Science

In science, students are given a question to ponder for each mystery. They work to answer that question by learning information through an informative video, class discussions, and hands-on activities. At the end of of most mysteries, students will take a quiz to check their understanding. 

Science Standards

Students are assessed in 3 main science standards: 

• Sensemaking: Develops and uses models to describe, identifies evidence to support an explanation, uses evidence to construct an explanation, analyzes and interprets data to describe, generates and compares multiple solutions.

• Critiquing: Constructs arguments, identifies evidence to support an explanation, generates and compares multiple solutions, applies scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device, obtain and combine information to describe.

• Investigating: Makes observations and/or measurements to provide evidence, asks questions and predicts outcomes, defines simple design problems, plans and carries out fair tests

Unit 1: Human Machine - Body, senses, and the brain

• Anchor Phenomenon: System models - Owl ambush

• Mystery 1: Why do your biceps bulge?

• Mystery 2: What do people who are blind see?

• Mystery 3: How can some animals see in the dark? 

• Mystery 4: How does your brain control your body?

• Performance Task: System modeling & explanation - How are animals and plants like machines? 

Unit 2: Animal & Plant Adaptations - Adaptations and animal instincts 

• Anchor Phenomenon: Up in the trees (learning about sloths)

• Mystery 1: Why do some sea creatures look so strange? 

• Mystery 2: Why would a sea turtle eat a plastic bag? 

• Mystery 3: Why don't the same trees grow everywhere? 

• Performance Task: How do sloths survive? 

Unit 3: Birth of Rocks - Rock cycle, erosion, natural hazards

• Anchor Phenomenon: Fossils & construction explanations

• Mystery 1: Could a volcano pop up where you live?

• Mystery 2: Why do some volcanoes explode? 

• Mystery 3: Will a mountain last forever? 

• Mystery 4: How could you survive a landslide? 

• Performance Task: Rocks & Earth's surface - How can you figure out where a rock came from? 

Unit 4: Waves of Sound - Sound, waves, and communication 

• Anchor Phenomenon: Sound waves & conceptual modeling - Seeing sound

• Mystery 1: How do you see a secret code? 

• Mystery 2: How far can a whisper travel? 

• Mystery 3: What would happen if you screamed in outer space? 

• Mystery 4: Why are some sounds high and some sounds low? 

• Performance Task: Sound waves & engineering - How can you make sound waves visible? 

Unit 5: Energizing Everything - Energy and motion

• Anchor Phenomenon: Rube Goldberg Machine

• Mystery 1: How is your body similar to a car?

• Mystery 2: What makes roller coasters go so fast? 

• Mystery 3: Why is the first hill of a roller coaster always the highest?

• Mystery 4: Could you knock down a building using only dominoes?

• Mystery 5: Can you build a chain reaction machine? 

• Mystery 6: What if there were no electricity?

• Mystery 7: How long did it take to travel across the country before cars and planes? 

• Mystery 8: Where does energy come from? 

• Performance Task: Energy & engineering - Can you build your own Rube Goldberg machine? 

D205 Curriculum Website