Concepts & Practices Storyline

Focus Question #1: What can an organism get from its parents?

1. Individuals of the same species can have different traits.

2. Traits can be inherited within families.

3. Some, but not all, traits can come from one or both of an organism's parents.

Focus Question #2: What can an organism get from its environment?

4. Many factors can vary within an organism's environment.

5. Plants that grow well in one geographic region do not always grow well in other regions.

6. Climate is an area's typical weather conditions, and climate varies in different geographic regions.

7. Differences in environmental factors such as light and water can cause otherwise similar plants to develop different traits.

Focus Question #3: How do organisms change throughout their lives?

8. Plants have diverse life cycles, but all share some similarities.

9. Animals have diverse life cycles, but all share a common pattern of birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

10. All organisms have commonalities in their life cycles, and reproduction is necessary to sustain life.

Focus Question #4: How could being different be an advantage? 

11. Bees aid plant reproduction by serving as pollinators, and pollinators can prefer flowers with certain traits over other flowers.

12. If bees prefer one color of flower over another, plants with the preferred color of flower will get more chances to reproduce.

13. A variation in a trait can give an organisms an advantage in one context but not in another.

Science Challenge

Focus Question #5: Why are some guppies more colorful than others? 

14. Guppies are brighter orange in one stream than in another, and the streams vary in a number of environmental factors.

15. Guppies can get brighter organe in coloration from food that is only available in some streams but not others. This is an example of variation that is primarily caused by environmental factor.

Concepts & Practices Storyline

Focus Question #1: Why measure weather?

1. DIfferent tools can be used to measure different weather conditions.

2. Weather conditions can vary from place to place.

3. Scientists use weather measurements to predict the weather.

4. A tool can be designed that measures wind speed.

Focus Question #2: What does weather in the past tell us about weather in the future? 

5. Average weather is calculated over many years.

6. Average weather is used to describe climate.

7. There are five main types of climate in the world.

8. Northern and Southern Hemisphere places with the same climate have opposite seasons.

Focus Question #3: How does climate affect the way buildings are designed?

9. Hazardous weather can cause problems.

10. Roofs can be designed that protect against weather hazards.

11. Engineering design is based on the criteria of the solution.

12. A design needs to be tested to see how well it works.

Science Challenge

Focus Question #4: How can climate and weather data help us plan a soccer tournament? 

13. Climate and weather data can be used to predict future weather Part 1

14. Climate and weather data can be used to plan events Part 2

15. Climate and weather data can be used to plan events Part 3

Concepts & Practices Storyline

Focus Question #1: How do forces applied by touch affect an object's motion?

1. Objects in contact exert forces and cause motion.

2. Unbalanced forces will affect an object's motion.

3. Unbalanced forces will cause a change in an object's motion. Balanced forces will not.

Focus Question #2: How can we observe and measure repeating patterns of motion?

4. Natural and designed objects exhibit repeating patterns of motion.

5. Observations of patterns of motion can be used to predict future motion.

6. Humans can take advantage of naturally repeating patterns of motion.

Focus Question #3: What kinds of forces can act at a distance?

7. Static electricity is a force that can act between objects that are not in contact with each other.

8. Magnetic forces can act between objects that are not in contact with each other.

9. Magnets attract objects with similar properties, and the strength of the force they apply depends on the distance to an object. They interact with each other in specific ways, based on their relative orientation.

Focus Question #4: How can magnets be used to solve problems?

10. The predictable forces of magnets can be used to design solutions to meet specified criteria and constraints.

11. Solutions to real-world problems are designed to meet specified criteria and constraints. 

12. The predictable forces of magnets can be used to design solutions to meet specified criteria and constraints.

Science Challenge

Focus Question #5: How can magnets affect the pattern of motion of a pendulum?

13. Part 1: Magnetic forces acting between objects that are not in contact with each other can be used to influence patterns of motion in predictable ways.

14. Part 2: Magnetic forces acting between objects that are not in contact with each other can be used to influence patterns of motion in predictable ways.

15. Part 3: Humans can take advantage of naturally repeating patterns of motion.