Living and Nonliving--
In this module, Students explore characteristics of living and nonliving things. By examining habitats, students develop an understanding of what living things need to survive. They use the design process to sketch, build, and test an animal’s shelter, then reflect on their design.
Living Things: Needs and Impacts--
In this module, students learn ways in which they can make a positive impact on the natural environment—actions they can use for a lifetime.
Students explore living things and what they need to survive. They also observe living things in their natural environment as the class takes a walk outside. Then, students explore ways that humans impact the natural environment. In an effort to reduce waste and help the natural environment, students use the design process and reusable materials to build a new game or toy to play with in the classroom.
Light and Sound--
In this module, students investigate light and sound, including vibration from sound waves and the effect of different materials on the path of a beam of light. The students use a design process to sketch, build, test, and reflect on a device that uses light or sound to communicate across a distance.
Materials Science: Properties of Matter--
In this module, students investigate and classify different materials by their observable properties, including color and texture, and heat conduction. Students learn about states of matter and properties of materials. They investigate which materials are good insulators or conductors.
Stability and Motion: Forces and Interactions--
In this module, students learn that forces and interactions are at work all around us. They experience pushes and pulls, resistance forces, gravity, and friction in their daily routines. Students explore, design, sketch, and build both simple and compound machines that demonstrate the use of forces. They also test the forces of magnets as they build skills and knowledge that they can apply in solving an open-ended, real-world problem. Students use the design process to create a compound machine model to rescue a trapped zoo animal.
Organisms: Structure and Function--
In this module, students learn what it means to be a living thing and how to identify characteristics of living things. Students also learn about plant and animal structures and how those structures work together to function and keep organisms alive. Finally, students use the design process to build a prosthesis for an injured animal.
Robotics and Automation--In this module students explore robotic history and learn more about a particular type of robot. The activities and projects in this module develop skills and knowledge associated with robotics and the use of VEX IQ equipment.
The problem for this module is introduced through a fictional story in which the three characters (Angelina, Mylo, and Suzi) are also learning about robotics. The characters learn about the use of robots in the clean up after a natural disaster at a nuclear plant. In this design problem, students work with a group to design, model, and test a robot that can remove hazardous materials from a disaster site. They also design the layout of the site to include a water site and a hazardous materials collection zone.
Infection Modeling and Simulation--(Semester 1, First 10 Weeks)
In this module, students investigate models and simulations and discover powerful ideas about computing. The design problem – related to the Infection: Detection module – is introduced as Mylo and Angelina look to model an infectious disease to simulate how an illness spreads through their class. Applying their new understanding, students program their own models and collect data by running simulations with different parameters.
Matter: Properties and Reactions--(Semester 1, Second 10 Weeks)
In this module, students are introduced to matter and mechanical properties. Students examine particle models to identify the properties of the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. They deepen their understanding of matter as they conduct investigations to observe the law of conservation of mass. Then, they mix substances to determine whether new substances are formed. After building an initial understanding of matter and its properties, students begin to look at different materials and substances like engineers.