those particles can move, even in solids.

The idea that moving objects have energy and that this energy can be transferred through collisions needs to be developed prior to this unit.

Renee Affolter, Unit Lead, Boston College

Susan Kowalski, Field Test Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Gail Housman, Writer, Ideal Elementary School

Jamie Noll, Writer, Northwestern University

Tyler Scaletta, Writer and Pilot Teacher, North Shore Country Day School

Michael Novak, Reviewer, Northwestern University

Chris Newlan, Pilot Teacher, David Wooster Middle School

Sara Ryner, Pilot Teacher, United Junior High School

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

BSCS Science Learning

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Alyssa Markle, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Additional Acknowledgement

This unit was adapted from How Can We Sense So Many Different Sounds From a Distance?, originally developed by the Next Generation Science Storylines project at Northwestern University. Used with permission. How Can We Sense So Many Different Sounds From a Distance? was developed with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to Northwestern University and support from the NGSX Project at Clark University, Tidemark Institute, and Northwestern University.

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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Introduction to Sound Waves in 8th Grade - MS-PS4-1 & MS-PS4-2

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Give your students an introduction to sound waves in 8th grade with OpenSciEd! This unit meets NGSS standards MS-PS4-1 & 2 so you can trust the quality of the lesson plans.

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How can a magnet move another object without touching it?

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Unit Summary

*REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!*
CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS

This unit launches with a slow-motion video of a speaker as it plays music. In the previous unit, students developed a model of sound. This unit allows students to investigate the cause of a speaker's vibration in addition to the effect.

Students dissect speakers to explore the inner workings, and engineer homemade cup speakers to manipulate the parts of the speaker. They identify that most speakers have the same parts-a magnet, a coil of wire, and a membrane. Students investigate each of these parts to figure out how they work together in the speaker system. Along the way, students manipulate the components (e.g. changing the strength of the magnet, number of coils, direction of current) to see how this technology can be modified and applied to a variety of contexts, like MagLev trains, junkyard magnets, and electric motors.

Unit Examples

Additional Unit Information

Building Toward the Following Standards and Practices

This 6-week unit builds towards the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs):

MS-PS2-3: Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.

MS-PS2-5: Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.

MS-PS3-2: Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.

MS-PS2-2*: Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

MS-PS3-1*: Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.

MS-PS3-5*: Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object (p. 61).

*These performance expectations are developed across multiple units. This unit reinforces or works toward these NGSS PEs that students should have previously developed or will develop more fully in future units. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, PS2-2, PS3-1, and PS3-5 are first built in Unit 8.1. In this new context, students are considering the same relationships, but in the context of forces that are at a distance. Students will continue to explore these relationships in the context of gravity in unit 8.4.

The unit expands students' understanding of forces and energy transfer, which include these grades 6-8 DCI elements:
PS2.B: Types of Interactions

Electrical and magnetic (electromagnetic) forces can be attractive or repulsive, and their sizes depend on the magnitudes of the charges , currents, or magnetic strengths involved and on the distances between the interacting objects. (MS‑PS2‑3)

Forces that act at a distance ( electrical, magnetic, and gravitational ) can be explained by fields that extend through space and can be mapped by their effect on a test object ( a charged object , a magnet, or a ball, respectively ). (MS‑PS2‑5)

PS3.A: Definitions of Energy

A system of objects may also contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions. (MS-PS3-2)

When two objects interact, each one exerts a force on the other that can cause energy to be transferred to or from the object. (MS-PS3-2)

The parts of the DCI elements that are not developed in this unit are crossed out. In the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence, students will develop an understanding of gravity in OpenSciEd Unit 8.4. Electricity is treated as an extension opportunity within this unit. The placement of this OpenSciEd Unit 8.3 and associated units within the OpenSciEd Middle School Scope and Sequence.

Focal Science & Engineering Practices

Asking Questions and Defining Problems

Developing and Using Models

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Focal Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

Systems & System Models

What are prerequisite math concepts necessary for the unit?

In this unit, students will collect, manipulate, and analyze data from several investigations. In Lesson 7 students will calculate the rate of change from data collected and organized in a table. They will interpret this rate as the speed of a cart moving along a track. Data organization and analysis in Lessons 10 and 11 include graphing tabular data in two quadrants of the coordinate plane and interpreting the meaning of data in graphs.

Prerequisite math concepts from students math classes include the following:

CCSS.Math.Content.7.PR.1. Compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions, including ratios of lengths, areas, and other quantities measured in like or different units.
In their 7th grade math classes, students have experience in determining rates of change from quantities where units are different, and they frequently calculate average speed. Students also begin to algebraically manipulate the variables in the equation for speed (s = d/t) and can determine any of the three when given the other two. Helping students focus on units needed for the desired quantity will minimize errors.

CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.C.8. Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. Include use of coordinates and absolute value to find distances between points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate.
In 6th grade, students are introduced to graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane and frequently use direction as an analogy. For example, if the origin of the graph is a starting point, walking north and west would result in a location in quadrant II. In Lessons 10 and 11 students consider the symmetry of data graphed in quadrants I and IV across the y-axis. The idea of reflection across an axis is not introduced until 8th grade, so be sure to check with math colleagues about the timing of this concept.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the third unit in 8th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle school curriculum. These include the following adjustments:

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 8.1, supplemental teaching of the definitions of forces and energy would be required, particularly in the context of physical pushes and pulls (contact forces). These ideas are fundamental to the model of forces and energy in a magnetic field that students need to build.

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 8.1 (or at the start of the school year), supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. (These supports are built into 8.1.)

If taught before OpenSciEd Unit 8.2, supplemental teaching of what a sound is and how sound travels would be required, with an emphasis on how movement back and forth creates the physical pushes necessary to move air so that sound waves can transfer energy. These ideas are fundamental to students' understanding of the anchoring phenomenon in this unit.

Zoë Buck Bracey, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Lindsey Mohan, Field Test Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning

Joel Donna, Writer, University of Wisconsin River Falls

Shelly Ledoux, Writer, The Dana Center at University of Texas - Austin

Michael Novak, Writer, and Reviewer, Northwestern University

Will Reed, Writer, Chicago Public Schools

Betty Stennett, Writer, BSCS Science Learning

Kris Grymonpre, Teacher Advisor, John W. McCormack Middle School, Boston, MA

Thomas Clayton, Teacher Advisor, Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights, NJ

Christina Schwarz, Unit Advisory Chair, Michigan State University

Joseph Krajcik, Unit Advisory Member, Michigan State University

Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist

BSCS Science Learning

Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead and Copyeditor

Valerie Maltese, Marketing Specialist & Project Coordinator

Alyssa Markle, Project Coordinator

Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer

NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd's development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience's Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science. We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge. You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

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REMOTE LEARNING GUIDE FOR THIS UNIT NOW AVAILABLE!* CLICK DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS This unit launches with a slow-motion video of a speaker as it plays music. In the previous unit, students developed a model of sound. This unit allows students to investigate the cause of a speaker's vibration in addition to the effect.

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How are we connected to the patterns we see in the sky and space?

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8th Grade Space Science - MS-ESS1-1, MS-ESS1-2, MS-ESS1-3, MS-PS2-4 MS-PS4-2

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This middle school science unit answers the question “How are we connected to the patterns we see in the sky and space?”

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5.1 Lesson 1 Slides Classroom Agreements

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Slides pulled from elementary OSE