Crosscutting Concepts
Science and Engineering Practices
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Physical Science
Thinking Strategies
Patterns
Asking questions and defining problems
Matter and its interactions
Monitor for Meaning
PS1.A: Structure and properties
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
PS1.C: Nuclear processes
What makes sense?
What's confusing?
Where are you clue-ful? clueless?
What will help you return to understanding?
Observed patterns in nature guide organization and A practice of science is to ask and refine questions that lead to descriptions
classification and prompt questions about
and explanations of how the natural and designed world work and which
relationships and causes underlying them.
can be empirically tested.
Cause and Effect
Developing and using models
Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes
multifaceted. Decipering causal relationships, and
the mechanisms by which they are mediated, is a
major activity of science and engineering.
A practice of both science and engineering is to use and construct models
as helpful tools for representing ideas and explanations. These tools
include diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, mathematical
representations, analogies, and computer simulations.
Scale, Proportion, Quantity
In considerieng phenomena, it is critical to
recognize what is relevant at different size, time and
energy scales, and to recognize proportional
relationships between different quantities as scales
change.
Planning and carrying out investigations
Scientists and engineers plan and carry out investigations in the field or
laboratory, working collaboratively as well as individually. Their
investigations are systematic and require clarifying what counts as data
and identifying variables or paracmeters.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Scientific investigations produce data that must be analyzed in order to
Systems and System Models
derive meaning. Because data patterns and trends are not always
obvious, scientists us a range of tools--including tabulation, graphical
A system is an organized group of related objects or
interpretation, visualization, and statistical analysis--to identify the
components; models can be used for understanding
significant features and patterns in the data. Scientists identify sources of
and predicting the behavior of systems.
error in the investigations and calculate the degree of certainty in the
results.
Energy + Matter
Tracking energy and matter flows, into, out of, and
within systems helps one understand their system's
behavior.
Using Mathematics + Computational Thinking
In both science and engineering, mathematics and computation are
fundamental tools for representing physical variables and thier
relationships. They are used for a range of tasks such as constructing
simulations; solving equations exactly or approximately; and recognizing,
expressing, and applying quantitative relationships.
Motion and stability:
Forces & Interactions
Activating/Utilizing Schema
What does this remind you of?
What can you connect this to?
How does this link help you understand more
deeply?
PS2.A: Forces and Motion
What have you worked with that is similar to...?
PS2.B: Types of Interactions
PS2.C: Stability and instability in physical systems Connect this to something else we have learned this
year.
Energy
PS3.A: Definitions of energy
PS3.B: Conservation of energy & Energy Transfer
PS3.C: Relationship between energy & forces
PS4.C: Evergy in chemical processes & everyday
life
Waves + Application in technologyies
for information transfer
Asking Questions
What are you wondering?
What questions do you have?
In what ways will those questions help you
understand this?
What are you curious about?
Drawing Inferences
What are you thinking?
What conclusions can you draw?
PS4.A: Wave properties
How does thinking beyond the text help you levle up
PS4.B: Electromagnetic radiation
your learning?
PS4.C: Information technologies & instrumentation
Determining Importance
What is essential here?
Is this important to understand?
What is the main message in this text?
Constructing Explanations + Designing Solutions
Structure + Function
The way an object is shaped or structured
determines many of its properties and functions.
Stability + Change
For both designed and natural systems, conditions
that affect stability and factors that control rates of
change are critical elements to consider and
understand.
The end-products of science are explanations and the end-products of
engineering are solutions. The goal of science is the construction of
theories that provide explanatory accounts of the world. A theory becomes
accepted when it has multiple lines of empirical evidence and greater
explanatory power of phenomena than previous theories.
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Argumentation is the process by which evidence-based conclusions and
solutions are reached. In science and engineering, reasoning and
argument based on evidence are essential to identifying the best
explanation for a natural phenomenon or the best solution to a design
problem.
Obtaining, Evaluating, + Communicating Information
Scientists and engineers must be able to communicate clearly and
persuasively the ideas and methods they generate. Critiquing and
communicating ideas individually and in groups is a critical processional
activity.
Creating Sensory Images
What words led you to that image?
How does that image help you to understand...?
Synthesizing Info and Ideas
Now what are you thinking?
What has changed about your ideas/thinking?
How are you connecting your thinking with things
we have learned already this year?
Problem Solving
What have you done to make better sense of this
info?
What will you do with this learning and information?
Knowing something doesn't make sense is only part
of the work. Fixing it to make better snese is the
next step. What is the next step for you?