Curriculum+Project

toc Welcome to the curriculum project. The goal of this project is to develop a teacher created, connected, linked and practical curriculum based on our collective experiences. We have the resources for activities in our "shared folder", now we have to give this plethora of resources into context. This project hopes to achieve that context.

The project is organized around grade level first, then by content area. The "big ideas" for the content are taken from the draft framework for the new national science education standards. The big ideas are also informed by the 1996 National Science Education Standards and the AAAS "Atlas for Scientific Literacy".

What's next? Good question. Identifying concepts and ideas that fall under these big ideas will be a start. Then we will need to identify what students should know about these ideas and link to activities or resources useful for teaching about these ideas.

=9-12=

Life Sciences
LS1: Organisms have structures and functions that facilitate their life processes, growth, and reproduction

LS2: Organisms have mechanisms and processes for passing traits and variations of traits from one generation to the next.

LS3: Organisms and populations of organisms obtain necessary resources from their environment which includes other organisms and physical factors.

LS4: Biological evolution explains the unity and diversity of species.

Earth & Space Sciences
ESS1: Humans are a small part of a vast Universe; planet Earth is part of the Solar System, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe.

ESS2: Earth is a complex and dynamic 4.6-billion-year-old system of rock, water, air, and life.

ESS3: Earth’s surface continually changes from the cycling of water and rock driven by sunlight and gravity.

 ESS4: Human activities are constrained by and, in turn, affect all other processes at Earth’s surface. 

Physical Sciences
PS1: Macroscopic states and characteristic properties of matter depend on the type, arrangement and motion of particles at the molecular and atomic scales.

PS2: Forces due to fundamental interactions underlie all matter, structures and transformations; balance or imbalance of forces determines stability and change within all systems.

PS3: Transfers of energy within and between systems never change the total amount of energy, but energy tends to become more dispersed; energy availability regulates what can occur in any process.

PS4: Our understanding of wave properties, together with appropriate instrumentation, allows us to use waves, particularly electromagnetic and sound waves, to investigate nature on all scales, far beyond our direct sense of perception.

Engineering & Technology
ET1: The study of the designed world is the study of designed systems, processes, materials and products and of the technologies and scientific principles by which they function.

ET2: Engineering design is a creative and iterative process for identifying and solving problems in the face of various constraints.

ET3: People are surrounded and supported by technological systems. Effectively using and improving these systems is essential for long-term survival and prosperity.

ET4: In today’s modern world everyone makes technological decisions that affect or are affected by technology on a daily basis. Consequently, it is essential for all citizens to understand the risks and responsibilities that accompany such decisions.

=5-8=

Life Sciences
LS1: Organisms have structures and functions that facilitate their life processes, growth, and reproduction

LS2: Organisms have mechanisms and processes for passing traits and variations of traits from one generation to the next.

LS3: Organisms and populations of organisms obtain necessary resources from their environment which includes other organisms and physical factors.

LS4: Biological evolution explains the unity and diversity of species.

Earth & Space Sciences
ESS1: Humans are a small part of a vast Universe; planet Earth is part of the Solar System, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe.

ESS2: Earth is a complex and dynamic 4.6-billion-year-old system of rock, water, air, and life.

ESS3: Earth’s surface continually changes from the cycling of water and rock driven by sunlight and gravity.

 ESS4: Human activities are constrained by and, in turn, affect all other processes at Earth’s surface  

**Physical Sciences**
PS1: Macroscopic states and characteristic properties of matter depend on the type, arrangement and motion of particles at the molecular and atomic scales. PS2: Forces due to fundamental interactions underlie all matter, structures and transformations; balance or imbalance of forces determines stability and change within all systems.

PS3: Transfers of energy within and between systems never change the total amount of energy, but energy tends to become more dispersed; energy availability regulates what can occur in any process.

PS4: Our understanding of wave properties, together with appropriate instrumentation, allows us to use waves, particularly electromagnetic and sound waves, to investigate nature on all scales, far beyond our direct sense of perception.

Engineering & Technology
ET1: The study of the designed world is the study of designed systems, processes, materials and products and of the technologies and scientific principles by which they function.

ET2: Engineering design is a creative and iterative process for identifying and solving problems in the face of various constraints.

ET3: People are surrounded and supported by technological systems. Effectively using and improving these systems is essential for long-term survival and prosperity.

ET4: In today’s modern world everyone makes technological decisions that affect or are affected by technology on a daily basis. Consequently, it is essential for all citizens to understand the risks and responsibilities that accompany such decisions.

=K-4=

Life Sciences
LS1: Organisms have structures and functions that facilitate their life processes, growth, and reproduction

LS2: Organisms have mechanisms and processes for passing traits and variations of traits from one generation to the next.

LS3: Organisms and populations of organisms obtain necessary resources from their environment which includes other organisms and physical factors.

LS4: Biological evolution explains the unity and diversity of species.

Earth & Space Sciences
ESS1: Humans are a small part of a vast Universe; planet Earth is part of the Solar System, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe.

ESS2: Earth is a complex and dynamic 4.6-billion-year-old system of rock, water, air, and life.

ESS3: Earth’s surface continually changes from the cycling of water and rock driven by sunlight and gravity.

 ESS4: Human activities are constrained by and, in turn, affect all other processes at Earth’s surface.  

**Physical Sciences**
PS1: Macroscopic states and characteristic properties of matter depend on the type, arrangement and motion of particles at the molecular and atomic scales. PS2: Forces due to fundamental interactions underlie all matter, structures and transformations; balance or imbalance of forces determines stability and change within all systems.

PS3: Transfers of energy within and between systems never change the total amount of energy, but energy tends to become more dispersed; energy availability regulates what can occur in any process.

PS4: Our understanding of wave properties, together with appropriate instrumentation, allows us to use waves, particularly electromagnetic and sound waves, to investigate nature on all scales, far beyond our direct sense of perception.

Engineering & Technology
ET1: The study of the designed world is the study of designed systems, processes, materials and products and of the technologies and scientific principles by which they function.

ET2: Engineering design is a creative and iterative process for identifying and solving problems in the face of various constraints.

ET3: People are surrounded and supported by technological systems. Effectively using and improving these systems is essential for long-term survival and prosperity.

ET4: In today’s modern world everyone makes technological decisions that affect or are affected by technology on a daily basis. Consequently, it is essential for all citizens to understand the risks and responsibilities that accompany such decisions.

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