Transfer Goals

Students will be able to independently…

• Observe and explore a given system or concept to deepen scientific understanding
• Engage in scientific practices such as adhering to safety standards, collaborating with others, and acting as a steward for Earth’s resources and environments.
• Explore natural phenomena by designing and/or conducting investigations based on scientific questions.
• Analyze data to seek out patterns and/or make predictions
• Evaluate scientific claims, construct explanations, and communicate conclusions based on observed and tested evidence and reasoning.

Unit Name &

 Time Frame

Unit Description

Unit 1: Properties of Matter

1st 9 Weeks

Physical properties of matter are the foundation for understanding and classifying physical changes. Matter has measurable physical properties, and those properties determine how matter is classified, changed, and used. Students will design and conduct investigations, including asking questions, generating testable hypotheses, collecting and recording observations and measurements, analyzing data, and communicating conclusions related to the properties and behavior of matter. In the culminating task, students will act as a materials scientist by testing the properties of various materials. Through testing, they will determine which material would be best for designing the heat shield for a shuttle, based on thermal insulation and other factors.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.5ABCD

Academic Vocabulary: relative density, solubility/soluble/insoluble, physical state

Unit 2: Energy

1st and 2nd 9 Weeks

Students explore different types of energy and simple transformations associated with them in their use. Investigations and exploration will reinforce that energy interacts with matter to produce light, heat, and sound, as seen in the operation of electrical circuits. Students will also investigate and examine light and its behavior and movement, including its tendency to move in straight lines, reflect, and refract. Emphasis will be placed on the conduction of investigations, observation, inquiry, discovery, and construction of explanations related to electrical circuits and the behavior of light energy. At the end of the unit, students will design the wiring scheme for a new home with independently functioning devices in a parallel circuit.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.6ABC

Academic Vocabulary: reflect, refract, absorb, medium

Unit 3: Force and Motion

2nd 9 Weeks

Students will explore the effects of force on an object’s position and motion by designing and testing an experiment. Such forces may include contact forces, gravity, magnetism, and friction. Emphasis will be placed on experimental design, data collection and analysis, and constructing scientific explanations for the motion of objects due to forces. As a culminating task, students will act as engineers to experimentally test how mass and speed can affect the force of impact between objects.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.6D

Academic Vocabulary: experimental investigation, variable, constant, hypothesis

Unit 4: Sun, Earth, Moon System

2nd 9 Weeks

Students investigate the day and night cycle and why the Sun appears to move across the sky. To people on Earth, the turning of the planet makes it seem as though the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars are orbiting the earth once a day. Students will draw or develop models to demonstrate the motions of Sun, Earth, and Moon resulting in observed phenomena on Earth. In the culminating task, students will reimagine a Greek myth to be scientifically accurate regarding the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.8CD

Academic Vocabulary: atmosphere, crater, axis

Unit 5: Changes to Earth’s Surface

3rd 9 Weeks

Students will focus on formation of landforms through weathering and erosion from water, wind, and ice. Students will model the formation of a sand dune, canyon, delta, and other landforms, as well as the formation of sedimentary rock and fossil fuels through deposition, compaction, and cementation of sediments and organic matter. Students will construct, analyze, evaluate, and critique explanations for the formation and changes to landforms. The culminating task involves the creation of an animated model demonstrating the formation of landforms by forces caused by wind, water, and ice.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.7AB

Academic Vocabulary: compaction, cementation, sedimentary rock, constructive, destructive, delta, sand dune, canyon

Unit 6: Weather and Climate

3rd 9 Weeks

Students will compare weather and climate in order to gain understanding of the differences between short term and long term patterns observed with temperature and precipitation. Students will also explore how the Sun and the ocean interact in the water cycle. Emphasis will be placed on analysis and comparisons of short and long term temperature and precipitation data, and on use of models to illustrate the interaction between the sun and Earth’s oceans. A comparison of coastal and inland climates and weather over time will guide learning throughout the unit.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.8AB

Academic Vocabulary: climate, weather

Unit 7: Ecosystem Interactions

3rd and 4th 9 Weeks

Students will study the interdependency and delicacy of ecosystems. The interactions between the living and nonliving components within an ecosystem will be studied through ongoing observation of a microhabitat. The significance of the flow of energy is emphasized along with the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers. Fossils will be observed to make inferences regarding the environments in which organisms lived. Students will also predict the effects of changes to an ecosystem caused by humans. Analysis, evaluation, critique, and construction of scientific explanations for occurrences within ecosystems will be ongoing to encourage critical thinking and problem solving. Students will act as a biologist as they maintain ongoing observations of a self-contained microhabitat over a period of several weeks. They will be looking for evidence of interdependency within the ecosystem.

TEKS (link to TEA): 5.9ABCD

Academic Vocabulary: decomposer, fossil

Unit 8: Structure and Function

4th 9 Weeks

This unit of study involves comparisons of the structures and functions of different species that help them live and survive. Students will also differentiate between inherited traits and learned behaviors. Observation, data collection and recording information, communicating conclusions, and constructing scientific explanations for an organism’s ability to survive will be the process focus. Students will continue observations of the micro-ecosystem as they look for ways that organisms are adapted to survive in their environments, as well as evidence of heredity.

TEKS (link to TEA) 5.10AB

Academic Vocabulary: