The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that students understand how the materials connect the dimensions from chapter to chapter. The materials include four units comprising four to five chapters per unit. The Science Program Guide provides a recommended scope and sequence. The Unit Overview and Unit Map sections of the teacher materials provide information and support for teachers explaining how the chapters within a unit connect to each other. The Lesson Overview section of the teacher materials provides information and support for teachers that explains how the lessons within a chapter connect to each other. The first lesson of the unit (following the Pre-Unit Assessment) provides prompts that give context and goals for the entire unit. The first lesson of each subsequent chapter in the unit usually connects prior learning between the chapters in the unit. In three out of the four units in Grade 3, the final chapter connects to one or more disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) that are the focus of the unit, but not to the question presented in the Unit Map that provides context for the unit. While there are connections between chapters within each unit, there is not a connection between each unit and other units in the recommended sequence.

Examples of student learning experiences that demonstrate connections across chapters:

• In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, the Unit Map presents the question, “Archaeologists discovered part of an ancient artifact that depicts the sun and other stars. How can we figure out what would have appeared on the missing piece?” Across this unit, students have multiple opportunities to use models (SEP-MOD-E3, SEP-MOD-E4) and observe patterns as evidence (CCC-PAT-E3). Students explain changes in the sun, moon, and stars in the sky at different times of the day, month, and year (DCI-ESS1.B-E1) as they determine what would have appeared on the missing piece of the artifact. Each chapter addresses a different idea related to the patterns that exist across the sky. In Chapter 1, students take the role of an astronomer to figure out why it is harder to see stars in the daytime. This connects to Chapter 3 where students investigate why different stars are seen at different types of the year and to Chapter 4 where students investigate why different stars are visible on different nights. While Chapter 2 still relates to patterns in the sky, it focuses on understanding why the sun is visible during only parts of the day. Throughout all chapters, there is a consistent use of modeling and patterns to help students to understand how different objects are seen at different times within the night sky.

• In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, the Unit Map presents the question, “What happens when two substances are mixed together?” Across this unit, students have multiple opportunities to conduct investigations (SEP-INV-E3) and use models (SEP-MOD-E3) to support explanations related to how mixing two or more different substances result in a new substance with different properties (DCI-PS1.B-E1). Students take on the role of food a scientist to solve two problems pertaining to mixtures and solubility. In Chapter 1, students use a chromatography investigation to separate food coloring to understand that matter is made up of particles too small to see. Students create digital models of the chromatography investigation to help understand what is happening at the molecular level. In Chapter 2, students investigate solubility and analyze their data. Students also create a digital model to explain what is happening at the molecular level. The models show why some items dissolve in water while others do not. In Chapter 3, students are reminded that molecules are too small to see and continue to investigate solubility and evaluate information focusing on liquids dissolving in other liquids. Students create digital models and drawings that show their understanding of particles in mixtures.

• In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, presents the question, “Why aren’t the jaguars and sloths in a reforested part of the Costa Rican rain forest ecosystem growing and thriving?” Across this unit, students have multiple opportunities to track how matter cycles (CCC-EM-E2) within an ecosystem and describe the different components of an ecosystem and their interactions as they figure out what is happening to the jaguars and sloths. Students collect data from various parts of a restored rainforest ecosystem to determine the reasons why animals and plants are not thriving. In Chapter 1, students use simulations to learn how organisms use food to increase their matter and grow (DCI-LS1.C-E1, DCI-LS1.C-E2). Students determine how matter impacts animals on a molecular level. Students connect the learning to how this impacts the jaguars and sloths and how these animals impact the ecosystem. In Chapter 2, students shift their focus towards the plants; specifically, why the cecropia trees aren’t growing and thriving. Students use a model to demonstrate how plants get food and grow; they also illustrate the relationships among the sun, plants, and animals within an ecosystem. In Chapter 3, students look at the soil and decomposers. Students conduct investigations to compare soil and use simulations to learn about the importance of soil health and how decomposers play a key role in the ecosystem.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they have an intentional sequence where student tasks increase in sophistication. Materials are designed with a recommended sequence and student tasks related to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems increase in sophistication within each unit and across the grade band.

Within the grade, the recommended sequence of units is Patterns of Earth and Sky, Modeling Matter, The Earth System, and Ecosystem Restoration, in that order. Within each of these units, there is a single anchor phenomenon that is presented to the students with investigative phenomenon utilized within the individual units. Although the units are provided in a recommended order, there is no specific increase of rigor as these units are presented. Approaches to the assessment of the different dimensions are also consistent and similar throughout each unit. However, the learning tasks within the unit increase in sophistication as students work towards explaining phenomena or solving problems.

Example of student tasks increasing in sophistication within a unit:

• In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, students learn about a rainforest ecosystem and collect data from investigations and models to make arguments (SEP-ARG-E4) about what factors could be impacting the lives of the organisms in the ecosystem that are not thriving. Students learn about the components of good arguments and use scientific reasoning to discuss why the animals in the ecosystem are not thriving. Students collect evidence about plants through investigations and models and evaluate their own claims using evidence circles (SEP-ARG-E3). Finally, students use evidence from the entire unit to make claims supported by evidence and construct written arguments about the organisms in the ecosystem (SEP-ARG-E4). Students use their action steps to justify a restoration plan for the reforested area of the Costa Rican rainforest (SEP-ARG-E5).

In each K–5 grade level, there is one unit that emphasizes the practice of investigation, one that emphasizes the practice of modeling, and one that emphasizes the engineering practice of design. In addition, in Grades 3–5, there is also one unit that emphasizes the practice of argumentation. As students progress through the series, the materials connect learning of the three dimensions across the entire grade band. The way students engage with and use the three dimensions also increases in sophistication across the investigation, modeling, design, and argumentation units.

Examples of student tasks increasing in sophistication across grade levels:

• Investigation Units: Each grade contains a unit focused on students developing the science practices related to investigations. Grade 3 and Grade 4 show continued increasing complexity and ask students to utilize practices within clearly defined investigations and topics, but Grade 5 does not show a clear increase over the previous two grades. In Grade 3, the Inheritance and Traits unit focuses on inherited traits and specifically asks “What is the origin of the traits of Wolf 44—a wolf that appears to be different from the rest of its pack?” Investigations throughout this particular unit focus on how traits are inherited. Students are investigating the process by which animals (different ones are utilized within the unit) inherit traits that are similar to and different from other animals. They use science and engineering practices (SEPs) to ask questions (SEP-ADQP-E3), investigate the phenomenon and other related information (SEP-INV-E3), and collect data on the topic to help inform their conclusions (SEP-CEDS-E1). In Grade 4, students build on their investigation skills with the Vision and Light unit, which focuses on how animals obtain information through their senses. This unit emphasizes the practice of asking of questions; students then need to investigate and collect information to answer a question (SEP-ADQP-E1, SEP-ADQP-E3) as well as use modeling to draw conclusions (SEP-MOD-E3, SEP-MOD-E4, and SEP-DATA-E2). The practices of asking questions and conducting investigations increase in complexity compared to Grade 3. The Grade 4 unit adds the use of data to the modeling process and investigation process around the phenomenon, which is an increase in the complexity from the prior investigation unit in Grade 3. Additionally, students continue to build the practice of constructing explanations and arguing from evidence. In Grade 5, the Patterns of Earth and Sky unit informs students that, “different sections of an ancient artifact show what the sky looked like from one location and depict different stars.” The phenomenon in this unit does not fully connect chapter-to-chapter, nor is there a clear unit to unit connection with prior grades. The Investigation aspects within this unit focus largely on the use of developing and using models (SEP-MOD-E3 and SEP-MOD-E4), but show no additional connections to the prior to units focused on investigations.

• Argumentation Units: Each grade contains a unit focused on students developing the science practices related to investigations. Grades 3–5 show continued increasing complexity and ask students to utilize practices related to argumentation. In Grade 3, students use data to make predictions about the climate and evaluate different types of evidence (SEP-ARG-E2) in the Weather and Climate unit. Students practice organizing evidence and making claims by engaging in evidence circles (SEP-ARG-E1). Students work in groups to review evidence provided by the teacher and make claims and write an argument together about the weather on three islands. These skills are built upon in Grade 4, Earth’s Features unit, when students collect evidence from a rocky outcrop to study fossils in this area and make claims about the area’s history. To explain the fossil phenomenon, students first learn that claims must be supported by evidence (SEP-ARG-E2); then, they engage in discourse about their claims and write an argument about this area’s past (SEP-ARG-E4). As students gain more evidence about the rocky desert outcrop, they refine their arguments based on new evidence about what could have caused changes in the landscape on their own (SEP-ARG-E1, SEP-ARG-E5). In Grade 5, Ecosystem Restoration unit, students examine a rainforest ecosystem and use investigations and models to collect their own data that supports their arguments (SEP-ARG-E4) about what factors could be impacting the lives of the organisms in the ecosystem that are not thriving. Students learn about the components of good argumentation and use scientific reasoning to discuss why the animals in the ecosystem are not thriving (SEP-ARG-E3). At the end of the series, students are using their arguments, that are inclusive of claims, evidence, and reasoning to justify a plan to restore the reforested rainforest (SEP-ARG-E5).

• Modeling Units: Each grade contains a unit focused on students developing the science practices related to modeling. Grades 3–5 show continued increasing complexity and ask students to utilize practices related to modeling. In Grade 3, the Balancing Forces unit introduces students to the unit phenomenon of the floating train. Students take on the role of an engineer and seek information to explain why the train floats; this requires students to explain balanced and unbalanced forces. By asking questions (SEP-ADQP-E4) across the entire unit, students explore and learn how different forces act on objects. Questions build on each other as students move throughout the unit. Students are also engaged in the use of the simulation to create models (SEP-MOD-E4). Some examples of models within the simulation have students demonstrating how a magnetic force causes the train to “float” and how balanced forces act on the train. Investigations outside of the simulation ask students to explore how gravity affects different objects pulling them towards the earth and to read about the use of a hoverboard. In addition to the use of models within these explorations, students continue to ask questions (SEP-ADQP-E4, SEP-INV-E1, SEP-INV-E3). In Grade 4, the Waves, Energy, and Information unit has students study the properties of sound waves to explain the phenomenon of sound moving through water. Students use tsunamis, stadium waves, and spring toys as models to understand wave-like motion (SEP-MOD-E4). Students use musical instruments, collision investigations, and a digital simulator (SEP-MOD-E4) to make connections between sounds and waves. By the end of the unit, students use models to manipulate waves and sounds and to make connections among waves, collisions, and sounds. Students continue to use the sound simulator to manipulate waveforms to make connections between the shape of the wave and its impact on sound (SEP-MOD-E6). To explain the phenomena, students creating and revising a model for how sound travels under water (SEP-MOD-E2). In Grade 5, the Modeling Matter unit has students use models to understand the forces among molecules (SEP-MOD-E3) and use digital simulations to make predictions about how molecules in salad dressing will behave. Students use and create models to make predictions about scientific phenomena.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they present disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) in a way that is scientifically accurate. Across the grade, the teacher materials, student materials, and assessments accurately represent the three dimensions and are free from scientific inaccuracies.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-level disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Across the grade, the materials consistently incorporate student learning opportunities to learn and use DCIs appropriate to the grade.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meets expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) for physical sciences. Across the grade, the materials include all of the associated elements of the physical science DCIs. These are found throughout all four units.

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

• PS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.3: Made of Matter, students observe models of matter and review vocabulary of atoms and matter. Students participate in discussions to define atoms and molecules while discussing the need for models due to particles being too small for the human eye to see.

• PS1.A-E1, In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.4: Separating a Food-Coloring Mixture, students conduct a chromatography test to observe the molecules in food dye moving up paper. Students discuss the movement of the molecules and how they must be different substances due to the results of the lab. Teachers conclude the lesson by showing the class three types of pasta as a model of molecules and how they all differ from each other.

• PS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.3: A Nanoscale View of Condensation, students focus on what happens at the nanoscale when water vapor condenses to form liquid water. Students first read a section in Water Encyclopedia about how water is made up of water molecules too small to see and how these water molecules are arranged differently in the different phases of water. Then, students use the Earth System Simulation to discover what happens to molecules when condensation occurs and raindrops form. Finally, students reflect on what they learned from reading in the reference book and investigating in the simulation as they create a model that shows raindrop formation in the Earth System Modeling Tool.

• PS1.A-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Investigating Dissolving: Why do some salad dressings have sediments and others do not?, students use a digital simulation to model the behavior of molecules when substances are dissolved to observe that the amount of molecules/matter does not change.

• PS1.A-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.5: Drinking Cleopatra’s Tears, students read the book, Drinking Cleopatra’s Tears to gain an understanding that earth’s water changes form and while it sometimes seems to vanish, the amount of water on earth remains constant. After reading, students synthesize these ideas with what they learned from hands-on investigations to come to a new understanding that matter can change form, but the amount of matter remains constant.

• PS1.A-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 5, Lesson 5.3: Chemical Reactions at the Nanoscale, students use models to discover that the atoms that make up molecules do not appear or disappear during a chemical reaction, they simply recombine to make new molecules.

• PS1.A.E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.7: Break It Down, students read a text about scientists making inferences to distinguish between mixtures. Students gain an understanding about how scientists are able to make observations and measurements to identify substances in mixtures.

• PS1.A-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.8: Evaluating Chromatography Models, students review the text and the pasta model to describe the behavior of molecules and how various experiments and data collection can help identify substances.

• PS1.A-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 5. Lesson 5.1: Investigating Wastewater Treatment, students are introduced to the term “properties” and investigate the properties of several substances. Students identify the properties of three substances to identify the substances.

• PS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.1: Investigating Flavor Ingredients, students discuss mixtures and test the flavor of mixing various ingredients in their quest to design a salad dressing. Students observe properties of ingredients and their ability to dissolve or not.

• PS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Investigating Dissolving, students use a digital simulation to model what is happening at the molecular level when a substance completely dissolves and when one does not.

• PS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 5, Lesson 5.1: Investigating Wastewater Treatment, students mix a combination of phenol red, calcium chloride, and baking soda. Students previously noted the physical properties of the three substances and identified that the mixture is a new substance with none of the original properties and that the mixture exhibits new properties.

• PS1.B-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 5, Lesson 5.3: Chemical Reactions at the Nanoscale, students use a simulation tool to discover that the atoms that make up molecules do not appear or disappear during a chemical reaction, they simply recombine to make new molecules. No atoms are lost and none are gained and the total weight of the substance does not change.

• PS2.B-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.5: How Does Up Change?, students engage in the creation of digital and kinesthetic models to demonstrate their understanding regarding the direction of up and down at various points on earth. The use of the digital modeling tool has students illustrate which way is up for people who are standing on the opposite sides of the earth. Students also observe a video and read about the effect of gravity and determine which way is "up" anywhere on planet earth. Students also connect the understanding of the direction “up” to the fact that as the earth spins, objects are pulled down with the force of gravity.

• PS3.D-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 2, Lesson: 2.3: How Plants Make Food, students engage in a board game that replicates the process of photosynthesis to show how plants are dependent on the sun and produce energy.

• PS3.D-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 2, Lesson: 2.1: Even Plants Need Food, students use a simulation activity to manipulate sunlight, air, soil, and water to find the components of the chemical processes that produce food and energy in plants.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) for life sciences. Across the grade level, the materials include all the associated elements of the life science DCIs. These are found in two out of the four units: Ecosystem Reforestation and Earth’s Systems; however, the element LS2.C.E1 is not fully addressed in the materials.

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

• LS1.C-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.5: Modeling How Animals Use Food Matter, students read about alligators, specifically what they eat and how they grow. They use this information to make claims about how animals use food to grow and provide energy. Students then use an online simulation to observe how food is broken up in the body and becomes living tissue.

• LS1.C-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.3: How Plants Make Food, students use a board game as a model for photosynthesis to show that air, water, and the sun help plants produce food and energy.

• LS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Walk in the Woods, students read from an informational text about decomposers and apply that to what they learned about decomposers’ role in an ecosystem to the reforested rainforest.

• LS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.3: Differences in Soil, students use an online simulation that allows them to manipulate soil compositions and students investigate the role of microbes and fungi in healthy soil composition.

• LS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.6: The Role of Food in an Ecosystem, students use a food-web simulation to show that matter from plants becomes food for animals that helps the animals grow and thrive.

• LS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.8: Arguments About Animals in the Ecosystem, students participate in evidence circles to support their claims about the relationships between sloths, jaguars, and cecropia trees. Through their discussion, they determine that there is not sufficient plant life in the reforested ecosystem.

• LS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.2: Introducing Ecosystems, students take on the role of ecologists as they work together to examine data to see how organisms meet their needs for survival in an ecosystem.

• LS2.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.6: The Role of Food in the Ecosystem, students use the Ecosystem Modeling Simulation to demonstrate how organisms get food from one another and from their environment. Students use the simulation and a text to understand how animals and plants eat, grow, and release waste in an ecosystem.

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

• LS2.C.E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Reforestation, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.8: Arguments About Animals in the Ecosystem, students use evidence to write arguments about the sloths and jaguars and why they may not be thriving in the reforested ecosystem. Students do not discuss organisms moving out of this ecosystem and others moving in.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) for earth and space sciences. Across the grade, the materials include nearly all the associated elements of the earth and space science DCIs. All of the elements are found in two out of the four units: Patterns of Earth and Sky and Earth’s Systems.

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

• ESS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.3: How Big is Big? How Far is Far?, students read informational text that describes the relative sizes of objects and distances to those objects in space, providing information on the concept that stars range greatly in their distance from earth. Students use a visualizing strategy and connect to their own experiences regarding the size of familiar objects.

• ESS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.2: Earth and Stars in Space, students use two different models of the earth in the digital simulation to determine why other stars beyond the sun are not seen during the daytime. They determine that the sun is a star that is closer to earth so it appears larger and brighter than the other stars. In the simulation, they consider the shape of the earth and are given time to explore patterns that appear as the earth rotates.

• ESS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.7: Explaining When We See Stars, students write an explanation where they explain that the sun, but not other stars, are visible in daytime because the sun is closer than other stars and therefore is brighter.

• ESS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: The Daily Pattern, students use a digital simulation to observe the night sky and to examine the orbits of earth around the sun and of the moon around the earth. They learn that the rotation of earth about an axis between its north and south poles causes observable patterns. Students record observations and analyze data to understand rotation and the pattern of day and night. This includes seeing the sun during the daytime and the stars "moving" at night.

• ESS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Modeling Earth’s Orbit, students obtain information from a constellation handbook and then use a model to visualize the pattern of orbit between the earth and sun. Students construct ideas of how earth's orbit and spin can affect the stars that can be seen at night due to different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year. Students engage in a model where the sun is at the center of the room, and each student acts as a model of earth, carrying out the motions of spinning and orbiting.

• ESS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.1: Investigating the Movement of Water Vapor, students investigate a simulation model to show how wind and mountains can affect the movement of water vapor. Students investigate the effect of wind and mountains on rainfall.

• ESS2.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Investigating Rainfall Distribution, students use a simulation to track water molecules and figure out why one side of a mountain can get a lot of rain while the other side gets very little rain. They then model what they discovered, demonstrating their understanding of what happens to water in the atmosphere at the nanoscale to create a rain shadow.

• ESS2.C-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.1: Pre-Unit Assessment, students learn about water availability on earth through a hands-on activity with an inflatable globe and a set of graphs that show the global distribution of water. They discover that most of earth’s water is located in the oceans and there is a limited amount of freshwater available for people to use. Finally, students review the unit’s reference book, Water Encyclopedia.

• ESS3.C-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.2: Water Shortages, Water Solutions, students read Water Shortages, Water Solutions to learn more about how humans can affect the availability of freshwater.

• ESS3.C-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.7: Designing Freshwater Collection Systems, students design and build freshwater-collection systems as a possible solution to the water shortage that will get freshwater from salt water and then collect the freshwater for people to use.

• ESS3.C-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, Chapter 1, Lesson: 1.2: Introducing Ecosystems, students take on the role of ecologists as the teacher provides an overview of the rainforest that they will be studying. Students discuss how the organisms live together in this ecosystem and use provided data to compare populations in a healthy forest to one impacted by human deforestation.

The instructional materials reviewed Grades 3–5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-band and grade-level disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) for engineering, technology, and applications of science (ETS) and all associated elements. In Grade 3, no performance expectations (PEs) are associated with physical, life, or earth and space science DCIs that also connect to an ETS DCI. However, the materials do include opportunities for students to engage with ETS elements in this grade.

Examples of ETS DCI elements present in the Grade 3 materials:

• ETS1.A-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Planning Designs, students learn solutions to a problem may be limited by available materials and resources (constraints), and that the success of a solution is determined by how well it meets specific criteria. Students are presented with a design challenge of developing a robot that will remove invasive species. Students are given a list of criteria that the robot must do and have the constraint of a limited amount of materials to use.

• ETS1.B-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Planning Designs, students learn that it is important to research a problem before beginning to design a solution, and that testing a solution involves investigating how well the design performs. Students use books and videos to research how a giraffe’s neck allows it to successfully get food and how the shape of the giraffe’s teeth allow it to grind-up its food. Students test their solutions to determine how well the teeth on their design performs.

• ETS1.B.E2. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Preparing for Natural Hazards, students learn the importance of testing designs to identify failure points, then use those tests to determine where to improve their design. Students build a hurricane-proof structure to meet a set of criteria, then perform a series of tests to determine if their structures meet that criteria. Students come back together and discuss the features of each of their designs that were effective and ineffective each performance test.

• ETS1.B-E3. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Planning Designs and Lesson 4.3: Making and Testing Designs, students learn that communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs. Students communicate their design ideas before constructing their robot. In Lesson 4.3, students share their results of their tests on their design and then use the shared ideas from the class to improve their design.

In Grade 4, two PEs are associated with physical, life, or earth and space science DCIs that also connect to an ETS DCI. The materials include opportunities for students to engage with these ETS elements in this grade.

Examples of the Grade 4 grade-level ETS DCI elements present in the materials:

• ETS1.A-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.3: Exploring Systems, students learn that solutions to a problem may be limited by available materials and resources (constraints) and that the success of a solution is determined by how well it meets specific criteria. Students build a simple electrical system model that is powered by a solar panel using materials that are provided to them in a bag.

• ETS1.C-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.4: System Improvements, students learn that testing different designs can help them determine which solves the problem. Students share data from their design tests with their classmates. Students use a listening strategy to provide input on the designs. After this, students receive a memo from the mayor asking them to consider two potential designs and recommend one.

In Grade 5, no PEs associated with physical, life, or earth and space science DCIs connect to an ETS DCI. However, the materials do include opportunities for students to engage with ETS elements in this grade.

Examples of ETS DCI elements present in the Grade 5 materials:

• ETS1.A-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.7: Design Freshwater Collection Systems, students learn that solutions to a problem may be limited by available materials and resources (constraints) and that the success of a solution is determined by how well it meets specific criteria. Students are challenged to design a system that will provide fresh water from salt water. They discuss constraints that engineers would face with this design and then are presented with constraints on the materials they can use. Students also determine that providing fresh water would be the indication of success.

• ETS1.B-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.1: Investigating Dissolving: Why do some salad dressings have sediments and others do not?, students begin to design a salad dressing that must have particles dissolve. Past lessons contribute to the research that must be done before designing a solution. Testing is also done to see how the dressing performs with various ingredients.

• ETS1.B-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Iterating on Freshwater Collection Systems, students discuss how testing their designs can identify failure points and this information can be used to determine what aspects of the design needs to be improved. Students measure how much freshwater their initial systems collect. Students then identify where their design failed and record which aspects of their design did not work and which aspects succeeded. Students improve their design based on the test results. This includes an explanation of why they think these successes and failures occurred.

• ETS1.B-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Iterating on Freshwater Collection Systems, students learn that communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and that shared ideas can lead to improved designs. After completing their design of a freshwater collection system, students participate in an Engineer’s Jigsaw routine to see other groups’ designs and discuss their successes and failures. Students gather information from the jigsaw routine about how they can redesign their own systems. They discuss these plans in their groups and then improve their design.

The Grades 3–5 band includes three DCI PEs that are designed to be taught at any point across the grade band. These PEs include five elements. The materials provide opportunities to engage with ETS DCIs and their elements in all three grades within this band.

Examples of the 3–5 grade-band ETS DCI elements present in the materials:

• ETS1.A-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Preparing for Natural Hazards, students learn that solutions to a problem may be limited by available materials and resources (constraints) and that the success of a solution is determined by how well it meets specific criteria. Students are tasked to design a structure that would be protective against the damage caused by a hurricane. Students are given a specific amount of tape, craft sticks, straws, scissors, and a single index card to build a structure to meet a set of criteria. Their structure must hold a penny above water, stay upright through wind and rain, be stable, and fit in a given container.

• ETS1.B-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, lesson 4.2: Planning Designs, students learn that it is important to research a problem before beginning to design a solution and that testing a solution involves investigating how well the design performs. Students use books and videos to research how a giraffe’s neck allows it to successfully get food and how the shape of the giraffe’s teeth allow it to grind-up its food. Students test their solutions to determine how well the teeth on their design performs.

• ETS1.B-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Iterating on Freshwater Collection Systems, students discuss how testing their designs can identify failure points and this information can be used to determine what aspects of the design needs to be improved. Students measure how much freshwater their initial systems collect. Students then identify where their design failed and record which aspects of their design did not work and which aspects succeeded. Students improve their design based on the test results. This includes an explanation of why they think these successes and failures occurred.

• ETS1.B-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Iterating on Freshwater Collection Systems, students learn that communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and that shared ideas can lead to improved designs. After completing their design of a freshwater collection system, students participate in an Engineer’s Jigsaw routine to see other groups’ designs and discuss their successes and failures. Students gather information from the jigsaw routine about how they can redesign their own systems. They discuss these plans in their groups and then improve their design.

• ETS1.C-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.4: System Improvements, students learn that testing different designs can help them determine which solves the problem. Students share data from their design tests with their classmates. Students utilize a listening strategy to provide input on the designs. After this, students receive a memo from the mayor asking them to consider two potential designs and recommend one.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level science and engineering practices (SEPs). Across the grade level, the units incorporate nearly all the grade-level elements. However, opportunities for students to fully meet the grade-band endpoint for the element SEP-MATH-E3 are missing; the materials do not require students to measure, graph, or estimate quantities related to area, volume, weight, or time to address scientific questions.

Across the grade, students are provided opportunities to engage with the SEPs multiple times and in multiple contexts. Students repeatedly engage with grade-band elements of SEPs multiple times across the units; students have multiple opportunities to conduct investigations, develop and use models, analyze data, and obtain information from text or other media to support explanations they construct about phenomena.

Examples of SEP elements associated with grade-level performance expectations present in the materials:

• MOD-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns in the Earth and Sky, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.1: Observing Patterns, students engage in two different models to represent the movement of the earth and sun system. Students use a simulated model and kinesthetic model to understand that the sun is only visible for part of the day based on location; they use the sun and earth model to make predictions about whether the sun can be seen at a certain time in a specific location.

• MOD-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.5: Models of Emulsifiers, students use a digital simulation and knowledge from this unit to create a nanoscale drawing that highlights the behavior of molecules in solutions. Students are able to predict how molecules will behave even though we are not able to see them.

• INV-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.7: Designing Freshwater Collection Systems, students are introduced to a hands-on design challenge: to design and build freshwater collection systems that will get freshwater from saltwater and then collect the freshwater for people to use. Students control variables by using the same amount of hot, colored salt water. Students all have the same amount of time. The measurement technique of the resulting fresh water is identical. Students do two trials, the second one after revisions of their devices. Students reflect on what they have learned so far to help them design their systems, identifying evaporation and condensation as processes that can distill freshwater from saltwater.

• INV-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 5, Lesson 5.4: Controlling Chemical Reactions, students investigate the Hot Yellow Gas (HYG) reaction again to figure out which combination of substances causes the results they observed in a previous lesson. Students test combinations of substances in the HYG reaction to figure out what makes the mixture get cold, which makes the mixture get hot, which makes the mixture turn yellow, and what forms a gas. With each test, students learn from their results to plan the next test. The lesson concludes with a discussion about what students figure out.

• DATA-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Making Sense of Where Raindrops Form, students begin by predicting which areas of the atmosphere in a simulated landscape will have the most condensation. They use The Earth System Simulation to collect data on where and at what temperatures water vapor condenses in the atmosphere. They then graph their data set in The Earth System Data Tool to look for patterns, concluding that more condensation occurs high in the atmosphere because it is colder there.

• ARG-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Investigating Dissolving, students use evidence from a digital simulation along with observations from a lab on dissolving to support the argument that molecules exist and are moving, but are too small to see. This data also supports the argument that molecules have charges and specific arrangements that influence the solubility of substances.

• INFO-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.3: Matter Makes it All Up, students use information from a digital simulation model and the text, Matter Makes it All Up, to describe how animals use food to grow.

Examples of SEP elements associated with grade-level performance expectations partially present in the materials:

• MATH-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Making Sense of Where Raindrops Form, students use The Earth System Simulation to collect data on where and at what temperatures water vapor condenses in the atmosphere. They record and graph temperature, atmosphere height, and number of molecules for various landscapes to show that water vapor condenses at colder higher elevations. Students then use the information from different condensation patterns on the different landscapes to future out why more water vapor gets cold over the west side of the island. While students record and graph quantities to address scientific questions, they don’t specifically use quantities related to area, volume, weight or time.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3–5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level science and engineering practices (SEPs) and associated elements. Across the grade band, the units fully incorporate all the SEPs and elements associated with the performance expectations (PEs) within the 3–5 grade band.

Across the grade band, students are provided opportunities to engage with the SEPs multiple times and in multiple contexts. Students repeatedly engage with grade-band elements of SEPs multiple times across the units; students have multiple opportunities to conduct investigations, develop and use models, analyze data, and obtain information from text or other media to support explanations they construct about phenomena. Many SEP elements were met multiple times across the units and grade levels.

Examples of SEP elements associated with performance expectations within the 3–5 grade band present in the materials:

• AQDP-E3. In Grade 3, Unit: Balancing Forces, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.1: Discovering Non-Touching Forces, students ask questions about what causes the train to rise and how magnets are part of the train moving. Students then investigate the questions they had as they manipulate the magnets in different ways.

• AQDP-E5. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Planning Designs, students define the design problem of building a robot that will remove an invasive plant species from a tree. Students develop a system, in the form of a robot, to solve their design problem. Students work within the criteria of an effective removal and the constraints of materials available for their system.

• MOD-E3. In Grade 4, Unit: Earth’s Features, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.4: Modeling Erosion: Speed, students use the stream table model to construct their ideas about erosion and continue to investigate the question, “What affects the amount of rock that water can erode?” Students discuss how they could use the Erosion Model to test how the speed of water affects erosion.

• MOD-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.5: Models of Emulsifiers, students use a digital simulation and knowledge from this unit to create a nanoscale drawing that highlights the behavior of molecules in solutions. Students are able to predict how molecules will behave even though we are not able to see them.

• MOD-E6. In Grade 4, Unit: Waves, Energy, and Information, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.3: How Sounds Can Differ, students use a digital simulation model where they manipulate wave patterns to show that changes in wavelength and amplitude affect a sound’s volume and pitch.

• INV-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.7: Designing Freshwater Collection Systems, students are introduced to a hands-on design challenge: to design and build freshwater collection systems that will get freshwater from saltwater and then collect the freshwater for people to use. Students control variables by using the same amount of hot, colored salt water. Students all have the same amount of time. The measurement technique of the resulting fresh water is identical. Students do two trials, the second one after revisions of their devices. Students reflect on what they have learned so far to help them design their systems, identifying evaporation and condensation as processes that can distill freshwater from saltwater.

• INV-E3. In Grade 3, Unit: Environment and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Making and Testing Designs, students make and test their first test-versions of the neck design, share their designs and test results with another pair, and then revise their test-versions based on new ideas. Students are reminded of the procedure for neck-testing, take turns testing their giraffe-inspired necks, and record test data in their notebooks. Students share their designs and test results with another pair, and then record their new data about their designs. Students make a second test-version of the robot necks and test them.

• DATA-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Making Sense of Where Raindrops Form, students begin by predicting which areas of the atmosphere in a simulated landscape will have the most condensation. They use The Earth System Simulation to collect data on where and at what temperatures water vapor condenses in the atmosphere. They then graph their data set in The Earth System Data Tool to look for patterns, concluding that more condensation occurs high in the atmosphere because it is colder there.

• DATA-E2. In Grade 4, Unit: Earth’s Features, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Exploring Rock Formation and Environment, students collect data about rock samples, read about the rock types they’ve observed, and use the simulation to consider the question, “How do rocks provide information about what an environment was like in the past?” Students observe two rock samples⁠—conglomerate and sandstone⁠—and record their observations about how sedimentary rocks differ. Students share preliminary ideas about where the rocks may have formed.

• DATA-E4. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Making and Testing Designs, students test their initial design for the RoboGrazer. Students measure and record the length of the robot neck and test how many leaves are touched within 30 seconds. Students share their data with classmates, analyzing which designs best met the criteria. Students then use that information to refine their designs.

• MATH-E3. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 1, Lessons 1.2 and 1.3, students learn that data needs to be accurately recorded to recognize and predict patterns. Students perform a short experiment to determine the most effective way to measure rain data and collect temperature data. While students record and graph quantities to address scientific questions related to volume and temperature, they don’t specifically use quantities related to area, weight, or time.

• MATH-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Making Sense of Where Raindrops Form, students use The Earth System Simulation to collect data on where and at what temperatures water vapor condenses in the atmosphere. They record and graph temperature, atmosphere height, and number of molecules for various landscapes to show that water vapor condenses at colder, higher elevations. Students then use the information from different condensation patterns on the different landscapes to future out why more water vapor gets cold over the west side of the island. While students record and graph quantities to address scientific questions, they don’t specifically use quantities related to area, volume, weight, or time.

• CEDS-E2. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.2: Dangerous Weather Ahead, students use evidence from a text, Dangerous Weather Ahead, from a digital simulation, Weather and Climate Practice Tool, and from weather maps to construct an explanation about why natural disasters happen in some areas and not in others.

• CEDS-E3. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.1: Investigating Energy Sources, students gather evidence and information to explain why the hospital lights and devices continue to work during a blackout. In this activity, students are examining evidence and asking questions about why the hospital still has electricity.

• CEDS-E5. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 4, students construct circuits and make them fail. Another group analyzes the failed circuit to determine what is the failure point and provides solutions for fixing the circuit. Students then apply this understanding to the blackout problem in Ergstown and compare multiple solutions for minimizing the town’s blackouts.

• ARG-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Investigating Dissolving, students use evidence from a digital simulation along with observations from a lab on dissolving to support the argument that molecules exist and are moving, but are too small to see. This data also supports the argument that molecules have charges and specific arrangements that influence the solubility of substances.

• ARG-E6. In Grade 3, Unit: Environments and Survival, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.5: Presenting Design Arguments, students learn that they will participate in a Biomimicry Engineering Conference in which they will present design arguments for how their RoboGrazer designs meet the criteria. Students prepare their arguments by reviewing their test data and describing how their designs meet each of the criteria. Then the engineering conference begins, and students present their designs and design arguments and listen to others present.

• INFO-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.3: Matter Makes it All Up, students use information from a digital simulation model and the text, Matter Makes it All Up, to describe how animals use food to grow.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level crosscutting concepts (CCCs) and associated elements. Across the grade band, the units incorporate all of the elements associated with the performance expectations within the 3-5 grade band.

Across the grade band, students have multiple opportunities to engage with the grade-level CCCs that are implicitly connected to SEPs or DCIs as they build toward grade-level performance expectations. For example, students have frequent opportunities to conduct investigations or use a model to observe or test cause and effect relationships (SEP-MOD-E6), such as when they observe that mixing two substances can cause a new substance to form (DCI-PS1.B-E1). Students have multiple opportunities to use tests to gather evidence to support or refute ideas; however, opportunities to explicitly discuss this idea (CCC-CE-E1) are limited. When the materials provide opportunities to make the crosscutting concepts explicit for students, this is generally through sentence frames to help students use targeted CCCs, or through teacher prompts that provide explicit connections and guide student discussions about how scientists and engineers use different CCCs to answer scientific questions or solve engineering problems.

Examples of CCC elements associated with performance expectations within the 3-5 grade band present in the materials:

• PAT-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Discovering Climate Through Data, students analyze monthly weather data organized in graphs from three different places over the course of three years. Students analyze yearly patterns and recognize that the repetitive patterns represent the climate for that area.

• PAT-E2. In Grade 3, Unit: Inheritance and Traits, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Investigating Sparrow Offspring, students use the knowledge of inheritance patterns obtained throughout the unit to make predictions of the sparrow offspring that will result from designated parents.

• PAT-E3. In Grade 4, Unit: Earth’s Features, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.4: Sedimentary Rock Formation, students investigate rock samples and patterns of rock formation in the simulation to learn about how sedimentary rock forms. Students use a simulation to investigate the patterns of sedimentary rock formation. Students observe rocks forming in the simulation and record their observations about how this process happens. In doing so, students begin to make sense of the patterns that water and sediment have in a rock formation. Finally, students reflect on the information they gathered from the simulation by making a prediction of how the rock samples they observed at the beginning of the lesson may have formed.

• CE-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Balancing Forces, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.1: Exploring Forces in a Chain Reaction, students watch a video about chain reactions, develop their own set of chain reactions, and explain how different forces caused each reaction. Throughout the series of reactions, students are demonstrating the relationships of the components in the series of interactions in a system. Teacher prompts focus students on what caused each object to start moving and the effect of the movement, additionally, they help students understand that scientists use cause and effect relationships to test and explain change or relationships.

• CE-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Earth’s Features, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Exploring Rock Formation and Environment, students observe two samples of sedimentary rock to see what information they give about the environment in which they formed and discuss what caused the different properties of each sample to determine if they were formed in the same way. Students use the cause-and-effect relationship to explain change. SYS-E2. In Grade 3, Unit: Environment and Survival, students examine population data for two snail species where one is thriving and one is not. After reflecting on survival in snails and other organisms in particular environments, students describe the snail’s environment in terms of the different components and their interactions as they examine snail population data across different environments and with various predators. Students think about the causes of these differences and predict what would happen if another organism was introduced to the system.

• SPQ-E1. In Grade 5, Unit 2: Modeling Matter, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.5: Making Sense of Solubility, students read information about molecules to understand that they exist at a small scale then use a simulation that models varying degrees of solubility to evaluate explanations of two solutions and discuss what is happening at the molecular level.

• SPQ-E1. In Grade 5, Unit: Patterns in the Night Sky, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.4: Distances to the Stars, students investigate why stars look so small. Students use the simulation to investigate the distance from earth to the sun and to other stars. Students use the data that was collected to create a scale model of the earth, sun, and four other stars as they build understanding that natural systems can be immensely large.

• SPQ-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Earth’s Features, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.4: students use the Earth’s Features Sim to explore how various processes on earth can occur over very long time periods.

• SPQ-E2. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.2: Future Weather on Three Islands, students perform a short experiment to determine the most effective way to measure rain data. As they measure rainfall and compare varying data with other groups, they learn that standard units are vital when communicating measurements.

• SYS-E2. In Grade 4, Unit: Environment and Survival, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.2: Investigating Needs for Survival, students consider what organisms need to survive; they complete the Investigating Needs for Survival activity and investigate an organism with particular needs. Students read about four different environments (systems) and consider whether their organism can meet its needs in each of the four systems. Students start to think about the relationship between an organism and the system it is a part of.

• SYS-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.1: Investigating the Movement of Water Vapor, students examine how the shape of the land and movement of water vapor within the atmosphere affects rainfall. Students consider the island’s shape, landscape, direction of wind, and compare that to other islands using the online simulation and then use the simulation program to model what factors affect how water vapor moves in the air. Students describe each component of this system and how they interact to produce the patterns of rainfall.

• EM-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.5: Modeling How Animals Use Plant Matter, students use a simulation and a text about alligators to understand how animals grow from food at a molecular level. In the simulation, students track the volume of matter eaten to see that the matter that animals consume help the animals grow or becomes waste. Students begin to understand how matter moves within an ecosystem.

• EM-E3. In Grade 4, Unit: Waves, Energy, and Information, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.4: Exploring Sound Waves, students are introduced to energy moving through the water as they examine the wave patterns caused by tsunamis. They learn that the water (the matter) hardly moves as energy is transferred but rather as the energy wave moves through, water moves perpendicularly, not with the wave. The students then look at how the energy from the waves causes damage as it approaches land. The waves impact land and energy is transferred to objects as the wave moves over them, causing additional energy transfer, sound, and damage. They model this by simulating a sports stadium wave and “pass” energy to one another.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3–5 meet expectations that they incorporate NGSS connections to the nature of science (NOS) and engineering. The NOS and engineering elements are represented and attended multiple times throughout the grade-band units. They are used in correlation with the content and not used as isolated lessons. The NOS and Engineering elements are used in a variety of fashions throughout the units including videos, readings, and class discussions. Although most of the elements are present in the lessons, they are not explicitly called out in the instructional material.

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

• VOM-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Vision and Light, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Crow Scientist, students read a text describing the investigations of a wildlife biologist. Students read about the scientist asking questions about crow behavior and then determining how to investigate the questions.

• VOM-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.3: Differences in Soil, students read about an ecologist in A Walk in the Woods, and how that scientist uses various methods to collect data about soil composition and health. Students then use the ecologist's data to make claims about soil health.

• BEE-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Weather and Climate, Chapter 2, Lesson 2.2: Seeing the World Through Numbers, students read about organizing data to better make sense of it. In the text, Seeing the World Through Numbers, students read about a boy and his friends and how they compare temperature patterns from around the world. They then discuss how the patterns can help people make predictions about weather.

• BEE-E2. In Grade 4, Unit: Waves, Energy, and Information, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Seeing Sound, students read the text, Seeing Sound, and discover the different ways that scientists use tools to visualize sounds to make sense of the world. Students discuss how tools and technologies are important for helping these professionals accurately see sound.

• OTR-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Inheritance and Traits, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.1: Scorpion Scientist, students read a book called, Scorpion Scientist. The text describes a scientist gathering evidence that can be used to identify new species of scorpions. The scientist asks questions and performs investigations to seek answers on how to classify the new species and if that classification will result in changes to classification of current identified scorpions.

• ENP-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Balancing Forces, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Discussing Gravity Acting Between Two Objects, students use a reading strategy related to setting a purpose for reading and complete a Gravity Anticipatory Chart to record their understanding and questions about gravity. Within the Reader, Handbook of Forces, students read about gravity and how it is a force that acts on objects without touching. Students read about how objects such as the earth exert a force called gravity that pulls you towards it.

• ENP-E2. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Science You Can’t See, students read text describing how science and scientists can describe the ocean floor, atomic structure, and other natural events we can not see.

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

• WOK-E1. In Grade 3, Unit: Inheritance and Traits, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.1: Scorpion Scientist, students read a text that describes how a scientist asks questions and investigates to answer their questions, and how this can lead to answers. The text also describes answers leading to more questions to gain new knowledge.

• HE-E2. In Grade 4, Unit: Vision and Light, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.2: Crow Scientist, students read a text where a wildlife biologist describes the team he works with to conduct investigations.

• HE-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.7: Break It Down, students read text describing how scientists separate mixtures to provide water and save lives.

• HE-E4. In Grade 3, Unit: Environment and Survival, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.1: Pre Unit Assessment, students read the book, Biomimicry, which is about scientists who study organisms to get ideas for solutions to design problems. The teacher leads discussion about how engineers design solutions to problems and that they use their imaginations to get design ideas from observing organisms’ traits.

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

• INTER-E3. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 3, Lesson 3.4: Iterating on Freshwater Collection Systems, students discuss how the engineers in the book revised their designs for pumps using the same process that the students use to improve their freshwater reclamation models.

• INTER-E4. In Grade 5, Unit: Earth’s Systems, Chapter 2: Why does more rain form over West Ferris than East Ferris?, students read text and discuss how engineers use the design process to plan, make, and test water treatment systems.

• INFLU-E1. In Grade 4, Unit: Energy Conversions, Chapter 1, Lesson 1.1: Pre Unit Assessment, students discuss what happens when the power goes out in Ergstown and within the discussion, the teacher helps students make connections to the ideas that an engineers’ work is determined by people’s want and needs, and that people’s lives and interactions are influenced by the technologies that engineers develop.

• INFLU-E3. In Grade 4, Unit: Waves, Energy and Information, Chapter 4, Lesson 4.3: Communicating with Codes!, after discussing the various ways that humans communicate with one another, students create a communication plan and use codes to communicate with one another. Students recognize that, although humans can be far apart, they can still communicate and interact across long distances by using new technology.

The materials reviewed for Amplify Science Grade 5 meet expectations for providing teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials, with specific attention to engaging students in figuring out phenomena and solving problems. Materials provide comprehensive guidance that will assist the teachers in presenting the student and ancillary materials. Examples from all units include:

• The Teacher Guide, Unit Overview introduces a real-world problem, which serves as the anchor phenomenon, and its relevance to our lives. It also gives an overview of how students will build knowledge in order to solve a new problem.

• The Teacher Guide, The Progress Build explains how knowledge about the phenomenon deepens as the students progress through the unit, specifically noting bolded statements.

• The Teacher Guide, Getting Ready to Teach specifically details what the teacher needs to do to prepare Before You Present the Lesson, While You Present the Lesson, and After You Present the Lessons.

• All Chapters, Lessons, Digital Resources, Classroom Slide|Powerpoint and the Google Slides suggest teacher talk and teacher actions.

• All Chapters, Lessons, Lesson Brief, Activity, Instructional Guide, Step-by-Step provides the instructional strategy and precise teacher talk and teacher action. 

• All Chapters, Lessons, Lesson Brief, Activity, Instructional Guide, Teacher Support provides background information about the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards featured in the activity as well as the Rationale behind the teacher action and instructional suggestions. 

• The Teacher Guide, Unit Overview, Printable Resources, Coherence Flowcharts provide teachers with a graphic organizer for each chapter in the unit “that helps students see the connections between the phenomena and questions that drive students’ experiences, the evidence they gather, the ideas they figure out, and the new questions that those ideas generate.”

• All lessons, Overview, Lesson at a Glance briefly describe student activities and suggested time allocation for each activity. 

The instructional guides for each lesson from Grade 5 include suggestions about instructional strategies and guidance for presenting the content, which often includes identifying, with limited room for more targeted approaches to addressing student naive conceptions. Examples from all units include:

• The Teacher Guide, Progress Build Section(s) provide prior knowledge (preconceptions) that students may bring to the lesson, foundational knowledge needed for student understanding and growth throughout the lesson, and progress build levels describing conceptual growth that students are expected to experience throughout the unit.

• The Teacher Guide, Eliciting and Leveraging Student’s Prior Knowledge, Personal Experiences, and Cultural Backgrounds, supports teachers by introducing the phenomenon and consistently eliciting students' initial ideas related to the phenomenon. Also, this resource provides support for teachers to document ideas throughout the units on a class chart for ongoing reference and to help students add, revise, and reflect on their ideas. 

With regard to addressing how to support students in figuring out phenomena and/or solving problems, the materials support the teacher in seeing connections between the phenomena and questioning, but miss the opportunity to clearly articulate/illustrate how the students’ understanding of the phenomenon deepens throughout. Evidence of connections between phenomena and questioning includes:

• The Teacher Guide, Unit Overview, Printable Resources, Coherence Flowcharts provide teachers with a graphic organizer for each chapter in the unit “that helps students see the connections between the phenomena and questions that drive students’ experiences, the evidence they gather, the ideas they figure out, and the new questions that those ideas generate.” 

• Within each Activity, there is also an Instructional Guide with step-by-step guidance that is present for teachers to support their understanding of which Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) are the focus and how to support students in using them as students figure out the phenomena or solve the problems. 

All units conclude by asking students to apply the knowledge acquired throughout the unit to a new problem. Teachers are provided support via the PowerPoint slides and include suggested teacher talk to frame how engineers solve problems, in context with the ideas students learned and also teacher action to help students consider and discuss solutions.

The materials reviewed for Amplify Science Grades 5 meet expectations for containing adult-level explanations and examples of the more complex grade-level concepts and concepts beyond the current course so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject. The materials include support for teachers to develop their own understanding of grade-level concepts and content knowledge beyond the scope of the current course. 

Support for teacher understanding is present across all units. The Teacher Guide section, Science Background provides adult-level science background related to the unit. This section contains expository explanations of scientific background for the three dimensions of NGSS pertaining to the unit, with grade-level appropriate student background as well as common preconceptions by both students and adults. The Teacher Guide explicitly states that the information is meant to guide the teacher in teaching the correct content, but is not meant as student-facing material.

Also in the Teacher Guide, Planning For the Unit, Digital Resource Tab, Unit Map, there is an outline of the expected student practices for each Chapter. It presents a Chapter guiding question with an explanation for the teacher regarding how the students will develop understanding through lesson activities. 

The Teacher Guide, Science Background provides detailed adult-level science background regarding each unit’s science content along with a description of the extent to which this content is to be shared with students. The Science Background section includes cited references to inform teachers of the pedagogical research-based approaches to support grade-level content delivery as it is presented in the materials. In the Connections to Future Learning section of the Science Background, there is support for teacher content knowledge beyond scope of the current course. For example, in Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System, Planning for the Unit, Science Background, Connections to Future Learning, there are detailed paragraphs on how this content connects to learning to come in middle school as well as high school. It provides adult level explanations about the flow of energy and the cycling of matter through Earth's systems such as "In middle school, students learn that all Earth processes are the result of energy (from the sun and from Earth’s hot interior) flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. The processes that occur within a system are limited by the supply of energy (the ability to make things move or change) and matter (anything that has mass and takes up space). For example, your body cannot function properly without an input of matter (food) and energy (via the chemical breakdown of food). Therefore, tracking fluxes of energy and matter within, into, and out of systems can be helpful in understanding the way a system is working. Looking at the interactions between energy and matter can even further elucidate natural phenomena. For example, the water cycle involves flows of matter (water) between the atmosphere and the surface and underground reservoirs of water on Earth, which are driven by energy transfers (e.g., sunlight that causes evaporation). Examining transfers and cycles of energy and matter is an important aspect of understanding any human-built or natural system."

The materials reviewed for Amplify Grade 5 meet expectations for including standards correlation information, including connections to college- and career-ready ELA and mathematics standards and that explain the role of the standards in the context of the overall series. The materials contain NGSS correlation information in multiple locations. All grades contain examples in the Teacher Guide:

• Planning for the Unit and Standards at a Glance include a listing of the NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), DIsciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) addressed in the Unit. 

• Teacher References, 3-D Statements outline three-dimensional statements for the unit level, the chapter level, and the lesson level of each unit for all grades.  

• Lesson Guide, Overview, and Standards sections provide a listing of the NGSS PEs, SEPs, and CCCs that are addressed in the lesson. The Lesson Progression at the beginning of each unit shows how each NGSS standard connects to and builds upon the previous grade level.  

The materials also include an explanation for the role of the NGSS standards in the context of the overall series. The Teacher Guide, Teacher Reference, Standards and Goals lists the PEs, SEPs, DCIs and CCCs that are covered in the unit. This section also provides an explanation of the core ideas across the K-8 grade span of the materials in a subsection titled “Trajectory of Core Ideas.”

The materials also provide lists of corollary Common Core ELA and mathematics standards. The Teacher’s Guide, Planning for the Unit, Standards at a Glance  and Standards and Goals (under Teacher References) all list the corollary Common Core ELA (CCSS-ELA) and Common Core Math (CCSS-Math) standards addressed in each unit. Lesson Guide, Lesson Brief, and Standards include a list of the CCSS-ELA and CCSS-Math addressed in each lesson. The materials offer suggested connections with ELA and/or Math and consistently provide specific explanations regarding how the standards are aligned with the context of the lesson and/or series. For example, in Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Teacher References, Standards and Goals there are detailed paragraphs on how this content connects to the common core English Language Arts standards and the common core math standards. It provides adult-level explanations of the role of the specific grade-level/grade-band science, ELA, and mathematics that are present in the context of the series. Each CCSS-ELA and CCSS-Math standard has one to two examples of where the standard is addressed throughout the unit. An ELA example states, "Students have the opportunity to write explanatory texts to convey information about when stars are visible and why. For example, in Lesson 1.7, students write a scientific explanation to answer the question, Why don’t we see a lot of stars in the daytime? In Lesson 3.5, students write to explain how the movement of Earth affects which constellations are visible at different times of the year." A math example states, "Students have the opportunity to read and write about measurements that include decimals. In Lesson 1.4, students read and write about the distance of the sun from the Earth (0.000016 light-years). In a Going Further activity in the same lesson, they compare this decimal to other decimal distances. In Lesson 2.4, students read about weights that include decimals in the book, Which Way Is Up?"

The materials for Grade 5 meet expectations for providing explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies. The materials explain the instructional approaches of the program. Evidence of this can be found throughout the grades, units and lessons. In each Unit Overview, Teacher References, and Standards and Goals section the materials explain an instructional approach that incorporates the strategies of Do, Talk, Read, Write, and Visualize in coordination with the NGSS crosscutting concepts (CCCs) and the disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) associated with the specific unit of instruction. These strategies are further explained in each Lesson with more explicit detail. Examples at the Grade 5 level include:

• Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 2.2, Activity 2, SIM Figuring Out How to Do the Simulation demonstrates the “Do” approach. Students share a digital device as students explore the simulation freely before the teacher points out features important to the task. The Technological Note in the Teacher Support section for this activity states that sharing devices with a 1:2 ratio is intentional in order to promote talk between students during investigations.

• Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 2.3, Activity 2, Teacher Guide, Lesson Brief Teacher Support demonstrates the “Read” approach. In the Literacy Note: Gradual Release of Responsibility, it states, “In this lesson, the teacher models making an inference with the first part of the text. The inference should be fairly clear to students because of their recent experiences in the classroom with dissolving. By giving this inference as an example, the teacher reminds students of the strategy of making inferences and helps them see how they can use this strategy with the text. Making inferences while reading is left deliberately open-ended; partners should talk with each other about the inferences they can make as they read the text so they can gain practice with this cognitive strategy. You may need to prompt students to pause while reading to think about each section of the book and try to draw their own conclusions.”

• Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 2.5, Activity 2, Critical Juncture: Making Models of Mixing demonstrates the “Write” approach. Students write their evidence in a chart with scaffolds. In the first column, students need to indicate a range between one and five. In the second column, students need to circle one of four phrases that describe how mixed the two substances are, and in the third column, students write a constructed response to the question, What is your evidence?

The materials provide some explanation for the research-based strategies that are used in the design of the program. While the Program Guide, Science Program Guide, Designed for the NGSS, and Program Development sections explain the Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize pedagogical approach that drives Amplify Science, there is a missed opportunity to incorporate explicit citations or references in the teacher materials. Instead, the references for “Research Behind the Program'' exist on a website outside of the teacher materials.

The materials for Grade 5 meet expectations for providing a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support instructional activities. In the Teacher’s Guide, Unit Overview, Planning for the Unit, Materials and Preparation section for each unit, a thorough list of the materials needed over the course of each chapter and lesson is present. Every list includes the quantity needed to support a class of 36 students, a description of each item and in which lessons the item(s) will be used. It also contains a comprehensive list of materials that need to be provided by the teacher or school, the quantity needed, item description and the lessons requiring these materials.

In addition to the unit overview, each Lesson Brief contains a lesson-level Materials and Preparation section outlining the materials needed for the class, groups of students and/or individual students and preparations needed before the start of each lesson.  

The materials for Grade 5 meet expectations for embedding clear science safety guidelines for teachers and students across the instructional materials. In the Unit Overview, Printable Resources section, an Investigation Notebook is provided for student use. Each Investigation Notebook contains a section titled, “Safety Guidelines for Science Investigations.” It is important to note that teachers should always locate and adhere to local policies and regulations related to science safety in the classroom. In each Unit Overview, Materials and Preparation, Materials at a Glance section, there is a reminder: “Note: Check and follow your district’s safety regulations pertaining to the use of proper equipment and procedures for students participating in hands-on science activities.”  

Additional safety notes are located in the teacher print or digital materials within lessons which have specific safety notes for the teacher to communicate to students. 

One example of an additional safety note includes:

• Grade 5, Unit: The Earth System Unit, Lesson 2.7, provides a specific safety note regarding the use of hot water. “Safety Notes: (1) This lesson involves the use of a small amount of hot water. Do not provide students with boiling water. Instruct students to handle the hot water carefully. (2) Remind students to be careful when getting plastic wrap from the Materials Station. The cutting edge is sharp. You may suggest they use scissors to cut the plastic wrap rather than the box edge.”

The assessment materials for Grade 5 are comprehensively designed and aligned within the Units. It is clear for teachers where the assessments are, the type of assessments that are provided, and to what standard(s) each assessment opportunity is intended to be aligned. For instance, in the Grade 5 Teacher’s Guides, any unit, Teacher References, Assessment System, each assessment opportunity throughout the Unit is listed in a chart in relation to the Lesson, type of assessment, and NGSS standard intended to be assessed. In addition, in the Teacher Guide for every Grade 5 Unit, under Printable Resources, there is a document titled 3-D Assessment Objectives This document contains the 3-D Statements and accompanying objectives, their pertinence in the unit, and the type of assessment aligned to that objective. “Each table includes the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) included in that Performance Expectation and specifies the location of assessments associated with these three dimensions.”

The materials provide information detailing how assessments build toward the standards for the grade level or band. In the Teacher Guide of each Unit, Teacher Reference, Assessment System, Monitoring Progress section, there is a discussion of Critical Juncture Assessments with an outline of each Critical Juncture concept and assessment in each Unit. The Critical Juncture assessments provide the teacher with specific three-dimensional statements to assess before moving forward in the Lessons. Lessons that provide Critical Junctures or On-the-Fly Assessments also provide an Assessment Guide or a Hands-On Flextension Lesson Guide in the Lesson Brief, Overview, Digital Resources section which states the DCI, SEP, and CCC.

In addition to listing intended standards alignment in the Teacher Guide of all Units, Teacher References, Assessment System, and the Formative and Summative Assessment Opportunities sections list the DCI, SEP, and the CCC addressed in each assessment. These also include strikethroughs of the portion of the standard that is not assessed in the Unit. While strikethroughs indicate which portion of the standard is not being assessed, there is a missed opportunity to state how the assessments contribute to building toward the end of grade-level performance expectations.

The materials for Grade 5 meet expectations for providing an assessment system with multiple opportunities throughout the grade, course, and/or series to determine students' learning, sufficient guidance for teachers to help them interpret student performance, and suggestions for following-up with students.  

Examples include:

• In each Unit, the Assessment Guide for the End-of-Unit Assessment provides three rubrics, one each for the DCI, SEP, and CCC as well as questions to support teachers in determining students’ initial understanding of the standards identified for each assessment. For example, Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 3.7, Assessment Guide: Assessing Students’ End-of-Unit Explanations About Emulsifiers in Salad Dressing states students are at a level two for performance of the practices of constructing explanations and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information if “The writing goes beyond describing the observable interactions of the ingredients to propose: why the oil and vinegar initially separated but the addition of the lecithin resulted in mixing and why different molecules interact in different ways.” For the disciplinary core idea, students may earn up to three points if they show, “understanding that substances are made of particles that are too small to be seen,” “understanding that the particles that make up materials have properties that explain why ingredients sometimes mix,” and “understanding that the particles that make up materials have properties that explain why ingredients sometimes separate.” Sample evidence is provided for each of these criteria. Students may earn up to two points for the crosscutting concept scale, proportion, and quantity if they, “recognize that objects can exist at the observable scale and also at a scale that is too small to be observed with the naked eye,” and “account for the observable separation or mixing of ingredients by describing interactions of particles that are too small to be observed with the naked eye.”

• Further, the Assessment Guide for the End-of-Unit Assessment rubrics include suggestions for Follow-Up. For example, in Grade 5, Unit: Ecosystem Restoration, End-Of-Unit Assessment Guide found in the Digital Resources for the lessons with End-of-Unit Assessments and Investigation Assessments there is detailed information that "shows specific suggestions for follow-up with students who need additional support based on the results of the assessment." There are follow up activities suggested for each rubric. Each rubric addresses the SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs that were assessed. The rubric provides follow-up questions for the teacher to ask the students, such as "If the argument doesn’t propose a claim that directly answers the question: Ask, “What are the possible reasons the snakes aren’t growing and thriving? Which reason do you think best explains why they aren’t growing and thriving?”" If the student is still struggling, the rubric provides a specific lesson and activity for them to review such as, "review with them the resources for writing scientific arguments in Lesson 1.8, Activity 3."

• The Embedded Formative Assessments, The Critical Juncture, and On-the-Fly Assessments, provide guidance on what to look for and how to tailor instruction if students do not demonstrate understanding. For example, Grade 5, Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Unit Overview, Teacher References, Embedded Formative Assessments, Lesson 1.7, Activity 3 Tailor Instruction recommends, “If students do not demonstrate understanding that the stars are in all directions around Earth and the sun is the closest star, have them read pages 12, and 19–21 in How Big Is Big? How Far Is Far?” Another example is found in Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 1.10, Activity 2, Critical Juncture Assessment 1b, Hummingbird Icon which suggests teachers tailor instruction if students are not demonstrating understanding on this Critical Juncture Assessment. Teachers provide examples of explanations that use evidence effectively and direct students to return to the Modeling Matter Diagramming Tool to reconstruct a model of chromatography, talking through what their model shows and revising their explanation to ensure the models and explanations support each other. Also, in Grade 5, Unit: Modeling Matter, Lesson 1.3, Activity 3, On the Fly Assessment, Hummingbird Icon suggests teachers look for students to use evidence to put items in order for smallest to largest. Students who identify atoms, molecules, and a drop of water in the incorrect order are directed to revisit a caption for clarification. Teachers may also print out and cut apart images for students to use as manipulatives in clarifying their thinking.

• In each Unit, Unit Overview, Teacher References, the Embedded Formative Assessments detail the targeted learning objectives and how students will demonstrate the targeted standards under the heading Look Fors as well as the next steps teachers should take when students do not demonstrate understanding under the heading Now What? For example, in Unit: Patterns of Earth and Sky, Lesson 1.6, Activity 2, On-the-Fly Assessment 3: Explaining the Size and Brightness of the Sun, Now What? recommends, “If students do not understand that stars other than the sun appear small because they are so far from Earth, have them refer back to the distance table in How Big Is Big? How Far Is Far? Also ask them to compare the distances using their own data from the Sim. Help students understand the relative distances of the sun and other stars by drawing a simple diagram on the board to show how much further the stars are from Earth as compared to the distance between the sun and Earth.”

The materials for Grade 5 meet expectations for providing assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate the full intent of grade-level standards and elements across the series. The assessment system consistently incorporates the three dimensions. The assessment system also provides a variety of assessment types, but constructed response is the predominant modality. The Pre-Assessment, On-the-fly, Critical Juncture, and End-of-unit assessments require written responses. They assess the DCIs CCCs, and SEPs. There is a missed opportunity for students to demonstrate all of the SEPs, but there is a consistent focus on the practices of constructing explanations, argumentation, and modeling. Both versions (A and B) of the summative assessment ask students to provide written explanations. Version B provides students with sentence starters. Examples of assessments in this grade can be found in the reports for Indicators 1b and 1c.

In addition to summative assessments, Conversation rubrics found throughout the resources offer prompts, look fors, and/or suggestions for how to evaluate students but most focus on a singular dimension. There are rubrics that provide questions to develop understanding of students’ ability to demonstrate each dimension. The rubrics provide partial scores for partial student answers.