6th to 8th Grade - Gateway 2

​The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that the materials present disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts in a way that is scientifically accurate. Across the series, the teacher materials, student materials, and assessments accurately represent the three dimensions.

​The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that the materials do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-band disciplinary core ideas. Across the series, the materials consistently incorporate student learning opportunities to learn and use the DCIs appropriate to the 6-8 grade band.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-band disciplinary core ideas for physical sciences. Across the series, the materials incorporate all physical science DCI components and associated grade-band elements, with nearly all elements found within the six physical science units. Some physical science DCIs are present in units outside the physical science units; for example, PS3.D-M1 and PS3.D-M2 are present within the life science unit From Cells to Organisms when students learn about the chemistry behind cellular respiration. 

Examples of grade-band physical science DCI elements present in the materials:

• PS1.A-M1. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 1: Producing a Circuit Board, students design a circuit board and etch the design with acidified copper chloride using a masking technique. They consider the trade-offs of a product that produces hazardous waste. Students work to conceptualize properties of matter and chemical change as they test their circuit boards and observe the changes that occur in the solution of copper chloride before and after its use as they consider its disposal. Students gather evidence of chemical change in the solution.
• PS1.A-M2. In Unit: Chemistry of Materials, Activities 11-13, students gather and share information from a reading about the nature and use of different polymers and the impacts of plastics. In a short speech, they explain which proposals for reducing plastic use in their community they support and provide evidence to support their reasoning.
• PS1.A-M3. In Unit: Chemistry of Materials, Lesson 8: What's in a State?, students discuss three states of matter and identify characteristics of each. Students examine syringes filled with materials in each state and predict if the syringes can be compressed. A computer simulation is then used to investigate the particles of each state.
• PS1.A-M4. In Unit: Chemistry of Materials, Activities 8-10, students develop a model showing water molecules in all three states and the relationship between these states. Students develop and use a model to depict particle movement, temperature, and state, including the role of thermal energy.
• PS1.A-M5. In Unit: Chemistry of Materials, Activity 7: Structure and Properties of Materials, students read passages describing the molecular structure of a variety of substances and relate the structure with the properties of the substances. They build understanding by drawing models of different substances.
• PS1.A-M6. In Unit: Chemistry of Materials, Activity 10: Modeling State Changes, students conduct an investigation and collect data to determine the relationships between temperature and state changes. Students analyze and interpret data to construct explanations about what happens to the particles and temperature of substances when changes in state occur.
• PS1.B-M1. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 1: Producing a Circuit Board, students design a circuit board and etch the design with acidified copper chloride using a masking technique. They consider the trade-offs of a product producing hazardous waste. Students work to conceptualize properties of matter and chemical change as they test their circuit boards and observe the changes that occur in the solution of copper chloride before and after its use as they consider its disposal. Students gather evidence of chemical change in the solution.
• PS1.B-M2. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 4: Chemical Reactions at the Molecular Scale, students build molecular models to demonstrate chemical reactions. Students draw diagrams of the reactants and products. Students observe patterns in the reactions being modeled, demonstrating the Law of Conservation of Matter.  
• PS1.B-M3. In Chemical Reactions, Activity 2, Evidence of Chemical Change, students conduct an investigation and analyze results to identify evidence that a chemical change has taken place.
• PS2.A-M1. In Unit: Force & Motion, Activity 10: Interacting Objects, students investigate how interacting objects apply forces to each other by observing the forces when two marbles collide or when a rope placed around a door handle is pulled. Students use these investigations to start to develop the understanding of Newton’s third law: for any pair of interacting objects, the force exerted by the first object on the second object is equal in strength to the force that the second object exerts on the first, but in the opposite direction.
• PS2.A-M2. In Unit: Force and Motion, Activity 8: Force, Mass, and Acceleration, students review acceleration and create their own motion graphs to show changes in motion. Students perform an experiment to investigate the relationship between distance, speed, and acceleration then graph results and then determine an equation that relates force, acceleration, and mass. They use this equation to determine missing values in a chart of given values of effect of force on acceleration of blocks with different masses. In their analysis they explain how a moving object continues its motion.
• PS2.A-M3. In Unit: Force & Motion, Activity 6: Changing Direction, students explore movement of marble(s) on curved track collecting data including positioning and pathway of moving marble.
• PS2.B-M1. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activities 8-11, students design a transport system using magnetic fields and static electricity. Throughout the activities, students investigate factors surrounding magnetic and electric forces and their interactions. Students take measurements and evaluate forces and interactions such as repulsion and attraction in magnets.
• PS2.B-M2. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activities 6 and 7, students investigate how gravity can be used in designed systems. Throughout the activities students investigate factors surrounding gravitational forces and interactions and evaluating forces and interactions to determine how gravity affects objects at a distance.
• PS2.B-M3. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 4: Gravitational Forces, students graph the gravitational force between the moon and the fictional satellites. Students determine how different distances and masses between the moon and the satellites impact the gravitational force. This activity helps students develop an understanding that gravitational forces that act at a distance can be explained by fields extending through space and can be mapped by their effect on a test object.
• PS3.A-M2. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 3: Gravitational Transporter, students investigate how energy is transferred with the gyrosphere set in motion by gravity to observe how a system of objects may contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions. 
• PS3.A-M3. In Unit: Energy, Activity 10: Energy Transfer Challenge, students engage in a learning sequence to determine relative energy efficiency of different devices and how to increase energy efficiency in a home. Students work toward the concept of heat flow. 
• PS3.A-M4. In Unit: Energy, Activity 1: Home Energy Use, students compare the energy using devices and structural features with those that are found in the two homes. After deciding which home they believe uses the least amount of energy, they analyze the effect of weather conditions, climate, and lifestyle on energy use and describe ways to reduce energy use in both homes.
• PS3.B-M1. In Unit: Energy, Activity 4: Shake the Shot, students analyze and interpret their experimental data to explain energy transformation and energy transfer.
• PS3.B-M2. In Unit: Energy,  Activity 14: Hot Bulbs, students track the transfer of energy. They determine and compare the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of water using an incandescent and LED bulb. They use the change in the temperature of water to calculate the efficiency of the light bulbs, and determine the energy “wasted” in producing thermal energy.
• PS3.B-M3. In Unit: Energy, Activity 10: Energy Transfer Challenge, students determine relative energy efficiency of different devices and how to increase energy efficiency in a home. Students track energy flows through different insulation materials.
• PS3.C-M1. In Unit: Force and Motion, Activity 10: Investigating Interacting Objects, students investigate Newton's third law of motion.  Students discover how interacting objects exert forces on each other by developing a model to predict the forces that will occur when objects collide.
• PS3.D-M1. In Unit: Cells to Organisms, Activity 13: Plant's Source of Energy, students collect evidence that plants break down sugars. They investigate the roles of carbon dioxide and light in photosynthesis.
• PS3.D-M2. In Unit: Cells to Organisms, Activity 13: Plant's Source of Energy, students investigate the role of carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis in an activity using bromothymol blue as indicator of dissolved carbon dioxide to show that energy input from the sun is needed for this reaction.
• PS4.A-M1. In Unit: Waves, Activity 7: Another Kind of Wave, students deduce the inverse relationship between wavelength and frequency and the direct relationship between amplitude and energy.
• PS4.A-M2. In Unit Waves, Activity 12: The Electromagnetic Spectrum, students complete a reading using scientists' investigations to extend their understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Students read a passage comparing sound waves and light waves explaining how electromagnetic waves are different from sound waves because they can be transmitted through the vacuum of space, while sound needs a medium to be transmitted.
• PS4.B-M1. In Unit: Waves, Activity 13: Where Does the Light Go?, students collect and analyze data for how ultraviolet and infrared light is absorbed or reflected. Students determine how certain situations can be influenced by non-visible light.
• PS4.B-M2. In Unit: Waves, Activity 9: Refraction of Light, students experiment with the transmission of light rays by planning and carrying out an investigation of the refraction of light through water. Students work toward finding a relationship between the angle of incidence, angle of refraction, and total internal reflection.
• PS4.B-M3. In Unit: Waves, Activity 10: Comparing Colors, students collect evidence indicating different colors of light carry different amounts of energy.  
• PS4.B-M4. In Unit: Waves, Activity 12: The Electromagnetic Spectrum, students complete a reading using scientists’ investigations to extend their understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Students read a passage about sound waves and light waves explaining that light energy does not require atoms or molecules to be transmitted and thus is not considered a matter wave.
• PS4.C-M1. In Unit: Waves, Activity 5: Telephone Model, students model how noise interference affects the transmission and reception of analog and digitized signals, sent as wave pulses. They find that the structure of digitized signals, sent as wave pulses, are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-band disciplinary core ideas for life sciences. Across the series, the materials incorporate all life science DCI components and associated grade-band elements, with nearly all elements found within the six life science units. Some life science DCIs are present in units outside the life science units; for example, LS4.C-M1 is present within the Weather and Climate unit relating changes in species over time to changing climate conditions. Also, LS2.A-M1 and LS2.C-M1 are present within the Land, Water, and Human Interactions unit when students investigate human impacts on different aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

Examples of grade-band life science DCI elements present in the materials:

• LS1.A-M1. In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activities 1- 3, students investigate that all living things are made up of cells and that microscopes and other evidence can be used to establish and confirm their existence.
• LS1.A-M2. In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activity 8: Modeling Cell Structure and Function, students create an animal and plant cell, and compare/contrast cell structures and functions. Students then discuss similarities in some organelle and structure functions with those of organs in the body, then answer questions to reflect on their knowledge and review their understanding of cells. Student pairs construct a model of a plant or animal cell, including information related to the function of each structure/organelle.
• LS1.A-M3. In Unit: Body Systems, Activity 9: Heartily Fit, students collect data on their heart and respiratory rates by measuring their pulses and breathing rates before and after exercise. Students analyze data from their experiment on the effects of exercise on the body to establish a relationship between the circulatory and respiratory systems as an example of how it is important for body systems to work together.
• LS1.B-M1. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 5: Gene Squares, students explain the possible offspring of a parent with a genetic disease. When the inheritance of parental alleles is random, students use the resulting patterns of genetic crosses to identify the cause of the inheritance of the genetic disease.
• LS1.B-M2. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 10: Animal Behavior, students create an argument explaining how a specific trait increases the probability of an organism successfully reproducing.
• LS1.B-M3. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 11: Plant-Animal Interactions, students develop an argument about which animal pollinator would pollinate a specific flower. This builds towards analyzing both specialized plant structures and animal pollinator behaviors as it relates to plant reproduction and demonstrating how certain traits can influence reproductive success in an organism.
• LS1.B-M4. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 7: Do Genes Determine Everything?, students test the effect of an environmental factor on the color trait of Nicotiana seeds. Data is analyzed to determine the effect of a chosen environmental factor on the phenotype of the seeds.
• LS1.C-M1. In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activity 13: A Plant’s Source of Energy, students investigate the role of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis by placing elodea in a vial containing an indicator for the presence of carbon dioxide. After a student blows into the vial, students predict what may happen in the vial and collect evidence by comparing the vial with elodea containing carbon dioxide with a vial with elodea and the indicator. Students then design an experiment to investigate the role of light in photosynthesis, using the materials from the first investigation and altering the light source.
• LS1.C-M2. In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activity 11: Energy and Matter in Cells, students read a passage of text, construct a protein model and a carbohydrate model, and draw each model in their notebook. After reading the second passage, they model what happens to the protein and carbohydrate when each enters the digestive system by diagraming what happens to a hamburger and the bun as it moves from the mouth to stomach and small intestine. Finally, students read a third passage and model how sugars and amino acids are changed to carbohydrates and proteins.
• LS1.D-M1. In Unit: Body Systems, Activity 6: Observing Organisms, students consider how they would respond if they stepped on a sharp stone barefoot, what they already know about the nervous system, and how the nervous system helps the body respond to stimuli. Students then brush and touch blackworms, record observations, and make inferences of how the blackworms respond to the stimulus. 
• LS2.A-M1. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 5: A Suitable Habitat, students create an argument regarding the type of environment needed for blackworms to live, explaining the relationship between changing the features in the blackworm environment and the blackworm’s survival. 
• LS2.A-M2. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 2: Introduced Species, students conduct research on the effects on an ecosystem, interactions that occur with other species, how the flow of energy is affected, and the impact on human activity when invasive species are introduced. 
• LS2.A-M3. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 9: Population Growth, students predict how populations of paramecium will differ with varying amounts of food, then observe two different populations of paramecium. Students describe the transfer of energy in the ecosystem, the effects of the availability of food as observed during the lab, and predict how the population will change over time based on the amount of food provided. 
• LS2.A-M4. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 10: Interactions in Ecosystems, students read six different scenarios describing abiotic and biotic factors. Students then match each scenario with the appropriate graph on a student sheet. Lastly, if a scenario is considered biotic, students determine if the scenario is helpful, harmful, or neutral to one or both species.
• LS2.B-M1. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 12: Modeling the Introduction of a New Species, students use food web cards to create a simple food chain, then a food web to identify the role of organisms and how matter is cycled and energy flows in an ecosystem. After a new species is introduced, students must explain how the new component affects the flow of energy and the cycling of matter.
• LS2.C-M1. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 1: The Miracle Fish?, students determine how changing a factor in an environment can impact all other factors within that same environment. Students read about the outcome of introducing the Nile perch from different points of view. They examine trade-offs and make predictions using population data graphs.
• LS2.C-M2. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 13: Abiotic Impacts on Ecosystems, students determine the impacts of a large-scale disruption to an ecosystem and the changes caused by fire. Students explain how energy changes in a forest ecosystem.
• LS3.A-M1. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 12: How Do Genes Produce Traits?, students develop a model of the protein fibrillin by learning how a DNA sequence codes to a protein sequence. Students fold the protein to understand how subunits interact (hydrophilic vs hydrophobic).
• LS3.A-M2. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 4: Gene Combo, students calculate the ratios of inheritance (dominant vs. recessive) and look for patterns to help understand second generation breeding and variation of traits.
• LS3.B-M1. In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 2: Creature Features, students develop understanding of heredity and genes, and use models to identify patterns in traits found within generations of “critters”. 
• LS3.B-M2. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 5: Mutations: Good or Bad?, students model how a mutation will move from parent to offspring. Once offspring are produced, the community is exposed to malaria. Students track the individuals who do and do not survive the outbreak and relate that to those who have the sickle cell mutation. This builds towards understanding as they look for how mutations can be beneficial, harmful, or neutral.
• LS4.A-M1. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 9: Fossil Evidence, students examine sets of fossils and identify unique features of each. They read a passage that describes how scientists find and date fossils before examining four simulated drill cores to detect patterns in the fossil record. They use evidence from the drill cores to list the fossils that they examined in chronological order and determine the relative ages of the fossils.
• LS4.A-M2. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 8: History and Diversity of Life, students read text related to the history and diversity of life to learn how life forms have evolved over time with all organisms sharing a common ancestor. They build on their understanding of speciation and evolutionary trees, and are introduced to the process of extinction. 
• LS4.A-M3. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 13: Embryology, students use images of embryonic limbs, embryos, and vertebrate forelimbs to identify patterns of similarities and differences across species to infer evolutionary relationships.
• LS4.B-M1. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 1: The Full Course, students build knowledge of how humans have changed the way species look or behave. Students use a simulation to model antibiotic resistance in bacteria to understand natural selection. They use colored disks to represent levels of antibiotic resistance, and construct an explanation for how bacteria can differ and what happens to the bacterial population after exposure to antibiotics.
• LS4.B-M2. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 16: Manipulating Genes, students research technologies that are being used to change the traits of organisms to make them more useful or desirable. They consider the impact of these technologies on society and other organisms. 
• LS4.C-M1. In Unit: Evolution: Activity 1: The Full Course, students engage in an activity modeling how antibiotics affect the size and resistance of bacteria over time. Students collect and graph data of bacteria response to the antibiotic either taken as prescribed or not taken as prescribed. Finally, students reflect on their activity and its connection to evolution. This phenomenon is becoming a health risk for many people across the world. 
• LS4.D-M1. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 1: The Miracle Fish?, students read a passage about the introduction of Nile perch to Lake Victoria. They construct arguments to predict how the introduction of the fish will affect the ecosystem in which it was introduced, examine tradeoffs, and decide if the Nile perch should have been introduced into the environment.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-band disciplinary core ideas for earth and space sciences. Across the series, the materials incorporate all earth and space science DCI components and associated grade-band elements, with nearly all elements found within the five earth and space science units. Some earth and space science DCIs present in units outside the earth and space science units. For example, ESS3.C-M1 is present in the life science unit Ecology when students investigate how humans have impacted environments by introducing non-native species. Also ESS1.C-M1 is present in the life science unit of Evolution; students examine fossils as evidence of diversity of life throughout Earth’s past. 

Examples of grade-band earth and space science DCI elements present in the materials:

• ESS1.A-M1. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activities 2 and 3, students order phases of the moon picture cards in the sequence they believe to be correct. Then they model the phases with a light source and ball. Students look for patterns as they try to sequence the phases of the moon. They model the motion of the moon in relation to the sun and Earth. Students predict patterns of the apparent motion of the Moon, describe them and explain with the model.
• ESS1.A-M2. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activity 10: Observing Objects in Space, students extend their knowledge of patterns of objects in the sky to better understand how objects in space that are farther away are more difficult to observe. Students use telescopic images to observe space objects such as planets, stars, asteroids, comets, and moons. Students compare distances between objects with mathematical computation and analysis.
• ESS1.B-M1. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activity 13: Identifying Planets, students read transmission information from four spacecrafts and compare it with descriptions of the planets. They list the evidence from each transmission that helped them decide from which planet each transmission originated. Students write their own transmission from a planet not used, compare properties of dwarf planet Pluto with the other planets, and use their knowledge to reflect upon how the work of engineers supported the Mars Exploration Rover mission to Mars.
• ESS1.B-M2. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activity 7: A Year Viewed From Space, students use a computer simulation to model Earth’s orbit around the sun in order to explain why we have seasons. Students make observations of the position of the Earth and the sun from two locations, and record data to compare changes in daylight and temperature at four times of the year, as well as, the distance between the Earth and the sun. They answer questions using their data to explain the relationship between the motion and distance between the Earth, sun, and seasons.
• ESS1.B-M3. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activity 15: The Effects of Gravity, students read informational text describing how the solar system was formed by gravity pulling the sides of a cloud of gas and dust to form a disk.
• ESS1.C-M1. In Unit: Earth's Resources, Activity 9: Modeling Rock Layers, students engage in an activity using a model of rock strata layers, and connect to understanding of the layering and age of rocks from the Grand Canyon.
• ESS1.C-M2. In Unit: Geological Processes, Activities 12-14, students engage in a series of activities to understand Earth’s plates have moved over time and continue to move. Students look at how energy and gravity play a role in plate motion and develop an understanding of how tectonic processes continually generate new ocean seafloor at ridges and destroy old seafloor at trenches.
• ESS2.A-M1. In Unit: Geological Processes, Activity 8: Beneath Earth's Surface, students make predictions about the Earth’s interior including initial drawings of their understanding. They read and analyze informational text focusing on layers of the Earth noting differences in properties and temperature, and how these processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling from the Earth’s hot interior. Students create a scaled drawing/model of layers to help analyze and predict the best location for storing nuclear waste.
• ESS2.A-M2.In Unit: Land, Water, and Human Interactions, Activity 14: Building on the Mississippi, students explain how geological processes have changed the land and water using the example of the Mississippi River. They incorporate time scales as they use evidence from the past and present to demonstrate gradual changes versus sudden changes.
• ESS2.B-M1. In Unit: Geological Processes, Activity 12: The Continent Puzzle, students are asked to use evidence (including fossil and rock information) to put together a world puzzle map while analyzing and constructing explanations as they create a model indicating Earth’s surface and continental positional changes over time. 
• ESS2.C-M1. In Unit: Land, Water and Human Interaction, Activity 1: Where Should We Build?, students observe photographs of undeveloped and developed hillside, wetland, and clifftop to explain how each location would be changed by the construction of buildings. The lesson helps students understand how the processes take place as water continually cycles and flows on land.
• ESS2.C-M2. In Unit: Weather and Climate, Activity 7: Ocean Temperatures, students explain the range of latitudes that they would expect most hurricanes to form. Students analyze complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, ocean temperatures, and currents and their influence on local weather patterns and hurricane formation.
• ESS2.C-M3. In Unit: Weather & Climate, Activity 9: Oceans and Climate, students participate in a role-play discussion focused on the mapping of ocean currents and identification of the Gulf Stream. This activity leads to discussion and analysis of the relationship between oceans and the climate and how movements of water in ocean currents are propelled by sunlight.
• ESS2.C-M4. In Unit: Weather & Climate, Activity 8: Investigating Water, students collect data and identify patterns while carrying out investigations of temperature and density of water (cold/warm and fresh/salt). Students analyze and interpret data to construct explanations and create models explaining observations of water current movements and changes in salinity of ocean water including polar ice melting and formations.
• ESS2.C-M5. In Unit: Land, Water, and Human Interaction, Activity 1: Where Should We Build?, students observe photographs of undeveloped and developed hillside, wetland, and clifftop to explain how each location, wetland, hillside, and cliff would be changed by the construction of buildings. They identify trade-offs, and make a preliminary decision about where to build the new school in Boomtown. Students develop questions they have about animals, plants, shape of land, and health of water in the area of construction. The lesson-level activities help students gather some evidence for their decision by examining how water movement can cause weathering and erosion, which can change the landscape.
• ESS2.D-M1. In Unit: Weather & Climate: Activity 4: Climate Types and Distribution Patterns, students use their understanding of local weather and regional climate to organize information about different climates. Students identify patterns as they analyze and interpret climate data and how it relates to latitude, altitude, and proximity to oceans.
• ESS2.D-M2. In Unit: Weather and Climate, Activity 2: Investigating Local Weather, students collect five consecutive days of local weather data from a website, record key observations, calculate the mean, median, and mode values for each data set, and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using each of the three types of averages. Students obtain local monthly averages and compute seasonal data. They graph seasonal and compare their five-day averages to monthly and seasonal data to understand that daily weather data is more accurate for providing data about a particular day, but monthly and seasonal data are more accurate to use when comparing weather patterns to gather evidence for the claim that because of is complexity, weather can only be predicted probabilistically.
• ESS2.D-M3. In Unit: Weather & Climate, Activity 5: Earth's Surface, students use a gridded world map to estimate and calculate the percent of Earth’s surface covered by water. Students consider and analyze how oceans might influence weather and climate.
• ESS3.A-M1. In Unit: Earth’s Resources, Activity 2: World Resource Consumption, students read passages detailing the consumption of copper, petroleum, and freshwater, followed by a passage on consumption and world population growth. Each passage includes images and maps identifying the locations of global deposits for each resource. Various graphs are included illustrating world population growth over time and global consumption of each of the resources. 
• ESS3.B-M1. In Unit: Geological Processes, Activity 3: Modeling Landslides, students access and collect data from a data visualization program. Then they analyze and interpret data in order to look for patterns in the distribution of major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the world. Students add data to a world map which acts as the first step in discovering that the Earth’s surface is broken into plates.
• ESS3.C-M1. In Unit: Land, Water and Human Interaction, Activity 4: Living Indicators Investigation, students use macroinvertebrate concentration over time as an indicator for how humans have impacted water quality as evidence to begin to develop an argument for how humans impact environment over time and how those impacts can in turn affect living things.
• ESS3.C-M2. In Unit: Earth’s Resources. Activity 4: Per Capita Consumption, students identify changes in mineral, energy, and groundwater resources over time. Students use population data to calculate the per capita consumption from eight different countries. Students then analyze this data to support an argument about whether increases in human populations and per capita consumption of natural resources lead to negative impacts on Earth.
• ESS3.D-M1. In Unit: Weather & Climate, Activity 15: History of Earth's Atmosphere, students chronologically arrange atmosphere data cards, discuss reasoning, and build understandings and explanations of stability and changes in Earth’s atmosphere over geologic time. Students analyze/reflect and predict the effect of living organisms, including humans, on changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide gases over time.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-band disciplinary core ideas for engineering, technology, and the application of science (ETS). Across the series, the materials incorporate all ETS DCI components and associated grade-band elements. The ETS DCI components and associated grade-band elements are integrated within units in physical science, life science, and earth and space science. In most units, students engage with the ETS DCIs as they also work with DCIs in physical, life, and earth and space science; one exception is the Biomedical Engineering unit, where students often engage in the ETS DCI only.

Examples of grade-band engineering, technology, and the application of science DCI elements present in the materials:

• ETS1.A-M1. In Unit: Land, Water, and Human Interactions, Activity 12: Modeling Cliff Erosion, students design an erosion-mitigation structure for a cliff using relevant scientific principles that might limit solutions. They design, test, and redesign structures to prevent cliff erosion. Students then use design criteria to develop a solution that is evaluated by others to determine how well they met specific criteria and constraints.
• ETS1.B-M1. In Unit: Energy,  Activity 10: Energy Transfer Challenge, students engage in a learning sequence to determine relative energy efficiency of different devices and how to increase energy efficiency in a home. Students test a solution to melt the most ice in a given amount of time and keep the most ice from melting in a given amount of time. They modify and improve their solution based on the results of their tests, taking into account the insulation properties of the materials and energy transfers within their design. 
• ETS1.B-M2. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 1: Save the Astronaut, students are challenged to find a way to return a stranded gyrosphere to its base on the moon. Students identify the task’s criteria and constraints, then develop a small-scale model for which to investigate how gravity, magnetism, and electricity can be used to return the stranded gyrosphere to its base. Students use a systematic process to evaluate and test their solution, accounting for how well their design meets the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• ETS1.B-M3. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 10: Developing a Prototype, students brainstorm designs for an improved prototype hand warmer. As they build, test, and evaluate their designs, students review the design criteria and constraints, considering that parts of different solutions can be combined to create a better solution. As students discuss the decisions made in determining their design and compare characteristics of other designs, they reflect on their knowledge of the functionality of hand warmers.
• ETS1.B-M4. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 1: Save the Astronaut, students use materials to model the gyrosphere of the stranded astronaut, the abandoned rover, and the Moon base. They read a scenario and work with a partner to brainstorm ways to solve the problem of returning the stranded astronaut to the Moon base, and record their plan, process, and ideas that worked. Students exchange procedures with another group, and attempt to save the astronaut using the other group’s directions. Successful strategies are shared with the class and students describe similarities and differences in their model and how it was important for testing their solutions.
• ETS1.C-M1. In Unit: Biomedical Engineering, Activity 4: Artificial Bone Model, students create a prototype of an artificial bone with specific criteria and constraints that include light weight, strength, and specified materials. Students determine that while one design might not perform the best across all tests, it is important to identify the characteristics of the design that performed the best in each test, and incorporate them into the new design.
• ETS1.C-M2. In Unit: Weather and Climate, Activity 12: Measuring Wind Speed and Direction, students use the engineering design process to design, build, and test instruments for measuring wind speed and direction. Students use an iterative process to select the most promising solutions and improve and retest their designs.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the science and engineering practices for planning and carrying out investigations. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements of this SEP. When the materials include elements of this SEP from above or below the grade band, they connect to the grade-band elements of this SEP.

The materials include numerous opportunities for students to plan and carry out investigations, completing a wide range of investigations ranging from planning, as well as, conducting investigations, and collecting different forms of data in the process.

Examples of grade-band elements of Planning and Carrying Out Investigations across the series present in the materials:

• INV-M1. In Unit: Waves, Activity 14: Blocking Out Ultraviolet, students design and conduct an investigation determining variables and controls, number of trials, and what data to record to test whether sunscreen blocks the ultraviolet light by absorbing or reflecting the light.
• INV-M2. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 9: Population Growth, Students conduct a laboratory investigation, using Paramecium caudatum to explore how the availability of food affects the growth of a population. Wet mounts are made and initial observations of the organisms are made using a microscope. Students predict how populations of paramecium will differ with varying amounts of food, then observe two different populations of paramecium, and recording their observations.
• INV-M3. In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activity 3: Evidence of Microscopic Organisms, students determine which tool or tools would be best for a scientist investigating bacteria. Students choose from four choices: magnifying glass, classroom compound microscope, oil immersion microscope, and transmission electron microscope.  Students explain their thinking behind their choice and how it would be best for investigating bacteria.
• INV-M4.  In Unit: Force and Motion, Activity 13: Laboratory: Braking Distance, students conduct an investigation using a system model to provide evidence that the change in the vehicles speed results in a change of braking distance. Then students plan and carry out their own investigation with the system model. They use evidence to determine that a change in the object's mass results in a change in braking distance. Students use their evidence to support or refute explanations of the factors affecting braking distance.
• INV-M5. In Unit: Energy, Activity 14: Hot Bulbs, students investigate and use the change in the temperature of water to calculate the efficiency of the light bulbs, and determine the energy “wasted” in producing thermal energy.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the science and engineering practices for using mathematical and computational thinking. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements of this SEP. While students have opportunities to use this SEP across the series, students mostly use digital tools to analyze large data sets, use mathematical representations to design or support conclusions or solutions, and apply certain mathematical concepts to science and engineering problems. When the materials include elements of this SEP from above or below the grade band, they connect to the grade-band elements of this SEP.

Examples of grade-band elements of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking present in the materials:

• MATH-M1. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 14: Effects of an Introduced Species, students use a Web-based graphing tool to graph and analyze a large data set regarding biotic and abiotic factors that the zebra mussel might affect.
• MATH-M2. In Unit: Weather and Climate, Activity 17: People, Weather, Climate (Is the growth of Sunbeam City affecting its weather, atmosphere, and water availability?), students engage in a jigsaw role play. They summarize strategies and analyze data to make conclusions about the relationship between population growth and changes in the environment. Students brainstorm recommendations to reduce the human impact on weather, atmosphere, and water availability, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each, using their prior knowledge of the human impact on the weather, the atmosphere, and water.
• MATH-M3. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 1: Save the Astronaut!, students record the detailed procedure they used to save an astronaut who needs to return to the Moon base. Students then trade their procedure with others to determine if the other student’s procedures can be followed to save the astronaut.
• MATH-M4.  In Unit: Force and Motion, Activity 8: Force, Mass, and Acceleration, students perform an experiment to investigate the relationships among distance, speed, and acceleration. They graph results and determine an equation that relates force, acceleration, and mass.
• MATH-M5: In Unit: Biomedical Engineering, Activity 4: Artificial Bone Model, students calculate the strength-to-mass ratio for each of four prototypes to identify which prototype has the best strength-to-mass ratio. Based on the calculations, students choose one prototype to redesign, retest, and re-evaluate.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the science and engineering practices for engaging in argument from evidence. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements of this SEP. When students engage in this practice across the series, they most often create arguments supported by evidence to support or refute explanations, or to evaluate competing design solutions. When the materials include elements of this SEP from above or below the grade band, they connect to the grade-band elements of this SEP.

Examples of grade-band elements of Engaging in Argument from Evidence present in the materials:

• ARG-M1. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 3: A Meeting of Minds, students compare similarities and differences between Lamarck’s and Darwin’s claims about how species change over time, then explain why current scientists find Darwin’s theory more convincing. 
• ARG-M2. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 14: The Sixth Extinction?, students  construct a claim as to whether earth is experiencing a sixth extinction. Students use evidence from the previous five extinctions to support their arguments and challenge opposing arguments during a class Walking Debate.
• ARG-M3. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 5: A Suitable Habitat, students create an argument to explain the relationship between changing the features in the blackworm environment and the blackworm’s survival. The arguments include specific examples from their investigation to demonstrate an understanding of how organisms interact with living and nonliving factors within their environment.
• ARG-M4. In Unit: Waves, Activity 4: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss, students analyze data showing how much a pair of headphones reduce noise at various frequencies. Students use this data to support a claim about whether the headphone provides adequate protection for a firefighter exposed to a siren at 1,500 hertz and 120 decibels.
• ARG-M5. In Unit: Ecology, Activity 15: Too Many Mussels, students brainstorm initial criteria and constraints for solutions to the zebra mussel problem. They read about six different control options for zebra mussels and identify advantages and disadvantages of each one. Students revisit and revise their criteria and constraints based on new considerations. Students ultimately choose the best control option and provide evidence to support why it is the solution that should be selected for further testing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the crosscutting concept of patterns. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements. Elements of this CCC are not included from above or below the grade-band without connecting to the grade-band elements of this CCC. The materials include numerous opportunities for students to engage in understanding patterns within each grade level and across the series.

Examples of grade-band elements of Patterns present in the materials:

• PAT-M1. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 13: Another Approach to Recovering Copper, students use a chemical reaction to precipitate, filter, and recover the copper from the waste solution as they consider its disposal. Students investigate the products and reactants of two types of chemical reactions at the macroscopic level, observing patterns in the precipitate to use as evidence of atomic rearrangement resulting in chemical change. 
• PAT-M2. In Unit: Energy, Lesson 11: Energy in Light, students conduct an investigation and compare how light interacts in three different materials. Data is graphed and students analyze patterns in rates of change as the temperature of the material increases over time.
• PAT-M3. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activities 2-5, students work towards explaining the Moon’s orbit around Earth, and also explaining why there is not a lunar or solar eclipse every lunar cycle. Students develop and use a model to show how the orbital plane of the Moon-Earth and the Earth-sun are not the same. Students analyze data about the shape of the moon and look for patterns at each phase to prove that the cause of an eclipse is not because the Earth is blocking light to the moon.
• PAT-M4. In Unit: Geological Processes, Activities 4-11, students access and collect data from a data visualization program. Then they analyze and interpret data within charts in order to look for patterns in the distribution of major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the world. Students add data to a world map which acts as the first step in discovering that the Earth’s surface consists of plates.

​The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the crosscutting concept of cause and effect. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements. Elements of this CCC are not included from above or below the grade-band without connecting to the grade-band elements of this CCC. The materials include numerous opportunities for students to engage in understanding cause and effect within each grade level and across the series.

Examples of grade-band elements of Cause and Effect present in the materials:

• CE-M1. In Unit: Land, Water, and Human Interactions, Activity 3: Water Quality, students analyze water quality and population data from the fictional town of Boomtown to determine whether the relationship between the data is causal or correlational. To help students make sense of this data, the lesson includes a learning opportunity where students look at other data sets that are strongly correlated, weakly correlated, and causal to learn how to differentiate between causal and correlational data.
• CE-M2. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activity 8: Static Electricity, students determine the effects of static electricity by investigating how static charge causes attraction and repulsion in objects. Students model the distribution of charges during a simulation. Students manipulate the location of the objects and observe how particles change location in relation to the location of the object. They use these observations to predict how electrical forces will attract and repel, and determine the strength of forces between positive and negative particles. 
• CE-M3. In Unit: Evolution, Activity 6: Mutations and Evolution, students collect data using a computer simulation allowing them to create percentages and/or rates for the frequency of the sickle cell trait over time as different variables are manipulated, such as the relationship between getting malaria and access to health care. Students use the information to construct an explanation about the causal relationship for why the rate of sickle cell disease varies around the world, and how some cause and effect relationships can only be described using probability.

​The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the crosscutting concept of systems and system models.  Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements of this CCC. When the materials include elements of this CCC from above or below the grade band, they connect to the grade-band elements of this CCC. The materials include numerous opportunities for students to engage in understanding systems and system models across the series.

Examples of grade-band elements of Systems and System Models present in the materials:

• SYS-M1. In Unit: Body Systems, Activities 2-3, students learn about the different systems within the human body and the organs that comprise each system. They identify each organ, the organ’s function, and then relate how each organ is part of a larger system. For example, one diagram students use in this activity shows the digestive system, the stomach as an organ in the system, tissues of the stomach lining, and stomach cells. These activities help students develop the understanding how different systems in the human body interact with each other and how each system is made up of smaller parts or subsystems.
• SYS-M2. In Unit: Fields and Interactions, Activities 3-4, students create a system model to collect and analyze data regarding the impact of release height and mass of a cart to the kinetic energy transfer during a collision. Students use their model to understand the interactions within the system and track the energy flows within the system. Students optimize their solutions through a process of testing and redesigning to eventually control the amount of gravitational potential energy in their system to achieve the best results with their transporter.
• SYS-M3. In Unit: Solar System and Beyond, Activity 8: Earth’s Tilt, students use multiple types of models to understand how Earth’s tilt causes the seasons. Students answer a reflection question about how the different models represent components of the system and why it was important to use multiple models to fully understand the system.

​The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the crosscutting concept of energy and matter. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements. Elements of this CCC are not included from above or below the grade-band without connecting to the grade-band elements of this CCC. The materials include numerous opportunities for students to engage in understanding energy and matter within each grade level and across the series.

Examples of grade-band elements of Energy and Matter present in the materials:

• EM-M1. In Unit: Chemical Reactions, Activity 12: Recovering Copper, students compare metals to determine which is most effective in removing copper from a used solution of copper chloride. They use their evidence to prepare a recommendation for the use of the metal that was most effective. Students develop an understanding that metals can be recovered from waste solutions because the matter (atoms) during the etching reaction is conserved in chemical reactions.
• EM-M2. In Unit: Weather and Climate, Activities 9-10, students engage in a sequence of activities to develop an understanding of the role of the ocean in climate. Students engage in a role-play activity to demonstrate how energy from the sun drives the motion and cycling of water and impacts oceans, currents, and air flow.
• EM-M3. In Unit: Energy, Activity 3: Roller Coaster Energy, students investigate energy transformations between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. Students also consider how energy can take different forms as they consider how energy is transformed into thermal energy and sound energy as the roller coaster moves.
• EM-M4. In Unit: Energy, Activity 14: Hot Bulbs, students track the transfer of energy. Students determine and compare the amount of energy needed to change the temperature of water using an incandescent and LED bulb. They use the change in the temperature of water to calculate the efficiency of the light bulbs, and determine the energy “wasted” in producing thermal energy.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that they incorporate the crosscutting concept of structure and function. Across the series, the materials incorporate all grade-band elements. Elements of this CCC are not included from above or below the grade-band without connecting to the grade-band elements of this CCC. The materials include numerous opportunities for students to engage in understanding structure and function within each grade level and across the series.

Examples of grade-band elements of Structure and Function present in the materials:

• SF-M1. In Unit: Biomedical Engineering, Activities 2-5 and 7, students read background information about the heart, and problems that can occur when structures within the heart fail. Students design a prototype for a heart valve taking into consideration that the function of complex structures and systems depends on the composition and relationships among its parts. Students test and refine their prototypes.
• SF-M2. In Unit: Biomedical Engineering, Activities 2-5 and 7, students read background information about the heart, and problems that can occur when structures within the heart fail. Students design a prototype for a heart valve, and as students test and refine their prototypes, they consider how properties of different materials can impact how particular structures or designs function.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 6-8 meet expectations that the materials incorporate grade-band NGSS connections to Nature of Science (NOS) and Engineering (ENG). Connections are made within individual activities across the series. Elements from each of the following categories are present:

• grade-band Nature of Science elements associated with SEPs
• grade-band Nature of Science elements associated with CCCs
• grade-band Engineering elements associated with CCCs

The materials incorporate connections to NOS elements associated with SEPs and are addressed in a range of units across the different science disciplines.

Examples of grade-band connections to NOS elements associated with SEPs present in the materials:

• BEE-M1. In Unit: Body Systems, Activity 1: The Pellagra Story, students complete an anticipatory activity identifying ideas about their understanding of experimentation, and view a video about an early physician's study of a disease called "Pellagra". Students distinguish between observation and inference statements about Pellagra, and identify the evidence collected and used by the doctor to make a conclusion about the nature of the disease. Finally, students are asked to reflect upon their willingness to join a clinical trial. This activity helps students understand that science knowledge is based upon logical connections between evidence and explanations when studying disease in people.
• OTR-M1. In Unit: Geologic Processes, Activity 13: The Theory of Plate Tectonics, students watch video segments on the history and development of the modern theory of plate tectonics. This activity demonstrates how scientific explanations may be revised or reinterpreted based on new evidence.
• ENP-M2: In Unit: Geologic Processes, Activity 13: The Theory of Plate Tectonics, students examine fossil and geological evidence used by Alfred Wegener supporting the idea of continental drift. Students consider Wegener’s theory did not account for how continents could have moved and discuss how additional information added to the theory as new technology allowed for scientists to view the bottom of the ocean floor. This helps students understand that science theories are based on the body of evidence that is developed over time. 

The materials incorporate connections to NOS elements associated with CCCs. The materials present these elements across the science disciplines. 

Examples of grade-band connections to NOS elements associated with CCCs present in the materials:

• WOK-M2: In Unit: From Cells to Organisms, Activity 14: Fighting Disease, students watch video segments on the discovery of penicillin. Students then connect the events in the video to other historic events in the unit as they relate the events in the video to the scientists and timelines in the student handout, Contributions to the Cell Theory and the Germ Theory of Disease. Students review how many scientists from different countries contributed to these two theories over a time span of 250 years. This activity helps students develop an understanding that science knowledge is cumulative and many people, from many generations and nations, have contributed to science knowledge.
• AOC-M1: In Unit: Geological Processes, Activity 12: The Continent Puzzle, students use a puzzle in the shape of the continents, with rock and fossil evidence, and rearrange the landmasses so that the shapes fit together. The rock and fossil evidence on one of the landmasses lines up with similar evidence on another landmass. Student theorize that the positions of the continents has changed over time and compare their puzzle to three past landmass arrangements. Students realize that their puzzle matches that of Pangea. This activity connects with the assumption that objects and events that occur in the natural world occur in consistent patterns that can be recognized through observation and measurement.
• HE-M4: In Unit: Body Systems, Activity 13: Investigation: Testing Medicines: A Clinical Trial, students simulate a clinical trial to investigate how medicines are tested. They are introduced to the need for a control group (placebo) and collect data to analyze for the success of the medicine. They consider the trade-offs of side-effects and make an argument with evidence about the safety and effectiveness of the "medication". This activity connects with the importance of careful, honest, and minimizing risk when using people in experimentation as well as helps students understand that advances in science influence advances in medicine.
• AQAW-M1: In Unit: Reproduction, Activity 14: Advising Joe, students develop a written email that explains Joe's situation (possibly has the gene for Marfan syndrome) and provide a recommendation for what he might do. Students summarize the information that they have learned about genetics and Marfan syndrome for their writings. The activity demonstrates how scientific knowledge can be used to provide consequences of actions but does not prescribe the decisions that an individual or society will make as a result of the scientific knowledge acquired.

The materials incorporate connections to ENG elements associated with CCCs. These elements are incorporated across all disciplines and are especially concentrated in activities that students solve engineering or design challenges.

Examples of grade-band connections to ENG elements associated with CCCs present in the materials:

• INTER-M3: In Unit: Geological Processes, Activity 7: Problem Solving: Observing Earth's Moving Surface, students learn how to analyze and interpret data from GPS measurements over time. They use this data to determine the rate and direction of tectonic plate movement. This activity does not explain the movements but shows students how technologies extend the measurement, exploration, and computational capacity of scientific investigations.
• INFLU-M2: In Unit: Bioengineering, Activity 3: Bionic Bodies, students read the passage, Bionic Bodies, to learn about different technologies designed to replace various body parts, including a prosthetic foot, an artificial heart, and an artificial pancreas. Students consider how the technology has or has not benefited the individual and also discuss the environmental consequences associated with developing these devices. This activity helps students develop an understanding that technologies are driven by needs and values but have limitations and can have environmental impacts.