Science

Unit: How Does Motion Energy Change In A Collision? 

Students will…

• explore how motion energy can move and change in a collision. 

• learn how motion energy can change into heat, light, and sound and move to another object.

• use evidence from collisions to construct a claim that faster objects have more motion energy.

• look at ways that motion energy can change to heat.

• carry out an investigation into how the surface affects how far an object slides. 

• learn how air can slow objects down and construct an explanation that motion energy causes air to heat up. 

• learn that when objects deform, motion energy changes to heat. 

• learn that a helmet can protect our brain by changing motion energy to heat. 

• design a helmet using an object as a model for the head. 

• apply what they have learned about motion energy to predict how far a moving washer will move a stationary washer in a game.

Unit : How can animals use their senses to communicate?

Students will..

• investigate how animals, including humans, use their internal and external structures to sense the world around them, process information, communicate information to others, and react accordingly.

• explore the senses, including how light travels when we see an object.

• compare animal eyes and analyze how their structures support different survival needs.

• explore how the brain processes information through experiencing optical illusions and analyzing data from research into how birds can learn to avoid distasteful insects.

• put what they have learned together to investigate how animals can communicate with each other using a variety of signals.

• consider problems in communication–discover that nightingales sing louder in noisy urban environments.

• explore how humans can communicate over great distances in very little time using digital signals.

Unit: What Is Our Evidence That We Live On A Changing Earth?

Students will…

• use models of Earth to identify patterns in the location of volcanoes.

• use models of Earth to identify and analyze patterns in the locations of several Earth features.

• combine information from video and text and explain hazards caused by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

• develop  models of ocean and  tsunami waves and identify patterns in wave motion and effects of these waves.

• develop and use a model of a landform to simulate earthquakes and analyze patterns in the effects.

• obtain information about earthquake-resistant designs for structures and buildings.

• obtain information and construct an explanation that weathering causes rocks to break apart and erosion moves the resulting sediment.

• use patterns connecting fossils in rock formations to past landscapes to explain the history of part of the Grand Canyon.

• explain that there are patterns in what rock layers can tell us about past landscapes and that landscapes change over time.

Unit: How Can You Provide Energy To People’s Homes?

Students will…

• explore energy as they read about and observe common household objects to find evidence of the presence of energy. 

• observe various phenomena for evidence that energy can move from place to place and change into other forms of energy. They develop models to document energy in the systems they investigate.

• observe evidence of electrical energy in a variety of systems. 

• investigate systems for evidence that motion, light, and stored energy can be changed into electrical energy. 

• obtain information from text to compare and contrast two kinds of power plants. 

• work collaboratively to obtain and combine information about renewable and nonrenewable energy resources and identify how using these resources to generate electricity causes environmental impacts.

• look for patterns in the compiled information, leading to definitions of renewable and nonrenewable resources.

• use information to design a solution to cause a decrease in a family’s home electricity use.

• investigate the design of electrical systems by constructing circuits. 

• interpret and use a new model of electrical systems, the circuit diagram, as they apply what they have learned about electrical energy and circuits to design and build handheld fans.