Trimester 3

Variables and Design - 3-Year Car Challenge

Weather and Water

Human Systems Interactions

Theme Connection - Power of one variable

Theme Connection: Effect of one atmospheric condition

Theme Connection: Importance of one body system project

Diversity of Life

Variables and Design

Theme Connection - Single-cell life

Theme Connection - Power of one variable

Variables and Design - 3 Year Car Challenge

Weather and Water

Human Systems Interactions

Investigation 1: Independent vs Dependent Variables

Homework Project - Long-term weather monitoring project

Major Class Project - Body System Poster

Part 1: Effect of ramp angle on the same car.

Part 2: Graphing scientific data

Investigation 1: What is Weather?

Investigation 1: Systems Connections

Part 3: Engineering design process - building a gravity powered car

Part 1: Intro to the Weather - What is weather?

Part 1: Human Body Structural Levels - What is a human body made of?

Part 4: Comparing designs by distance at the same ramp angle

Part 2: The Air Around Us - What is air?

Part 2: Systems Research - How do human organ systems interact?

Part 3: Earth's Atmosphere - What is the atmosphere?

System Spotlight: Digestive

Diversity of Life

System Spotlight: Circulatory

Homework Project - Cell Cake Model

Investigation 3: Air Pressure and Wind

Part 1: Air-Pressure Inquiry - How does pressure affect air?

Investigation 2: The Nervous System

Investigation 1: What is Life?

Part 1: The Sense of Touch - How does the sense of touch work in humans?

Part 1: Living or Nonliving - How do you know if something is living?

Part 2: Sending a Message - How do messages travel to and from the brain?

Part 2: Is Anything Alive in Here? - How do you know if something is living?

Part 2: Pressure Maps - What happens when to areas of air have different pressure?

Part 3: Other Senses - How are the senses alike and how are they different?

Part 4: Learning and memory - How do humans learn and form memories?

Investigation 2: The Microscope

Investigation 3: Convection

Part 1: Meet the Microscope - How do objects appear when they are viewed through

Part 1: Density of Fluids - What is the relationship between layering of fluids and density?

Investigation 3: Supporting Cells

Part 2: Convection in Water - How does heat affect density of fluids?

Part 1: Food and Oxygen - How do cells in the human body get the resources they need?

Part 2: Field of View - How can we estimate the size of an object by looking at it

Part 3: Convection in Air - How do gases flow in the atmosphere?

Part 2: Aerobic Cellular Respiration - How does the energy in food become energy that cells

through the microscope?

Part 3: Microscopic Life - What evidence can we fins that brine shrimp are a living organism?

Investigation 4: Radiation

Variables and Design

Part 1: Latitude - How does the weather differ between locations?

Investigation 1: Testing Variables

Investigation 3: The Cell

Part 2: Solar Angle - How does the sun affect the temperature of locations on Earth?

Part 1: Air Trolleys - How can we describe and measure motion in a system?

Part 1: Discovering Cells - What microscopic structures make up organisms such

Part 3: Heating Earth - What factors affect the surface temperature of Earth?

Part 2: Controlled Experiment - What variables affect the operation of an air trolley?

Part 3: Design an Experiment - Student-generated question regarding air trolley.

Part 2: Paramecia - How are elodea and the paramecium alike, and how are they

Investigation 5: Conduction

Part 1: Fluid Conduction - How does energy move through materials?

Investigation 2: Testing Designs

Part 3: Microworlds - Is there life in the minihabitats? If so, where did it come from?

Part 2: Insulation - Student-generated question about energy transfer.

Part 1: Air-Trolley Design Challenge - How do engineers decide what to change in a design?

Part 4: Human Cheek Tissue - What microscopic structures make up organic humans (you)?

Part 3: Home Design - How can we design a more efficient way to decrease energy

Part 2: Engineering Design Cycle - What are the steps taken to solve a problem in engineering?

Investigation 4: Domains

Investigation 3: Real-World Problems

Part 1: Comparing Living Things - What are the building blocks of cell structures?

Investigation 6: Air Flow

Part 1: Define a Problem - How does understanding variables help us define a problem and

Part 2: Bacteria - What evidence is there that bacteria is a living organism?

Part 1: Atmospheric Heating - How does the atmosphere heat up?

Part 2: Future Tech - How does technology help engineers solve problems?

Part 3: Fungi - What evidence is there that fungi are living organisms?

Part 2: Local Winds - How does the energy from the Sun affect wind on Earth?

Part 4: Archaea: The Three Domains - What are the characteristics of archaea?

Part 3: Global Winds - What affects the direction of global winds?

Aditional Engineering Projects if there's time.

Investigation 5: Plants: The Vascular System

Investigation 7: Water in the Air

transfer between a model home and the environment?

Part 1: What Happened to the Water? - Student-created question, e.g., 'What

Part 1: Is Water Really There? - Student-generated question about water vapor.

happened to the water?'

Part 2: Phase Change and Energy Transfer - How does energy transfer when water

Part 2: Looking at Plant Structures - How does water travel through a plant?

Part 3: Transpiration and Photosynthesis - How do plants use water?

Part 3: Clouds and Precipitation - What causes clouds to form?

Investigation 6: Lima Bean Dissection

Investigation 8: The Water Planet

Part 1: How do the structural adaptations of seeds help them survive?

Part 1: Water-Cycle Simulation - What is the water cycle?

Part 2: Environmental and Genetic Factors - How do environmental factors affect the

Part 2: Ocean Currents - What affects the direction that ocean water flows?

germination and early growth of different food crops?

Part 3: Ocean Climate - How does the ocean affect climate on land?

Part 3: Flowering-Plant Reproduction - What is the role of a flower?

changes phases?

Part 4: Flowers and Pollinators - What adaptations do flowering plants have to

Investigation 9: Climate Over Time

accomplish pollination?

Part 1: Climate Change - How have climates changed over time?

Part 2: The Role of Carbon Dioxide - How do greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere

Investigation 7: Variation of Traits

Part 1: Inheriting Traits - Ho do traits pass from parents to offspring?

Part 3: Climate in the News - What are the effects of a slight rise in global temperature?

Part 2: Modeling Heredity - How does sexual reproduction produce variation in offspring?

Investigation 10: Meteorology

Investigation 8: Insects

Part 1: Weather Maps - What information can you get from a weather map?

Part 1: Structure, Function, and Behavior - How do the structures and behaviors of

Part 2: Identify Key Ideas - What makes weather happen?

the Madagascar hissing cockroach enable life's functions?

Part 2: Insect Systems - How is the insect transport system like plant and human

transport systems and how is it different?

Investigation 9: Diversity of Life

Part 1: Bioblitz - What kind of plant and animal life exists in our schoolyard?

Part 2: What is Life - How do you know if something is living?

Trimester 3

Variables and Design - 3-Year Car Challenge

Earth History

Populations and Ecosystems

Theme Connection - Power of one variable

Theme Connection - Power of one event (volcanism, etc)

Theme Connection - Keystone species

Chemical Interactions

Theme Connection - Power of one discovery (microscopes, atoms etc.)

Variables and Design - 3 Year Car Challenge

Populations and Ecosystems

Investigation 2: Materials Engineering Investigation

Major Project TBD

Homework Project - Ecosystem Model

Part 1: Engineering design process - building a balloon powered car

Part 2: Effect of materials on distance traveled

Part 3: Graphing scientific data

Investigation 1: Earth is Rock

Investigation 1: Milkweed Bugs

Part 4: Comparing designs and analyzing data

Part 1: What's the Story of This Place? - Which landforms occur at different locations on Earth?

Part 1: Introducing Milkweed Bugs - What does a population of milkweed bugs need to

Part 2: Grand Canyon Rocks - Why do there appear to be stripes on the walls of the Grand Canyon?

Chemical Interactions

Part 3: Correlating Grand Canyon Rocks - Why do there appear to be stripes on the walls of

Part 2: Milkweed-Bug Habitat - What needs to be considered when building a habitat for

Major Class Project - Build a freezer

the Grand Canyon?

Part 3: Observing Milkweed Bug Habitats - How do milkweed bugs reproduce and grow?

Investigation 1: Substances

Investigation 2: Weathering and Erosion

Part 1: Mystery Mixture - How can we find out what the two substances are in the

Part 1: Stream Table - What happens to Earth materials when water flows over landforms?

Investigation 2: Sorting out Life

Part 2: Weathering - How did weathering and erosion contribute to the formation of the Grand Canyon?

Part 1: Ecosystem Card Sort - What is the relationship between individuals, populations

Part 2: Mixing Substances - How can we find out what two substances are in the

Part 3: Soils - How is soil related to rocks?

survive in a classroom?

Part 2: Video Population Study - How is the milkweed-bug-habitat study similar to and

Investigation 3: Deposition

Investigation 2: Elements

Part 1: Sandstone and Shale - What happens to sediments that get deposited in basins?

Part 3: Ecoscenarios - Student-generated question about ecosystems.

Part 1: Periodic Table - What is the periodic table if the elements?

Part 2: Limestone - How does limestone form?

Part 2: Elements in the World - What makes up all the substances on Earth?

Part 3: Interpreting Sedimentary Layers - What do sedimentary layers reveal about ancient environments?

Investigation 3: Mono Lake

Part 1: A visit to Mono Lake - What are the different biotic and abiotic components of the

Investigation 3: Particles

Investigation 4: Fossils and Past Environments

communities, and abiotic factors in an ecosystem?

Part 1: Capture the Gas - How can the gas produced in a chemical reaction be studied?

Part 1: Fossils - How do fossils get in rocks?

Part 2: Mono Lake Food Web - How do the organisms at Mono Lake interact?

Part 2: Air is Matter - Is air matter? Does air have mass and take up space?

Part 2: A Long Time Ago - How old are fossils?

Part 3: Ecoscenario Food Webs - How do the organisms in your ecoscenario interact?

different from Jane Goodall's population study?