During this unit, you will introduce Kindergarten KIPPsters to the amazing world of science.  The study of science allows children to make sense of the world around them and to acquire skills that they can use to continue to develop an understanding of the world. Most importantly, science is fascinating and exciting! As adults, we know that new discoveries that challenge our assumptions and understandings are being made every single day. The We Are Scientists Unit is all about sharing your passion for science with students, tapping into their innate curiosity, and igniting the spark for a fun-filled year of exploration and discovery! Whether it’s the solar system, the idea that dinosaurs are most closely related to birds, or the cutting-edge discoveries being made in nanophysics that most excites you, get ready to transfer your love for science to a group of five-year olds and set them up for a lifetime of excitement and exploration!

As your students explore the lab, it is important to focus on asking and answering the question, “What does a Scientist do?” Kids will learn that scientists ask questions, make predictions, observe, investigate, work together, record their observations (count and measure, draw, make charts or graphs), research, and share their ideas. While it is critically important that students be excited about the science lab and getting to “do science,” you must lay the foundation for a successful school year by implementing strong systems, routines, and expectations. There is no better incentive than getting to observe, touch, and investigate!

In this unit, students will be introduced to a story where a character, Angelina, falls off the monkey bars and breaks her arm. Students follow Angelina’s case as they progress through the module, learning about both the diagnosis and treatment of her injury. As students follow Angelina’s story, they explore the basic relationship between structure and function in the human body. They will look at major structures, or organs, within the body and investigate how the structure of each organ is related to its function. Once students establish an understanding of basic structure and function in the body, they will then take a deeper look at the functions of bone. They will assemble a skeleton and create a model X-ray of a hand. They will then act as scientists to perform an inquiry investigation to understand why each of our fingers are made up of more than one bone. Finally, students will work through an engineering design process to design and build a cast for Angelina.

This unit introduces our kiddos to engineering.  Engineers shape the world around us through the things they build.  Everything from the buildings and roads we use every day to the desks we sit at to the pencils we use. Your students will explore materials and structural engineering through two engaging projects: building a beanstalk out of pipe cleaners, and building a house for the 3 Little Pigs that can withstand the huffing and puffing of the Big Bad Wolf.  They will learn about what makes some buildings and materials sturdy and others not, and begin to think about how materials are held together.  

They are exposed to the basic steps of the Engineering Design Process (EDP), a process that engineers go through when they build something.  It begins with a design problem in need of a solution.  In the Explore phase, students ask questions and research/explore to better understand the problem, for example by playing with materials to better understand their properties and how to work with them, or reading about how engineers have solved similar problems.  In the Create phase, they draw ideas and build a model solution to the problem.  In the Improve phase, they test how well their model solves the problem, and make improvements to their design.  The process is iterative; engineers often go back to previous steps in the process, and revise their models, explore more, redefine their understanding of the problem, or design a better test for their model, before moving forward again.  They want to be sure their solution is the best possible solution to the problem that they can develop!

Understanding how to control directional forces on a ball is the quest of many people—from soccer players to engineers developing forms of industrial automation to pinball machine players. Pinball machines and their precursors have been around since the eighteenth century. The many variants have all involved launching a ball into a field of obstacles and targets, attempting to direct the path of the ball to achieve points. In this unit, students will take on the role of pinball engineers to explore how pinball machines allow people to control the direction and strength of forces on a ball, which serves as the anchor phenomenon of the unit. 

They conduct tests on their own prototypes of a pinball machine (called Box Models) and use what they learn to solve the design problem of creating a Class Pinball Machine. Regular circle-time discussions facilitate students’ growing understanding of ideas related to force and motion, as well as their ability to use language to describe these fundamental ideas. In the process, students learn about how engineers design and test solutions to problems. Students each contribute evidence from the tests they conduct using their Box Models to help make decisions about how to design the Class Pinball Machine, something that can remain in the classroom even after the unit is complete. At the end of the unit, students use their new understanding of the phenomena of force and motion to identify pushes and pulls more broadly in their lives.

In this unit, students will develop the ability to design simple programs (sequences of instructions) and implement them with a simple kid-friendly robot called a Beebot. Students’ goal is to use a Beebot robot to model how bees and flowering plants depend upon one another to meet their needs. Students will explore the sequential nature of computer programs by programming the Beebot to move across number lines and rectangular arrays in specific ways to solve “challenges.”  At the same time, they will learn about how bees and flowers depend upon one another to meet their needs. They will begin on Day 1 by learning about the relationship between bees and flowers, and exploring the functions of the Beebot.  They will then solve challenges with simple forward and backward commands on a number line, and use subtraction and addition to help them do so, in the context of moving the bee to a flower and back to its hive.  After several days, they will move on to solving more complex challenges on rectangular arrays, using the turn commands in addition to the forward and backward commands.  They will be introduced to the concepts of “debugging” by being given erroneous command sequences to correct.

Over the past 20 years, we have witnessed a steady decline in the population of monarch butterflies in North America. Though the causes of this decline are complex, it appears to be connected to the decrease in the number of milkweed plants, which are necessary for the monarch caterpillars to eat in order to grow into butterflies.

In this unit, students assume the role of scientists helping a group of children from the fictional community of Mariposa Grove to explain why there are no more Monarch caterpillars in a community garden that was converted from a field which once had Monarch caterpillars.  Students begin by identifying the needs of animals, and determine that all animals need food and a home (shelter).  The Monarch caterpillars’ food and shelter is the Milkweed plant.  Students then investigate what plants need in order to live and grow.  They learn about the parts of the plant, why plant parts are shaped, and grow, the way that they do.  They sprout seeds to test whether the seeds need light and water, or both, to grow.  Using this information, they create a how-to book to advise the children of Mariposa grove on how they can plant and take care of Milkweed, in order to provide a home and food for the Monarch caterpillars.