Unit Overview/Summary:  

Summary  

The unit organizes performance expectations with a focus on helping students build understanding of traits of organisms. Instruction developed from this unit should always maintain the three-dimensional nature of the standards and recognize that instruction is not limited to the practices and concepts directly linked with any of the unit performance expectations.  

Connections between unit Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs)    

The concept that the faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses (PS3.A as in 4-PS3-1) connects to many other ideas about energy in this unit, including the idea that energy is present whenever there are moving objects (PS3.B as in 4-PS3-3), and that when objects collide, the contact forces transfer energy so as to change the objects’ motion (PS3.C as in 4-PS3-3).  

The engineering design idea that different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints (ETS1.C as in 3-5-ETS1-3) can be applied to multiple science concepts in this unit, such as that the faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses (PS3.A as in 4-PS3-1) and when objects collide, energy can be transferred from one object to another, thereby changing their motion (PS3.A as in 4-PS3- 3). Connections could be made through engineering design challenges, such as one in which students attempt to reduce or increase the amount of energy a moving object has, or one in which students attempt to reduce or increase the amount of energy transferred from one object to another in a collision. In either case, different student solutions could be tested to determine which best meets the criteria within the identified constraints. 

Unit Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs)

Instruction leading to this unit of PEs will help students build toward proficiency in elements of the practices of asking questions and defining problems (4-PS3- 3), developing and using models (4-PS4-1), planning and carrying out investigations (3-5-ETS1-3), and constructing explanations and designing solutions (4-PS3- 1). Many other practice elements can be used in instruction. 

Unit Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs)

Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with connections and intellectual tools that are related across the differing areas of disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their understanding of core ideas. As such, they are a way of linking the different domains of science.

Instruction leading to this unit of PEs will help students build toward proficiency in elements of the crosscutting concepts of Patterns (4-PS4-1) and Energy and Matter (4-PS3-1 and 4-PS3-3). Many other crosscutting concepts elements can be used in instruction. All instruction should be three-dimensional.