Amplify Units
1. Harnessing Human Energy-Scientists continue to devise new ways to harness human energy. Energy-harvesting backpacks, bikes, rocking chairs, and knee braces are just a few of the innovative devices that have been created to capture human energy and use it to power electrical devices. In this unit, students assume the role of student energy scientists in order to help a team of rescue workers with an energy problem. Students work to find a way to get energy to the batteries in the rescue workers’ electrical devices, even during power outages, and this serves as the design problem for the unit. First, students are motivated to explore relationships between different types of energy—with an emphasis on kinetic energy and potential energy—and the ways energy is transferred and converted. To solve the rescue team’s energy problem, students research various ways to capture and store energy.
2. Force and Motion-Scientists send research instruments into space to collect data on astrophysical objects such as stars, planets, moons, and asteroids. These missions are incredibly expensive and require precise and meticulous planning to avoid failure. The teams of scientists and engineers who work together to design and build the spacecraft usually plan successful missions, but occasionally, costly mishaps occur. When these happen, scientists carefully investigate what went wrong, wanting to avoid future mistakes. In this unit, students engage in authentic work as they take on the role of student physicists working for the fictional Universal Space Agency (USA). They are called upon to assist in the investigation of one recent mishap. Students apply their developing knowledge of force and motion to explain why a space pod failed to dock at the space station as planned. This mystery serves as the anchor phenomenon for the unit. As they investigate, students will learn about the relationship between force, change in velocity, mass, and the equal and opposite forces exerted during collisions. This complex physics reasoning will be reinforced by the Force and Motion Simulation, a digital environment in which students can manipulate the mass of objects, their initial velocities, and the forces exerted on them as they observe the resulting change in motion. Students can also use this digital tool to simulate collisions and see how different objects are affected during these events. With this digital tool, students gather data about how forces affect the motion of objects, which they use as evidence to explain what happened to the pod. By the end of the unit, students will understand how forces can affect the motion of objects.
3. Magnetic Fields-Space exploration generates excitement and captures imaginations, while also leading to major breakthroughs in science and technology. However, the rockets used to launch spacecraft are very expensive, and most can only be used one time. To prepare for future large-scale space projects, such as space colonization, scientists must find a cheaper and faster launch system. NASA scientists believe that a promising technology already exists in the form of electromagnetic launch systems, but the technology needs further development. In the role of physicists working for the Universal Space Agency, a fictional agency that resembles NASA, students investigate the unexpected results from one test launch of a magnetic spacecraft. While scientists at the USA were testing the launch system, they found that the spacecraft in their third test traveled much faster than expected, and it's this unexpected outcome that serves as the anchor phenomenon for student investigations in the unit. Was there an error in magnet alignment? Was there an unexpected energy increase in the launcher system, or was there more magnetic force? Motivated to understand what affects the movement of magnets, students use the Magnetic Fields Simulation, hands-on activities, and evidence from science articles to learn about magnetic force. Student gain an understanding of how magnetic force causes motion and the relationship of magnetic force to kinetic and potential energy. Students use this newfound understanding, as well as evidence about the spacecraft test launches, to explain what they think happened in the third test. They then apply their knowledge to analyzing three designs for a magnetic roller coaster launcher.
4. Light Waves-The Light Waves unit helps students gain a deeper understanding of how light interacts with materials and how these interactions affect our world, from the colors we see to changes caused by light from the sun, such as warmth, growth, and damage.
In this unit, students investigate a specific change caused by light: skin cancer. Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates in the world: More than half of the people who live there will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. Scientists have investigated the factors that place Australia’s population at such an exceptionally high risk of skin cancer. They have found that less ultraviolet light is absorbed as it passes through the atmosphere above this region due to ozone depletion. Taking on the role of student spectroscopists working for the fictional Australian Health Alliance, students investigate why Australia’s cancer rate is so high, analyzing real data that scientists might consider.
5. Earth, Moon, and Sun-Most students and many adults have no idea why the Moon looks different from night to night. For many, the predictable pattern of moon phases is just a mysterious and beautiful part of our night sky. In fact, understanding why we see the Moon as we do requires some fairly challenging spatial reasoning. This unit helps students gain a deeper understanding of everyday observations of the Moon, transforming the experience of Moon gazing into an act of profound and expansive perception.
5. Natural Selection-In 1979, friends dared a 29-year-old man in Oregon to swallow a living, rough-skinned newt. What the man did not know is that rough-skinned newts can be extremely poisonous. A lethal, fast-acting poison called tetrodotoxin (TTX) oozes from their skin. The man swallowed the newt whole and started feeling weak a few minutes later. He described a numb feeling all over his body. His friends tried to take him to a hospital, but he refused. Just 20 minutes later, the man was dead. In the role of student biologists, students investigate what caused this newt population to become more poisonous—which serves as the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Using the Natural Selection Simulation, students investigate how the population of newts changed over time. Over the course of the unit, they gather evidence from the Simulation, hands-on activities, and texts to construct their own explanations of how the newts came to be so poisonous.
5. Evolutionary History-Fossils are millions—even billions—of years old. New fossil discoveries can provide cutting-edge evidence about the history of life on Earth. In fact, in addition to fossils of other early species, paleontologists discover about 14 full dinosaur specimens every year.
In the Evolutionary History unit, students will take on the role of student paleontologists investigating a Mystery Fossil, which serves as the anchor phenomenon for the unit. This fossil is based on a real cetacean (whale) fossil excavated in Pakistan in 2000. The students’ task is to determine the Mystery Fossil’s evolutionary history so that they can accurately place the specimen in a museum exhibit.