Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Cereal City Science | Science
Science K-2
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades K-2 partially meet expectations for Alignment to NGSS, Gateways 1 and 2. Gateway 1: Designed for NGSS; Criterion 1: Three-Dimensional Learning partially meets expectations. The materials include three-dimensional learning opportunities and opportunities for student sensemaking with the three dimensions. The formative assessments rarely measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives. In Grades K and 2, the summative assessments consistently measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives. In Grade 1, the summative assessments inconsistently measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives. Criterion 2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning partially meets expectations. Phenomena and problems are present, connected to DCIs, and presented to students as directly as possible. In Grades K and 2, the materials consistently elicit but inconsistently leverage student prior knowledge and experience related to the phenomena and problems present. In Grade 1, the materials neither elicit nor leverage student prior knowledge and experience related to the phenomena and problems present. Phenomena and problems inconsistently drive learning and use of the three dimensions at both the learning sequence and learning opportunity levels.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades K-2 partially meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence and Scope. The materials inconsistently connect units and chapters in a manner that is apparent to students, and student tasks increase in sophistication within and across units. The materials include numerous minor errors representing the three dimensions across the series. The materials only include scientific content appropriate to the grade level. The materials include all DCI components and elements for earth and space science and engineering, but do not include all components and elements for life science and physical science. The materials include all of the science and engineering practices at the grade band and all elements of the practices at grade level, with adequate opportunity for students to use practices repeatedly and in multiple contexts. The materials include all of the grade-band crosscutting concepts and provide repeated opportunities for students to use CCCs across the grade band. The materials inconsistently include NGSS connections to Nature of Science and Engineering elements associated with the SEPs and/or CCCs.
Kindergarten
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Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
1st Grade
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Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Science 3-5
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 partially meet expectations for Alignment to NGSS, Gateways 1 and 2. Gateway 1: Designed for NGSS; Criterion 1: Three-Dimensional Learning partially meets expectations. The materials include three-dimensional learning opportunities and opportunities for student sensemaking with the three dimensions. The formative assessments rarely measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives. The summative assessments consistently measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives. Criterion 2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning partially meets expectations. Phenomena and problems are present in the materials. Across the grades, phenomena and problems are inconsistently connected to DCIs, and presented to students as directly as possible. Across the grades, the materials inconsistently elicit and leverage student prior knowledge and experience related to the phenomena and problems present. Phenomena and problems inconsistently drive learning and use of the three dimensions at both the learning sequence and learning opportunity levels.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 partially meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence and Scope. The materials inconsistently connect units and chapters in a manner that is apparent to students, and student tasks consistently increase in sophistication within and across units. The materials include minor errors representing the three dimensions across the series. The materials include scientific content that is sometimes not appropriate to the grade level. Across the grades, the materials do not include all DCI components and elements for earth and space science, life science, and physical science. The materials include all DCI components and elements for engineering. The materials include all of the science and engineering practices at the grade band and all elements of the practices at grade level, with adequate opportunity for students to use practices repeatedly and in multiple contexts. The materials include all of the grade-band crosscutting concepts and provide repeated opportunities for students to use CCCs across the grade band. The materials consistently include NGSS connections to Nature of Science and Engineering elements associated with the SEPs and/or CCCs.
3rd Grade
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Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
4th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
5th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Report for Kindergarten
Alignment Summary
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Alignment to NGSS, Gateways 1 and 2. Gateway 1: Designed for NGSS; Criterion 1: Three-Dimensional Learning partially meets expectations. The materials include three-dimensional learning opportunities and opportunities for student sensemaking with the three dimensions. The summative assessments inconsistently measure the three dimensions for their respective objectives, and the formative assessments rarely measure the three dimensions of their respective objectives to support learning. Criterion 2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning partially meets expectations. Phenomena and problems are present and are connected to DCIs and consistently presented to students as directly as possible. The materials consistently elicit but inconsistently leverage student prior knowledge and experience related to the phenomena and problems present. Phenomena and problems inconsistently drive learning and use of the three dimensions at both the learning sequence and learning opportunity level.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence and Scope. The materials do not connect units and chapters in a manner that is apparent to students, but student tasks increase in sophistication within and across units. The materials represent the three dimensions across the series with numerous minor errors. The materials only include scientific content appropriate to the grade level. Further, the materials include all DCI components and all elements for physical science; life science; earth and space science; and engineering, technology, and applications of science. The materials include all of the SEPs at the grade level and all of the SEPs across the grade band. The materials include all grade-band crosscutting concepts and provide repeated opportunities for students to use CCCs across the grade band. The materials inconsistently include NGSS connections to Nature of Science and Engineering elements associated with the SEPs and/or CCCs.
Kindergarten
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Designed for NGSS
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Gateway 1: Designed for NGSS; Criterion 1: Three-Dimensional Learning partially meets expectation and Criterion 2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning partially meets expectations.
Gateway 1
v1.5
Criterion 1.1: Three-Dimensional Learning
Materials are designed for three-dimensional learning and assessment.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Criterion 1a-1c: Three-Dimensional Learning. The materials consistently include integration of the three dimensions in at least one learning opportunity per learning sequence and nearly all learning sequences are meaningfully designed for student opportunity to engage in sensemaking with the three dimensions. The materials consistently provide three-dimensional learning objectives at the chapter level that build towards the performance expectations for the larger unit, but inconsistently assess to reveal student knowledge and use of the three dimensions to support the targeted three-dimensional learning objectives. The units also include three-dimensional objectives and include corresponding assessments that inconsistently address the three dimensions of the objectives.
Indicator 1A
Materials are designed to integrate the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) into student learning.
Indicator 1A.i
Materials consistently integrate the three dimensions in student learning opportunities.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they are designed to integrate the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) into student learning opportunities.
Throughout Kindergarten, the learning sequences consistently include learning opportunities that incorporate and integrate the three dimensions. Most learning opportunities in Kindergarten are three dimensional. In a few instances, learning opportunities are only two dimensional and there are missed opportunities to integrate a crosscutting concept. These are found most often in the physical science unit.
Examples of where materials are designed to integrate the three dimensions into student learning opportunities:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Blowing in the Wind, students complete a design challenge to measure the wind in multiple locations at the same time (DCI-ESS2.D-P1, DCI-ETS1.A-P2). In order to solve this problem, students design a tool called a windsock (SEP-CEDS-P2). Students use provided materials to build their own windsock based on their observations of existing wind socks (SEP-MOD-P4). Students compare their windsock models both with the original and with those designed and built by their classmates (SEP-MOD-P2). Students record their observation of the direction and approximate speed (gentle, steady, etc) of the wind (SEP-INV-E3, SEP-DATA-P1, and CCC-SPQ-P1). They compare their results in different locations around the schoolyard to determine if their windsocks were successful at measuring the wind at the same time in different locations (DCI-ETS1.B-P1, DCI-ETS1.C-P1, SEP-DATA-P5, and CCC-PAT-P1).
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 7, Lesson 7A: Making Sense of Our Weather Data, students collect and analyze data and write descriptions about seasonal weather patterns. Students review the chart which contains weather data the class collected over the course of the unit (DCI-ESS2.D-P1, SEP-DATA-P3) and generate and answer questions about the data (e.g. Which day was the hottest?) (SEP-AQDP-P2, SEP-DATA-P3). Students examine the data and identify patterns such as “The temperature is cooler on days with clouds.” Students use what they know about weather phenomena to attempt to explain the patterns they have identified (SEP-MATH-P2, SEP-CEDS-P1, and CCC-PAT-P1).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: How Pill Bugs Live, students explore the habitat and needs of pill bugs by creating and observing a classroom habitat. Students read the trade book Next Time You See a PillBug while the teacher asks questions to check for understanding the pill bug’s external features and corresponding functions (SEP-INFO-P1, CCC-SF-P1). Students make a list of what a pill bug needs to live (DCI-LS1.C-P1) and then create a classroom habitat based on the list.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3C: Inviting the Worm Into the Classroom Habitat, students read about and observe what worms need to survive, while also exploring how worms react to different stimuli. Students read the trade book Wonderful Worms while the teacher poses questions about the worms’ habitat (SEP-INFO-P1). Students create a list of what worms need to live, including dietary and habitat needs (DCI-LS1.C-P1), while also comparing and contrasting worms’ needs to the needs of the pill bugs (CCC-PAT-P1) from Activity 2.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Balls in Motion-Understanding the Problem, students are previously presented with a design challenge to create a game in which a ball has a certain start and end point and must move from the beginning to the end without a physical touch from a human. In order to address the challenge, students explore the motion of balls and the impact of size and weight on the ball’s motion (DCI-PS2.A-P1) to help guide their ideas for the design challenge. The students work with the materials presented (i.e., ramps, balls of different shapes/sizes) and record their observations (SEP-DATA-P1). The teacher helps to expand on their observations by asking students to explain what effect pushes, pulls, size, and weight have on the motion of a ball (CCC-CE-P1).
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6, Lesson 6C: Investigating Motion on the Playground, students develop an investigation question about motion, then plan, conduct trials, and collect data (SEP-INV-P2). Students share their data with the class and the teacher guides a discussion to focus on cause-and-effect relationships related to the change of motion (SEP-DATA-E3, CCC-CE-P1). Students revisit the trade book, Move It! Motion, Forces, and You by Adrienne Mason, to help them make connections between their investigation and what the children in the book are doing (SEP-INFO-P1). They draw and write about how the children in the book move the soccer ball and how they used force to stop, start, or change the motion of an object in their journals. The class returns to the phenomenon of the swing and discusses why the child in the animation who received one push moved differently than the child with continued pushing. The teacher guides the discussion to include what is needed to make the swing start and stop (SEP-CEDS–P1, DCI-PS2.A-P2). Students then draw and label a picture of them moving on the playground using motion symbols and arrows to show the direction of the push or pull (DCI-PS2.A-P1, DCI-PS3.C-P1, and SEP-MOD-P3).
Indicator 1A.ii
Materials consistently support meaningful student sensemaking with the three dimensions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they consistently support meaningful student sensemaking with the three dimensions.
Materials are designed for SEPs and CCCs to meaningfully support student sensemaking with the other dimensions in nearly all learning sequences, or Activities. Each activity typically has between two and four Lessons, and students engage in three-dimensional sensemaking both within and across lessons in the activities. In some cases, student sensemaking is connected to a phenomenon or problem, but even in cases where a phenomenon or problem is either not present or not driving instruction, students still have opportunities to make sense of a DCI by engaging in SEPs and applying CCCs.
Examples where SEPs and CCCs meaningfully support student sensemaking with the other dimensions in the learning sequence:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2: Temperature, students engage in activities to explain the relationship between the sun and air temperature. First, the teacher traps air in a bag to demonstrate that air is a physical thing. As part of a class discussion, students develop an evidence-based explanation that even though it cannot be seen, air is all around us (DCI-PS1.A-E1, SEP-CEDS-P1). Students draw and label pictures in their Student Journals that show what it looks like when air is hot and cold and develop explanations using a relative scale of temperature (CCC-SPQ-P1). In Lesson 2B, students explore the relationship between the sun, shade, and temperature by gathering and recording temperature data in sunny and shady spots on the playground in their Student Journals (SEP-DATA-P1, SEP-INV-P4, and DCI-PS3.B-P1). They use the data they collected to determine if it was warmer in the shade or in the sun (SEP-DATA-P3). During the science talk, students collectively make sense of how the sun warms the earth and air (DCI-PS3.B-P1, SEP-CEDS-P1).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Making Sense of Our Schoolyard Observations, students describe and explain the differences between living and nonliving things. Students begin by observing specimens of living and nonliving things they collected from the schoolyard in a previous lesson. Through observation and discussion, they identify similarities and differences in their specimens (CCC-PAT-P1). Using their observations and what they discuss about the needs of living things, students determine if the object they collected is living or nonliving (DCI-LS1.C-P1). Students use this information as evidence to support their claim about whether their specimen is living or nonliving (SEP-ARG-P6).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: How Pill Bugs Live, students explore the features and needs of a pillbug by observing and creating a classroom habitat. The teacher reads the trade book Next Time You See a Pill Bug. Using the information from the story (SEP-INFO-P1), the students create a list of what a pill bug needs to survive (DCI-LS1.C-P1). The teacher asks the students questions to help them determine the function of certain pillbug structures (CCC-SF-P1). Using the answers to these questions, the students determine that pill bugs need air, water, and food to live and grow (DCI-LS1.C-P1).
In Kindergarten, Motion Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2: Collisions! Collisions!, students determine how variables such as size, shape, and strength of force impact a ball’s collision with other objects. Students create a plan to investigate (SEP-INV-P2) what happens when balls of various sizes and shapes collide and observe their motion (DCI-PS2.B-P1). Students use the information gathered from the investigation (SEP-DATA-P3) to determine what might affect the speed of a collision (CCC-CE-P1).
In Kindergarten, Motion Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1: It's Not Junk!, students begin solving the design challenge to create a game in which a ball must move through a maze without a physical touch from a person. The teacher presents the students with different balls of varying size and shape. The students select two balls and a ramp or block to explore the motion of the ball going up or down the ramp or block (SEP-INV-P1). As the students work in groups to observe the ball’s motion (SEP-DATA-P1), the teacher circulates to the groups asking students about what causes the change in motion in the ball as it rolls down the ramp (CCC-CE-P1). Using the information gathered from their investigation and addressing the teacher’s questions, the students draw the motion of the ball in their Student Journals using words to describe the speed, motion, and causes of the motion (DCI-PS2.A-P2).
Indicator 1B
Materials are designed to elicit direct, observable evidence for three-dimensional learning.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet expectations that they are designed to elicit direct, observable evidence for the three-dimensional learning in the instructional materials.
The materials consistently provide three-dimensional learning objectives at the lesson level that build toward the three-dimensional objectives of the unit. The Unit At A Glance names the learning objective and cites which elements of the three dimensions are part of the learning goals for each learning sequence.
The materials use the work that students do during a lesson, such as an activity page from the Student Journal, as a formative assessment. While each unit includes a table that identifies the unit’s assessments, it is often difficult to distinguish which are formative and which are summative. The materials also frequently cite whole-group discussions or charts as formative assessments but do not provide the support to record individual student’s progress toward the learning goal. Nearly all of the remaining formative assessments only assess a portion of the learning objectives and miss the opportunity to assess multiple elements of the three dimensions present in the learning objectives. Additionally, a number of learning sequences do not include formative assessments that provide the opportunity to collect evidence for learning on individual students.
Learning sequences do not clearly incorporate tasks for the purpose of supporting the instructional process. Although sample answers and “look-fors” are provided, there are missed opportunities to provide next steps for teachers to assist students who are not showing comprehension of the assessed elements.
Examples of lessons with a three-dimensional objective where the formative assessment task(s) do not assess student knowledge of all elements in the learning objective, and do not provide guidance to support the instructional process:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 1: Weather Watchers: Making Observations, the three-dimensional learning objective is “Make observations to find patterns that give evidence for the change in weather from day to day and throughout the day,” and comprises five elements of the three dimensions. The formative assessment for this activity is a Student Journal entry. Students write a description of their least favorite type of weather (DCI-ESS2.D-P1) and write questions they have about weather (SEP-AQDP-P1). There is a missed opportunity in this lesson for the formative assessment to reveal student understanding of SEP-DATA-P3, SEP-INFO-P1, and CCC-PAT-P1. The Student Journal Answer Key includes guidance on what to look for and sample student responses but does not provide additional guidance and support for teachers to adjust instruction.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 4: Clouds, the three-dimensional learning objectives are “Recognize a cause-and-effect relationship between cloud cover and temperature and cloud cover and precipitation. Design an investigation to determine how clouds are formed and produce rain,” and comprise eight elements of the three dimensions. The formative assessments include activity pages for one lesson and two journal entries completed during the lessons. Students draw and write descriptions of clouds they observe (SEP-INV-P4), draw and label a picture of clouds based on a written description, and draw and label descriptions of a puddle immediately after a rain and again a few days later (SEP-INV-P4). There is a missed opportunity to reveal student understanding of a DCI, multiple SEPs, and any CCCs from the objectives. The Student Journal Answer Key includes guidance on what to look for and sample student responses but does not provide additional guidance and support for teachers to adjust instruction.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 1: Schoolyard: What Lives Here?, the three-dimensional learning objective is “Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals, including humans, need to survive,” and comprises four elements of the three dimensions. The formative assessment for this activity is a journal entry in which students draw and label observations of living and nonliving things in their schoolyard and draw and label a picture of a living thing and its habitat (SEP-DATA-P3, CCC-PAT-P1). There is a missed opportunity to reveal student understanding of DCI-LS1.C-P1 and SEP-ARG-P6. The Student Journal Answer Key includes guidance on what to look for and sample student responses but does not provide additional guidance and support for teachers to adjust instruction.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2: Collisions! Collisions!, the three-dimensional learning objective is “Design an investigation to collect data to determine the effect of collisions. Use information to solve a problem,” and comprises 10 elements of the three dimensions. The formative assessment for this lesson is an activity page in which students draw models and write explanations about the relationship between the moving ball before and after it hits a stationary ball (DCI-PS2.B-P1, CCC-CE-P2). There is a missed opportunity to reveal student understanding of multiple DCIs, an SEP, and a CCC from the objective. The Student Journal Answer Key includes guidance on what to look for and sample student responses but does not provide additional guidance and support for teachers to adjust instruction.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6: Motion on the Playground, the three-dimensional learning objectives for this lesson are “Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object,” and “Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull,” and comprise nine elements of the three dimensions. The formative assessment for this activity is an activity page in the Student Journal where students draw a model of how a swing moves based on the forces exerted on it and model the different relationships between forces and movement (CCC-CE-P2). There is a missed opportunity to reveal student understanding of multiple DCIs, an SEP, and two CCCs from the objectives. The Student Journal Answer Key includes guidance on what to look for and sample student responses but does not provide additional guidance and support for teachers to adjust instruction.
Indicator 1C
Materials are designed to elicit direct, observable evidence of three-dimensional learning.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations that they are designed to elicit direct, observable evidence of the three-dimensional learning in the instructional materials.
Materials consistently provide three-dimensional learning objectives for each unit and include a table that provides the elements of the three dimensions that constitute the learning objectives for the unit. Each unit includes a post-assessment with five to six questions on the unit content. Additional summative assessments are taken from student work produced during individual lessons. These are typically student responses in their journals, but also include additional activities, such as a student-created book. In several instances, the materials cite whole class discussions or group activities as summative assessments, but those miss the opportunity to provide teachers with information on what each individual student is able to accomplish independently. While each unit includes a table that identifies the summative assessments, it is often difficult to distinguish what is an instructional activity, what is an assessment, and which assessments are formative vs. summative.
Overall, the materials miss the opportunity to assess many of the elements associated with the learning goals, and in two of the units (Weather and Climate and Plants and Animals Live Here) the majority of the elements in the three-dimensional learning objectives are not assessed. Additionally, many summative assessment tasks do not connect to the targeted three-dimensional learning objectives and do not assess any of the targeted objectives.
Examples where the materials provide three-dimensional learning objectives for the learning sequence, but summative tasks do not measure student achievement of all of the targeted three-dimensional learning objectives:
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, the three-dimensional learning objective comprises 10 elements. Summative assessments include a unit Post Assessment and various work products collected during instruction, primarily journal entries. The Post Assessment has five questions that have students show the motion of a soccer ball that was kicked using arrows, write an explanation for why the ball moved, draw how they could change the motion of the soccer ball, and write what they think changed the motion of the soccer ball (DCI-PS2.A-P1, DCI- PS2.A-P2, and DCI-PS2.B-P1). Students also make a claim about the force applied to two balls, and whether it was greater on the larger ball or the ball that traveled further (DCI-PS2.A-P1). Other assessments in the unit address additional elements of the learning objectives. For example, in Activity 6, Lesson 6b, students use their journal to write a question about motion that they would like to know more about and then draw and label a plan to investigate their question (DCI-PS2.A-P1, DCI-PS2.A-P2, DCI-PS3.C-P1, and CCC-CE-P2). In Activity 6, Lesson 6C, students complete a Respond to Text assessment. Students draw and write about how the children in the trade book, Move It! Motion, Forces, and You, move a soccer ball, then draw and write about a time when they used a force to start, stop, or change the motion of an object (DCI-PS2.A-P2, CCC-CE-P2). Across all of the assessments, the materials miss the opportunity to assess CCC-PAT-P1.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, the three-dimensional learning objective comprises 12 elements. Summative assessments include a unit Post Assessment and various work products collected during instruction, primarily journal entries. In the Post Assessment, students select the best instrument to measure rainfall, which thermometer shows the warmest weather, which picture shows a tree in the winter time (CCC-PAT-P1), the best place to go if a tornado warning is heard (DCI-ESS3.B-P1), and which picture of a flag shows a calm day (CCC-PAT-P1). Students also make a prediction about the weather using temperature data and observations (DCI-ESS2.D-P1, SEP-DATA-P3, CCC-CE-P2, and CCC-PAT-P1). Other assessments in the unit address additional elements of the learning objectives. In Activity 3, Lesson 3B, students create a windsock. In the assessed work, students draw and label how their team made a wind sock (SEP-CEDS-P2), how it recorded data, and the wind speed and direction they observed (DCI-ESS2.D-P1). In Activity 7, Lesson 7B, students gather information about each season from books (SEP-DATA-P3, SEP-INFO-P1) and create their own book that describes the seasons using an image of a tree (SEP-CEDS-P1, CCC-PAT-P1), temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and wind (DCI-ESS2.D-P1) and what animals and people typically do during each season. Across the assessments, there is a missed opportunity to assess DCI-PS3.B-P1, DCI-ETS1.A-P2, SEP-INV-P4, SEP-CEDS-P2, and SEP-AQDP-P1.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, the three-dimensional learning objective comprises 12 elements. Summative assessments include a unit Post Assessment and various work products collected during instruction, primarily journal entries. In the Post Assessment, students identify living and nonliving things, match organisms with their habitat, identify the needs of living things, and identify why a woodpecker changed its habitat (DCI-LS1.C-P1, DCI-ESS3.A-P1, and DCI-ESS2.E-P1). Other assessments in the unit address additional elements of the learning objectives. In Activity 3, Lesson 3C, students make a model of an earthworm habitat based on their observations, including what it eats and other organisms that may live there (DCI-ESS2.E-P1, SEP-MOD-P3, and SEP-DATA-P3). Across the assessments, there is a missed opportunity to assess DCI-ESS3.C-P1, DCI-ETS1.B-P1, SEP-ARG-P6, SEP-INFO-P4, CCC-PAT-P1, CCC-CE-P2, and CCC-SYS-P2.
Criterion 1.2: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning
Materials leverage science phenomena and engineering problems in the context of driving learning and student performance.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Criterion 1d-1i: Phenomena and Problems Drive Learning. The materials include numerous phenomena and problems throughout the grade. Of those phenomena and problems, they consistently connect to grade-level appropriate DCIs and are consistently presented to students as directly as possible. Phenomena or problems inconsistently drive learning and engage students in the three dimensions in learning opportunities. The materials consistently elicit but inconsistently leverage student prior knowledge and experience related to the phenomena and problems present. The materials inconsistently incorporate phenomena or problems to drive learning and use of the three dimensions across multiple learning opportunities.
Indicator 1D
Phenomena and/or problems are connected to grade-level Disciplinary Core Ideas.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that phenomena and/or problems are connected to grade-level Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs).
Throughout the materials, students are provided with opportunities to build an understanding of grade-level DCIs through activity- and lesson-level phenomena or design challenges. In Kindergarten, each unit focuses on a single science discipline, either life, physical, or earth and space science. Phenomena and design challenges in each unit typically require the use of at least one DCI from the unit’s focus area. Of the lessons identified as having a phenomenon or problem, only one did not meet expectations because the phenomenon requires use of a Grade 2 DCI.
Examples of phenomena and problems that are connected to grade-band DCIs:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, the design challenge is to build a house to protect a model of an animal from the sun. Students listen to the book Beneath the Sun to discover ways that animals protect themselves from the sun’s heat. Students then create a structure that blocks the sun’s light (DCI-PS3.B-P1) and keeps their creature cool.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: How Do We Know it is Summer?, the phenomenon is the weather that is typical for the current season. Students analyze weather data they collected during the school year. They compare the weather they experienced at the beginning of the unit to the current weather and to the weather typically experienced in the summer. Students explore seasonal patterns in weather related to wind, cloud cover, precipitation, and temperature as well as other visible signs of the season (what animals are doing, what the trees look like, what clothes are people wearing) (DCI-ESS2.D-P1).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Plants and Animals Cause Change, the phenomenon is that six organisms changed their environment. Students discuss ideas about how animals can change their environment, watch and discuss a video about a beaver building a dam, and interpret images of environmental modifications by various organisms through discussions as well as through a drawing and writing prompt. Students collect evidence of disruptions like holes in the soil, nests, and disturbances in the soil or grass in the schoolyard and discuss why organisms modify their environment, as well as the effect of the modifications on other organisms (DCI-ESS2.E-P1).
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving-Understanding the Problem, the phenomenon is that the motion of a ball changes after a collision. In this lesson, students investigate what happens when objects collide (DCI-PS2.B-P1) by creating a collision between two balls of the same size, where one is moving and one is not moving.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: Motion on the Playground, the phenomenon is that a person on a swing moves back and forth if a push is provided. Students examine how pushes and pulls can impact the direction and speed of objects (DCI-PS2.A-P2) by watching a video of a child on a swing and having a class discussion of the motion of that child. Students then draw models of the swing’s motion based on information from the class discussion.
Indicator 1E
Phenomena and/or problems are presented to students as directly as possible.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that phenomena and/or problems are presented to students as directly as possible.
Materials consistently present phenomena and problems to students as directly as possible. Nearly all phenomena and problems are presented directly to students either through a teacher demonstration, watching a video, or reading a trade book. The majority of videos are from YouTube. Sometimes the materials provide a link to a specific video, while in other cases the materials only provide suggested search keywords. None of the videos are hosted by the publisher.
Examples of phenomena and problems that are presented as directly as possible:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, the design challenge is to build a house to protect a model of an animal from the sun. Students are introduced to the design challenge through a trade book, Beneath the Sun, about how different animals keep cool when the sun is out and temperatures are high. Students then create a structure to protect their animal, which is made from UV beads, from the sun. The book, Beneath the Sun, provides students with a common experience and context to have a shared and direct understanding of the design challenge.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 5, Lesson 5B: Snowflakes, Hail, and Sleet!, the phenomenon is that snow melts when it gets warmer. Students are introduced to the phenomenon by either going outside and observing snow or by observing ice shavings or crushed ice. Students collect a cup of snow or ice and put a mark on the cup to indicate the level of snow/ice and another mark to predict what they think the level will be when the snow/ice melts. The first-hand observation and back-up plan provide students a direct, common, and shared experience of the phenomenon.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Pill Bugs, the phenomenon is that pill bugs gather under old potato peels. Students are introduced to the phenomenon by reading a story, Grandpa and the Potato Peels, in which a character discovers pill bugs gathered under potato peels he left out overnight. The story ensures a direct, common, and shared experience of the phenomenon.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Plants and Animals Cause Change, the phenomenon is that six organisms have changed their environment. Students are introduced to the phenomenon by observing six photos of animals that changed their habitat. The photos provide a direct, common, and shared experience of the phenomenon.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: It’s not Junk! An Engineering Design Challenge – Understanding the Problem, the design challenge is to make a game in which a ball moves through a maze without the student touching it. Students are introduced to the design challenge through the story It’s Not Junk!, which is about a boy who creates a game using materials that he collected. Students are then directly provided the design challenge and criteria to design the game. The book and direct statement of the challenge provide students with context to have a shared and direct understanding of the design challenge.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving – Understanding the Problem, the phenomenon is that the motion of a ball changes after a collision. Students are introduced to the phenomenon by watching their teacher roll a tennis ball across the floor that collides with an object in the room. This first-hand observation provides students with a direct, shared, and common experience of the phenomenon.
Indicator 1F
Phenomena and/or problems drive individual lessons or activities using key elements of all three dimensions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations that phenomena and/or problems drive individual lessons or activities using key elements of all three dimensions.
The materials are broken out into three units: Weather and Climate, Plants and Animals Live Here, and Motion: Pushes and Pulls. Each unit focuses on a different content area: life science, physical science, and earth and space science. Each unit is broken into five to seven Activities, then each Activity is further broken down into two to five Lessons.
The materials provide multiple lessons that use phenomena or design challenges to drive student learning and engage with all three dimensions. When a phenomenon or problem drives the lesson, students consistently engage with the three dimensions as they develop explanations or solutions. In instances where there is a phenomenon present but does not drive learning, the phenomenon is only addressed at the beginning and, sometimes, the end of the lesson, and there is a missed opportunity for activities in the lesson to be directly connected to explaining the phenomenon or solving the problem. When a phenomenon or design challenge does not drive learning or is not present, the lessons are typically driven by a science concept or disciplinary core idea, and a few are driven by an activity.
Phenomena and design challenges are presented in several ways. There are unit-level problems and design challenges that span multiple activities and lessons within a unit, there are activity-level phenomena and design challenges that span a few lessons within an activity, and there are phenomena that are present at only the lesson level.
Examples where phenomena or problems drive student learning and engage students with all three dimensions:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, the design challenge driving learning is to build a house to protect a model of an animal from the sun. In this lesson, students read a nonfiction children's trade book, Beneath the Sun, that provides examples of how different animals from various habitats find shelter from the sun (SEP-INFO-P4). Students then relate their understanding of how animals hide when the sun heats the earth’s surface (CCC-CE-P2, DCI-PS3.B-P1) to help them develop a solution to the design challenge. Students plan, sketch, construct, test, adjust, and compare their designs of a structure that blocks the sun’s rays from reaching a model of an animal they constructed out of UV coloring-changing beads (DCI-ETS1.B-P1, DCI-ETS1.C-P1, SEP-CEDS-P2, and SEP-DATA-P5) and discuss evidence that supports a claim that their shelter is effective at protecting the model animal from the sun (SEP-ARG-P7). Through further discussions, the students relate how blocking of the sun’s rays results in blocking the sun’s heat (DCI-ESS2.D-P1, CCC-CE-P2).
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Blowing in the Wind, the phenomenon driving learning is that various objects move when the wind is blowing. In this lesson, students observe the phenomenon through a read-aloud by the teacher of the fictional children’s trade book The Wind Blew about a wind that picks up various objects from people and blows them away. Students then record first-hand observations of the wind in the schoolyard by drawing and labeling pictures (SEP-DATA-P1, DCI-ESS2.C-P1). Students also discuss how observing the wind blowing objects allows them to infer the presence, direction, and strength of the wind (CCC-CE-P2, CCC-SPQ-P1, and SEP-CEDS-P1).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3C: Inviting the Worm into the Classroom Habitat, the phenomenon driving learning is that earthworms live in soil. Students read the trade book Wonderful Worms (SEP-INFO-P1) and identify where worms live and how their habitat provides for their needs (DCI-LS1.C-P1). Students write about habitats where they have observed worms and how that habitat provides for the needs of worms (SEP-INFO-P4), looking for similarities and patterns in their observations (CCC-PAT-P1). Finally, students examine the classroom earthworm habitat and decide if it has everything that worms need to survive.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving-Understanding the Problem, the phenomenon driving learning is that the motion of a ball changes after a collision. Students observe a ball bumping into a stationary classroom object such as a wall (DCI-PS2.B-P1). Then, they share their own experiences with objects bumping into each other and what happened to the motion of the objects afterwards. Students work in small groups to investigate what happens when a moving ball bumps into a stationary ball (SEP-INV-P2, SEP-DATA-P1). They share their observations with the class and record their results on a whole class chart. Students use the chart to discuss patterns in their results and come to the conclusion that when a ball that is moving collides with a stationary ball, the motion of both balls change (SEP-DATA-E3, CCC-PAT-P1, and CCC-CE-P1).
Examples where phenomena or problems do not drive student learning:
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4, Lesson 4B: Are Plants Living?, the phenomenon that six pumpkins are growing in a ditch by the side of a road does not drive learning, instead the lesson focuses on the disciplinary core idea that plants need water and sunlight to survive. Students collect information about why plants move and the life cycle of plants by reading the trade books Plants Can’t Sit Still and Seed to Plant. Students engage in a Science Talk and compare and contrast what plants need to survive with what animals need to survive. There is a missed opportunity to use the phenomenon to drive student learning in the lesson..
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: Weather Watchers: Making Observations, a phenomenon or problem does not drive learning. Instead, the lesson focuses on the disciplinary core idea that weather is a combination of sunlight, wind, snow, and rain and that people describe these conditions to notice patterns over time. Students read the fictional children’s trade book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs about a fictitious town where food falls from the sky. Students question if food really falls from clouds, look for patterns in the “weather” presented in the book, and make weather observations in the schoolyard.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Balls in Motion-Understanding the Problem, a phenomenon or problem does not drive learning. Instead, the disciplinary core idea that an object’s motion is affected by the strength and direction of a push or a pull focuses the learning. Students explore and investigate the motion of balls, discuss their observations, and come to a consensus on how pushes and pulls caused the balls to move and change direction. Students then record their observations of the ball they investigated and how they caused it to move.
Indicator 1G
Materials are designed to include both phenomena and problems.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten are designed to include both phenomena and problems. The materials contain multiple phenomena, problems, and design challenges throughout the grade.
The materials are broken out into three units: Weather and Climate, Plants and Animals Live Here, and Motion: Pushes and Pulls. Each unit focuses on a different content area: life science, physical science, and earth and space science. Each unit is broken into five to seven Activities, then each Activity is further broken down into two to five Lessons.
Throughout the materials, phenomena are introduced at the lesson level and are most commonly found in the first lesson of an activity. In most cases, a single phenomenon is used across multiple lessons in an activity. Two of the design challenges are introduced later in the activity, but one is found at the beginning of the activity and is part of multiple lessons.
Most of the phenomena and design challenges are found in the Weather and Climate unit.
Examples of a design challenge in the materials:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, the design challenge is to build a house to protect a model of an animal from the sun. In the lesson, students create an animal model using UV beads and then plan, make, and test a house that protects the animal model from the sun. Students create a shelter for their animal model that provides shade and keeps the UV beads from reacting to the light.
Examples of phenomena in the materials:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Blowing in the Wind, the phenomenon is that various objects are moving when the wind is blowing. Students go outside and observe the wind using their sense of sight, hearing, and touch. Through discussion, students use their observations of the wind to describe the effects of moving air.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Cloud Observations, the phenomenon is that the temperature is lower on cloudy days than on sunny days. Students collect weather data and observe the relationship between air temperatures when clouds are present and when they are not. Students explain the phenomenon by constructing a cause-and-effect statement about how temperature is lower when clouds block the sun.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 5, Lesson 5B: Snowflakes, Hail and Sleet!, the phenomenon is that snow melts when it gets warmer. Students observe a cup of snow, or snow substitute, as it melts and mark the level of the substance in the cup at the beginning and end of the observation. Students identify how cold the temperature needs to be for snow not to melt.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 2: Pill Bugs, the phenomenon is that pill bugs gather under old potato skins. Across the activity, students make observations about pill bugs. They observe pill bugs in paper cups, on pieces of paper, and on their hands. They read the book The Next Time You See a Pill Bug and engage in a class activity to connect the needs of pill bugs to different habitats. Lastly, the students plan and conduct an investigation to see what happens when they add potato peels to the pill bug habitat. The students determine that the constructed pill bug’s habitat meets all of its needs and hypothesize about what other animals could live in the habitat.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3: Worms, the phenomenon is that earthworms live in soil. Across the activity, students make observations about earthworms. They observe earthworms on a pie plate, a damp paper towel, and in their hands. As a class, students share ideas about what earthworms need to live and what their habitat is like. Students read the book Wonderful Worms and have a class discussion where they respond to guiding questions about where earthworms live and why. Finally, students observe earthworms in a habitat that they construct in their classroom that allows for a cross-sectional view of the earthworm’s underground habitat. Students draw models, pictures, and write about where earthworms live and how they meet their needs (food, water, air, and space). Students also make and record observations about the earthworms when they are added to the habitat and make predictions about what they think the habitat will look like in seven days.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: It’s Not Junk! An Engineering Design Challenge - Understanding the Problem, the design challenge is to make a game in which a ball moves through a maze without the student touching it. In the lesson, students engage in multiple investigations to learn about motion and forces to provide them with the background knowledge needed to solve the design challenge. Students design and build a game in which a ball moves from a starting point to an end point, changing direction, and knocking over blocks at the end.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving - Understanding the Problem, the phenomenon is that the motion of a ball changes after a collision. In the lesson, students observe and record what happens when a ball collides with a ball that is stationary and a ball that is moving. Students make a class chart, using symbols, that shows the force and direction of motion of the balls in each scenario. Students explain the phenomenon by drawing a before and after model to show that when a ball strikes another ball, the motion of both balls change.
Indicator 1H
Materials intentionally leverage students’ prior knowledge and experiences related to phenomena or problems.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations that they intentionally elicit and leverage students’ prior knowledge and experiences related to phenomena or problems.
Students’ prior knowledge and experiences are consistently elicited across the grade; however, there are limited instances where prior knowledge and experiences are leveraged in instruction.
In some instances, students are asked questions to recall information they learned in a previous lesson or are asked about the science topic and not the phenomenon/problem. In the instances where the materials do elicit students’ prior knowledge and experience, teachers elicit them through discussion and often record student responses and track how their knowledge evolves over the course of the lesson. Student responses, however, are not typically leveraged or used later in the activity.
The two lessons that elicit and leverage students’ prior knowledge and experiences are both in the Motion: Pushes and Pulls unit. In both lessons, students are working to explain a phenomenon. There is a missed opportunity to leverage prior knowledge and experiences in lessons with a design challenge or a problem.
Examples where students’ prior knowledge and experiences of problems and/or phenomena are elicited and leveraged:
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving - Understanding the Problem, the phenomenon is that the motion of a ball changes after a collision. Students are asked about their prior experiences with two objects bumping into each other or when the students themselves bumped into someone or something else. Students relate their classroom experience observing balls colliding to their prior experiences of objects bumping into each other or a moving object bumping into a stationary one. Students’ prior experiences are leveraged as they develop explanations about how objects move when the teacher encourages students to consider how their ideas have changed as they discuss the cause and effect relationship between the collisions and change in the balls’ motion.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: Motion on the Playground, the phenomenon is that a person on a swing moves back and forth if a push is provided. After observing a video of a child swinging and the forces that initiate that movement–a single push from a partner, repeated pushes from a partner, and the person swinging and pumping their legs–students share their prior experiences on a swing and how they made the swing move. After learning about types of motion (e.g. pushes, pulls), students think back to their experiences on a swing and use their new vocabulary to describe and explain those experiences.
Examples where students’ prior knowledge and experiences of problems and/or phenomena are elicited but not leveraged:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Blowing in the Wind, the phenomenon is that various objects move when the wind is blowing. Students read a trade book about the wind blowing objects and are asked to relate their personal experiences with the wind blowing objects to the phenomenon of wind presented in the book. While this lesson elicits prior experience from the students, it misses the opportunity to support the teacher in leveraging what students bring to the lesson.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, the design challenge is to build a house to protect a model of an animal from the sun. Students read a trade book about how different animals survive the heat of the sun and are asked to relate their personal experiences with keeping cool when it’s hot out to the experiences of the animals in the book. While this lesson elicits prior experience from students, it misses the opportunity to support the teacher in leveraging what students bring to the lesson.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Pill Bugs, the phenomenon is that pill bugs gather under old potato peels. Students listen to the story Grandpa and the Potato Peels from the Student Journal, a story about a character that leaves potato peels on the ground and discovers pill bugs underneath the potato peels the next day. After listening to the story, students share their prior experiences with pill bugs, including where they have seen them and what behaviors they observed. Then, students observe pill bugs and create a habitat for them using what they learned in classroom observations and informational texts. While this lesson elicits prior experience from students, it misses the opportunity to support the teacher in leveraging what students bring to the lesson.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3C: Inviting the Worm into the Classroom Habitat, the phenomenon is that earthworms live in the soil. The teacher reads the book Wonderful Worms, an informational text about worms and their habitat, and students respond to the ideas and information in the text. The teacher asks students to “express ideas of what they already think about worms.” While this lesson elicits prior experience from students, it misses the opportunity to support the teacher in leveraging what students bring to the lesson.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: It's Not Junk! An Engineering Design Challenge–Understanding the Problem, the design challenge is to make a game in which a ball moves through a maze without the student touching it. After the design challenge is introduced, students share their prior knowledge and experiences with balls, mazes, and games. While this lesson elicits prior experience from students, it misses the opportunity to support the teacher in leveraging what students bring to the lesson.
Examples where students’ prior knowledge and experiences of problems and/or phenomena are not elicited and leveraged:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Blowing in the Wind, the design challenge is to create a windsock to determine the speed and direction of the wind. Students observe how the wind blows a flag outside and are presented with the design challenge. There is a missed opportunity to elicit students’ prior knowledge and experience about how the wind blows objects, resulting in an inability to leverage what students bring to the lesson.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 5, Lesson 5B: Snowflakes, Hail, and Sleet!, the phenomenon is that snow melts when it gets warmer. While this lesson provides an opportunity for students to share prior experiences with different types of precipitation, the elicited experiences support science content rather than the presented phenomenon.
Indicator 1I
Materials embed phenomena or problems across multiple lessons for students to use and build knowledge of all three dimensions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations that they embed phenomena or problems across multiple lessons for students to use and build knowledge of all three dimensions.
In the instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten, phenomena or problems drive learning across multiple learning opportunities, engage students in all three dimensions, and provide multimodal opportunities for students to develop, evaluate, and revise their thinking, but not consistently. In several cases, phenomena or problems are present across multiple sequences and students encounter the same phenomenon or problem at various times during the unit. In some of these learning sequences, student learning is driven by explaining, solving, or making sense of the phenomenon or problem. This, however, happens inconsistently. In other instances, learning sequences are connected to a phenomenon or problem, but there is a missed opportunity to use the phenomenon or problem to drive learning. Instead, the phenomenon or problem is used as an introduction, but student learning is guided by a science concept or activity, not explaining, solving, or making sense of the phenomenon or problem across the lessons. In other cases, the phenomenon or problem only drives learning in individual lessons and there are missed opportunities to use the phenomenon or problem to drive student learning across the sequence as a whole.
When a phenomenon or problem does drive learning across a sequence, students consistently engage in all three dimensions as they work with the phenomenon or problem. Additionally, students typically have multiple opportunities to share and revise their thinking through drawing, writing, whole group discussion, and partner discussion.
Examples of phenomena that drive students’ learning and use the three dimensions across multiple lessons:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activities 6 and 7, the phenomenon that the weather that is typical for the current season drives learning. Across these activities, students engage in a series of lessons to develop an understanding of what type of weather is typical for an area during the current season. Students explore the different seasons and brainstorm how weather changes throughout the year (DCI-ESS2.D-E1, SEP-DATA-P3, CCC-PAT-P1, and DCI-ESS2.D-P1). Next, students identify the characteristics of each season and make observations about the current season in the schoolyard (SEP-INV-P4, SEP-DATA-P3). Students brainstorm the months, weather, holidays, recreational activities, severe weather, and animal behaviors that relate to the current season for their state and discuss the seasonality and characteristics of specific types of severe weather (DCI-ESS3.B-P1, DCI-ESS2.D-P1). Finally, students use their compiled information as evidence to make a claim about which seasons are most alike and most different (SEP-ARG-P6) and work with a partner to discuss their thoughts. Students return to the initial phenomenon repeatedly throughout the learning sequence. At the end of the activity, they further refine their thinking of what type of weather occurs during each season to make a book about the seasons (SEP-INFO-P4).
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4: Plants, the phenomenon that six pumpkins are growing in a ditch by the side of a road drives learning. Across this activity, students engage in a series of lessons to explain how the pumpkins unexpectedly grew in a ditch. Students explore a variety of seeds, sorting them by their external characteristics (CCC-PAT-P1), and discussing what seeds need to grow (DCI-LS2.A-P1). Next, students collect a variety of plant parts they find outside (DCI-LS1.A-P1, CCC-PAT-P1), read two trade books about how plants grow (DCI-LS1.C-P1, SEP-INFO-P1, and SEP-INFO-P4), and describe how these texts and their experiences change their understanding of the phenomenon. Finally, students look at picture cards of a variety of plants in different habitats (SEP-INFO-P1) and discuss how each plant is able to get what it needs to live and grow in each habitat (DCI-ESS3.A-P1, CCC-SYS-P2, and CCC-PAT-P1). Students return to the initial phenomenon repeatedly throughout the learning sequence, making connections between the lessons and the phenomenon of the pumpkins growing in the ditch. Across the lessons, students are explicitly directed to use their new understanding to revise and improve their explanation of the phenomenon (SEP-CEDS-E1).
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2: Collisions! Collisions!, the phenomenon that the motion of a ball changes after a collision drives learning. Across this activity, students engage in a series of lessons to describe the cause and effect relationship of collisions and how they change an object’s motion. First, students observe a moving ball colliding with a wall and then investigate a moving ball colliding with a stationary ball (DCI-PS2.B-P1). Students observe and record the results of their investigation (SEP-INV-P2, SEP-DATA-P1), then share the results with the class (CCC-PAT-P1). They discuss how their investigation helps them understand the initial phenomenon (CCC-CE-P1). Next, students investigate the results of two moving balls of the same size and weight colliding (DCI-PS2.B-P1, DCI-PS2.A-E2, and SEP-INV-P2). They observe and record the results of their investigation (SEP-DATA-P3, SEP-DATA-P4), then share the results with the class (CCC-PAT-P1). They discuss how their investigation helps them understand the initial phenomenon (SEP-CEDS-P1, CCC-CE-P1). Finally, students predict and investigate the results of two balls colliding when the balls are of a different size and weight (DCI-PS2.B-P1, SEP-INV-P3, SEP-DATA-E3, and SEP-MOD-P3). They discuss how the results of the investigation help them explain the initial phenomenon and will help them solve the design challenge for the unit (SEP-CEDS-P1, CCC-CE-P1)–to create a maze for a ball to move through. Students return to the initial phenomenon repeatedly throughout the learning sequence. They use their understanding of the phenomenon to predict the outcome of the investigations and they use the results of the investigations to revise their explanation of the phenomenon. These discussions occur orally and are recorded on the class chart as well as in the student journals.
Examples where phenomena or problems do not drive students’ learning across multiple lessons:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 1: Weather Watchers Making Observations, a problem or phenomenon does not drive learning across multiple lessons. Instead, the sequence focuses on the disciplinary core idea that weather is the combination of sunlight, wind, snow, rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time and that people measure these conditions to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time. First, the teacher highlights the concept of observable weather patterns over time using the fictional trade book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs about a fictional town where residents receive all of their meals through food-based weather, and students make weather observations based on their senses. Next, students explore the purpose and operation of a thermometer, wind sock, rain gauge, and directional signs, which they place in the schoolyard for use in weather observations over the course of the unit.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5: Living Things Change the Place Where They Live, the phenomenon is that six organisms change their environment. The phenomenon does not drive learning across multiple lessons. The phenomenon is used as an introduction, but the six organisms are never returned to. Instead, the science concept that plants, animals, and humans change their environment in different ways is the focus of the learning. Students are introduced to the phenomenon through six picture cards which show how six different organisms change their environment. Students discuss their observations of the organisms and the changes they caused. Students discuss how humans change their environment and why. Students go outside and look for examples of organisms in the schoolyard that change the environment. Students finish the learning sequence by drawing a habitat and including ways different animals, plants, and people have changed the habitat and do not return to the six organisms from the beginning of the sequence.
In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 4: Where Is It? Where Is It Going?, the design challenge is to make a game in which a ball moves through a maze without a student touching it. The design challenge does not drive learning. Instead, the activity of observing motion and describing motion using position words is the focus of the learning sequence. Students practice using position words such as above and below to describe the location of objects in a picture. Students stand in different locations around the room and observe the motion of a toy car down a path. Students use position words from their location to describe the movement of the toy car. For example, “the car moved toward the wall” or “the car moved away from me.” The lessons end by asking students to connect the activity to the design challenge, but the activities do not support students to complete the challenge.
Overview of Gateway 2
Coherence & Scope
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence & Scope; Criterion 1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions meets expectations.
Gateway 2
v1.5
Criterion 2.1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions
Materials are coherent in design, scientifically accurate, and support grade-band endpoints of all three dimensions.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for the Criterion 2a-2g: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions. The materials do not support students in understanding connections between units. The materials, and corresponding suggested sequence, reveal student tasks related to explaining phenomena or solving problems that increase in sophistication within each unit and across units. The materials represent the three dimensions with numerous minor errors and only include scientific content appropriate to the grade level. Further, the materials include all DCI components and all elements for physical science; life science; earth and space science; and engineering, technology, and applications of science. The materials include all of the SEPs at the grade level and all of the SEPs across the grade band. The materials include all grade-band crosscutting concepts and provide repeated opportunities for students to use CCCs across the grade band. The materials inconsistently include NGSS connections to Nature of Science and Engineering elements associated with the SEPs and/or CCCs.
Indicator 2A
Materials are designed for students to build and connect their knowledge and use of the three dimensions across the series.
Indicator 2A.i
Students understand how the materials connect the dimensions from unit to unit.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet expectations that students understand how the materials connect the dimensions from unit to unit.
The Kindergarten materials are made of three units that are each made up of a series of lesson sequences called Activities. Each Activity is typically made up of two to four individual learning opportunities called Lessons. The materials consistently demonstrate how the dimensions connect between Lessons in the same Activity and often connect content between different Activities. However, there is a missed opportunity for materials to make connections between the dimensions across Units, contexts, or grade levels.
The materials most frequently make connections between disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) across Lessons and Activities. These sequences often address the same, or closely related, topics and the connections between the DCIs of the Lessons in an Activity are often clear. The connections for the science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are less frequently made explicit to students. The materials inconsistently demonstrate how SEPs or CCCs may be connected across different contexts.
The materials include a Teacher Background Information section at the beginning of each Unit, Activity, and Lesson. This includes scientific information to support the teacher’s understanding of the concepts and how they are connected, teaching practices, and common misconceptions. While this section may include information that helps the teacher understand the connections between DCIs from different lessons or units, there is a missed opportunity to support teachers in making those connections explicit to students.
Indicator 2A.ii
Materials have an intentional sequence where student tasks increase in sophistication.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades K-2 meet expectations that they have an intentional sequence where student tasks increase in sophistication. Materials are designed with an intentional or suggested sequence and student tasks related to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems increase in sophistication within each unit and across the grade band. Across the K-2 grade-band, the materials have a recommended sequence with three units divided by physical, life, and earth and space science assigned to each grade level. Within grade levels, the units can be sequenced in any order.
Materials increase in sophistication across the grade band as students engage with phenomena and problems. As students progress through the grade band, student expectations, as they engage in activities connected to phenomena and problems, increase. Supports for students are also gradually released, and by Grade 2, students are doing more work independently or with fewer aids. Because the order of units within a grade level is not suggested, there is not a general increase in sophistication within a single grade. However, there are instances where student expectations increase within a single unit.
Examples of student tasks increasing in sophistication across the grade band:
The materials increase in sophistication as students conduct investigations connected to phenomena and problems. By the time students reach Grade 2, they are doing more work independently and take on more responsibility for determining investigation procedures. For example, in Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6, Lesson 6B: Observing Swinging Motion on the Playground, the teacher provides students with a question on the motion of swings that they will all investigate, and in Lesson 6C: Investigating Motion on the Playground, students work in pairs to investigate motion in playground equipment. In Grade 1, Plants and Animal Traits, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Planning for Fiddler Crab Observations, the teacher plays less of a role in designing the investigation, and the class as a whole plans an investigation to learn how fiddler crabs use their claws. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: What Are Objects Made Of?, students investigate the properties of materials to solve an engineering problem. Again, the teacher plays less of a role as the class works together to decide the properties they need to investigate to answer to collect data on what materials to use to design a house.
The materials increase in sophistication as students ask questions related to phenomena and problems. In Kindergarten, the teacher provides significant support to students to develop questions, and students often work as a whole class to generate questions. By Grade 2, the teacher provides less guidance and fewer scaffolds, such as sentence stems, and students work independently or in smaller groups to develop questions connected to phenomena and problems. For example, in Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Planting Seeds, students read a story about pumpkins that unexpectedly grew in a ditch. After reading the story, the teacher provides them with the question, “How do you think the pumpkins got there?” The teacher then supports the class as a whole to generate additional questions that will help answer their initial question, including providing a sample question. In Grade 1, Plant and Animal Traits, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Relating Structure and Function, the students still generate questions in a whole group setting, but the teacher provides fewer supports. Following the students’ observations of fiddler crabs, the teacher asks them what questions they have about what they saw. Rather than providing an investigation question for the students, the teacher prompts the students to return to their observations to develop their own questions. In Grade 2, Plant and Animal Relationships, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Plants and Animals Interact, students begin an investigation of plant and animal interactions by observing a photograph of a dragonfly on a plant. Before providing any support or leading a whole-class discussion, the teacher tells students to record their questions in their own Student Journal. After students write down their own questions, they share and discuss them in small groups, again without direct teacher support.
The materials increase in sophistication as students work with data related to phenomena and problems. In Kindergarten, students typically record their observations as drawings or with highly scaffolded organizers, and much of their work with data is to record and share their observations. By Grade 2, students make a broader range of observations that includes quantitative measurements, written description, and annotated drawings. They also use data in more sophisticated ways that include making predictions and constructing more sophisticated explanations. For example, in Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving - Understanding the Problem, students make observations of a moving ball colliding with a stationary ball. The teacher leads data collection by recording what they observed on a simplified table shared by the entire class. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Blowing in the Wind, students record and share their observations of the wind in the schoolyard as drawings. In Grade 1, Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: The Earth Goes Round and Round, students work in pairs to make observations of shadows at different times of day. They now use a tape measure to record numerical data and independently add the data to a table in their Student Journal. In Grade 2, Changing Earth: Today and Over Time, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: Schoolyard Detectives, students continue collecting observations with more detail and sophistication. They not only draw and label their observations of the schoolyard, but also connect that data to the causes of changes in the schoolyard and their predictions of how those changes occurred. Students also do more with the data they collect. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Exploring Property Stations, students make predictions about the properties of various materials (e.g., sinking or floating, flexible vs. rigid), collect data on those properties, and then compare their data with their predictions.
Indicator 2B
Materials present Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) in a way that is scientifically accurate.
The materials for Kindergarten do not 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.
The materials generally present DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs accurately, but contain numerous minor errors that appear in both the student and teacher materials. An error was also present in an assessment, potentially reinforcing the misunderstanding to students.
Examples of minor errors present in the Teacher Background materials:
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3: Blowing in the Wind, the material states that “wind is formed when high and low pressure systems meet.” This is not how wind forms.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3: Blowing in the Wind, the material states that “as the (pressure) systems get closer together, the winds get stronger.” Distance between pressure systems does not determine wind speed.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 4: Clouds, the material states that “clouds in the Northern Hemisphere generally move from west to east.” In the Northern Hemisphere, westerly movement of clouds is only common in the Ferrel Cell.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 6: Weather Through the Seasons, the materials make references to earth tilting towards or away from the sun to explain the cause of seasons. This implies that the tilt of the earth changes and may lead to misconceptions about the different seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere.
Examples of minor errors in assessments:
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Pre and Post Assessment, the materials present drawings of four different types of animals: snake, squirrel, girl, and duck, and four different habitats: house, prairie grassland, forest, and pond, and instruct students to match the animal to its habitat. The answer key only indicates “prairie grassland” as the answer for the snake, but snakes can also be found in ponds and forests.
Examples of minor errors in other materials:
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Student Journal, Key Terms: movement, the materials state that “plants move as they grow towards the light.” Plants do not move on their own, they grow towards the sun.
In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 6 and 7, the teacher provides students with dates and months for astronomical fall, winter, and spring, which students then use to sort class weather observations and measurements as an initial step in identifying seasonal weather patterns in their weather data throughout Activity 6 and for content information when creating a book about seasons in Lesson 7B. Use of dates and months of astronomical seasons is not an appropriate metric for this task because astronomical seasons reflect patterns in the relative positions of the sun and earth, not weather.
In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Planting Seeds, the Teacher’s Guide instructs the teacher to germinate seeds in a dark space if students have “the misconception that seeds need sunlight to begin to grow.” Some plants do require light to initiate the germination process.
Indicator 2C
Materials do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-level Disciplinary Core Ideas.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that the materials do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-level disciplinary core ideas. The materials consistently incorporate student learning opportunities to learn and use DCIs appropriate to the grade.
Indicator 2D
Materials incorporate all grade-level Disciplinary Core Ideas.
Indicator 2D.i
Physical Sciences
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas for physical sciences.
Materials incorporate all grade-level components and associated elements of the physical science disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Most DCIs appear in multiple learning opportunities and are fully met. Students interact with the concepts in a variety of ways, including reading trade books and engaging in investigations and class discussions.
Examples of grade-level physical science DCI elements present in the materials:
PS2.A-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Explaining Motion, the teacher reads the trade book Move It! Motion, Forces, and You to the class, stopping to discuss new vocabulary and ideas related to how a push or a pull is needed to start, change, and/or stop motion. Then, students tell a story about motion by writing captions for three different pictures of children at play showing how pushes and pulls have different strengths and directions.
PS2.A-P2. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Balls in Motion-Understanding the Problem, students interact with different-sized balls and weights to investigate how pushing on an object (ball) can change the speed and/or direction of its motion. They draw a picture of one of the balls and describe how the ball moves.
PS2.B-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: It’s Not Junk! An Engineering Design Challenge-Understanding the Problem, the students investigate what happens to tennis balls when they collide with different stationary objects (walls, desks, other balls). They record their observations in a class data chart and then draw a model in their Student Journal of what happens to a moving ball before and after it hits another stationary ball, using arrows to show the speed and direction of the balls and how they change.
PS3.B-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: Temperature in the Sun and Shade, the students investigate how sunlight warms the earth by measuring and comparing the temperature in the sun and the shade.
PS3.C-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 6, Lesson 6C: Investigating the Motion on the Playground, as a class, students discuss why the child in the swing who received one push moved differently than the child who received continuous pushes. The teacher provides guiding questions: “What do we need to start the motion on the swings?” and “How can we change the speed of motion?”.
Indicator 2D.ii
Life Sciences
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas for life sciences.
Materials incorporate all grade-level components and associated elements of the life science disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Most DCIs appear in multiple learning opportunities and are fully met. Students interact with the concepts in a variety of ways, including reading trade books, engaging in investigations, making models, and having class discussions.
Examples of the grade-level life science DCI elements present in the materials:
LS1.C-P1. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Lesson 3, Activity 3C: Inviting the Worm into the Classroom, students use content from the book Wonderful Worms to discuss what worms need to live and whether worms’ food needs can be met in the soil underground.
LS1.C-P1. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4, Lesson 4B: Are Plants Living?, students use content from the trade books Seed to Plant and Plant’s Can’t Sit Still to engage in a discussion about how plants need water and light to live. In their Student Journals, students draw and label a picture of a plant with labels to show what the plant needs to grow and arrows showing where the plant gets water and light.
Indicator 2D.iii
Earth and Space Sciences
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level disciplinary core ideas for earth and space sciences. Materials incorporate all grade-level components and associated elements of the earth and space science disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Most DCIs appear in multiple learning opportunities and are fully met. Students interact with the concepts in a variety of ways, including reading trade books, engaging in investigations, making models, and having class discussions.
Examples of the grade-level earth and space science DCI elements present in the materials:
ESS2.D-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 7, Lesson 7A: Making Sense of Our Weather Data, students analyze weather data they collected including sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature data from the class Weather Watchers Observations Chart, to observe patterns of weather over time.
ESS2.E-P1. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Plants and Animals Cause Change, students work in groups to discuss and interpret photographs showing a variety of organisms and the changes they have made to their environment.
ESS3.A-P1. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Worm Observations, students observe worms and discuss how their habitat meets their needs (food, water, space). They compare worms to pill bugs and share their ideas about how the same habitat meets both animals’ needs. In Activity 5, Lesson 5B, students review what they have learned so far about habitats and how animals’ needs are met in their habitats. Students then engage in class discussion about what their own habitat is and how their needs are met in their habitat. They also draw a model of their home habitat and how their needs are met there.
ESS3.B-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: How Do We Know it is Summer?, as a class, students read and discuss a poem about a thunderstorm forming. Students become weather forecasters and plan a group presentation for the rest of their classmates about safety precautions to take during a thunderstorm. After their presentations, the teacher reinforces proper safety precautions to take during a thunderstorm. The teacher also instructs students on existing warning systems for tornadoes and safety procedures to follow during a tornado warning.
ESS3.C-P1. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5D: Identifying Human Impacts on Habitats, students observe pictures of an oil spill and a forest cleared by logging. The class discusses the impact humans have on these habitats. The teacher also explains to students the reason for these impacts: that humans need natural resources like wood and oil. In groups, students examine a photo showing human impacts on the environment. Groups draw a picture of their photo showing the change to the environment caused by humans and the effect of that change on the plants and animals in the environment.
Indicator 2D.iv
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades K–2 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 Kindergarten, three performance expectations (PEs) are associated with a physical, life, or earth and space science DCI that also connect to an ETS DCI. The ETS elements within these kindergarten PEs are present in the materials.
Examples of the Kindergarten grade-level ETS DCI elements present in the materials:
ETS1.A-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, students design a structure to protect an animal model made of UV beads from the sun. As students prepare for the activity, the teacher guides students to discuss how engineers design things to help solve a problem. After their designs are complete, students share their designs with one another and they discuss the variety of solutions the groups developed.
ETS1.A-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lessons 3A and 3B, students research a variety of instruments that measure wind and observe how the direction and speed of wind can change in various parts of the school yard. Using their research and observations, students design and create a windsock to determine the speed and direction of the wind at different places in the schoolyard.
ETS1.B-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, students design a structure to protect an animal model made of UV beads from the sun. Students draw their plans, build a prototype, and then share their designs with one another to make refinements.
In Grade 1, no PEs associated with a physical, life, or earth and space science DCI 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 1 materials:
ETS1.A-P1. In Grade 1, Plant and Animal Traits, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Planning and Designing A Device That Solves A Problem, students think about a human problem and design a solution that mimics or adapts a part of an animal or plant. As students work on defining problems and developing their solution, the class discusses their work in terms of engineers solving problems.
ETS1.B-P1. In Grade 1, Space Systems, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Temperature Changes Throughout the Day, students design and build a device that will provide shade during the hottest part of the day but allow light to pass through when the sun is not at its strongest. Students brainstorm, draw, and describe their designs in their student journals, share their designs with each other, and provide feedback on one another's designs.
ETS1.C-P1. In Grade 1, Waves: Light and Sound, Activity 3, Lesson 3D: Lighting a Tree House, students build a model of their solution to the problem of a tree house being dark on the inside. After students build a model of their solution, they test their designs, share their designs with other groups, compare their designs with one another, and compare their solutions with the solutions presented in a book.
In Grade 2, there are two PEs associated with a physical, life, or earth and space science DCI that also connect to an ETS DCI. The ETS elements within these Grade 2 PEs are present in the materials.
Examples of the Grade 2 grade-level ETS DCI elements present in the materials:
ETS1.A-P1. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: What Are Objects Made Of?, after reading a version of the story The Three Little Pigs, students are challenged to use materials to build a structure that can withstand wind and rain. In groups, students explore a selection of items (balloon, rock, nail, etc) and begin to identify their properties. Students identify properties that are useful for solving the design challenge and plan tests for the objects to determine if they have desirable properties.
ETS1.C-P1. In Grade 2, Plants and Animal Relationships, Activity 6, Lesson 6D: Not Enough Bees, students are told about the decrease in the honeybee population over the last 50 years. Using information from previous lessons about how bees and other animals pollinate plants, students are presented with the engineering design challenge to build a hand pollinator. Students plan, collect materials, and build/test their pollinator devices, then they share their solutions with the class. Students are encouraged to comment and question the designs of others including the materials used.
The K–2 grade band includes three ETS 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 K–2 grade-band ETS DCI elements present in the materials:
ETS1.A-P1. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: What Are Objects Made Of?, after reading a version of the story The Three Little Pigs, students are challenged to use materials to build a structure that can withstand wind and rain. In groups, students explore a selection of items (ballon, rock, nail, etc) and begin to identify their properties. Students identify properties that are useful for solving the design challenge and plan tests for the objects to determine if they have desirable properties.
ETS1.A-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lessons 3A and 3B, students research a variety of instruments that measure wind and observe how the direction and speed of wind can change in various parts of the school yard. Using their research and observations, students design and create a windsock to determine the speed and direction of the wind at different places in the schoolyard.
ETS1.A-P3. In Grade 1, Waves, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: People Use Light and Sound, students design a nonverbal communication system using light and sound. Before they design their system, the class discusses a scenario where a town does not have telephones to communicate, that the town needs to be able to contact various community members (e.g., emergency workers), and that their solution needs to meet the needs of the scenario.
ETS1.B-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding from the Sun, students design a structure to protect an animal model made of UV beads from the sun. Students draw their plans, build a prototype, and then share their designs with one another to make refinements.
ETS1.C-P1. In Grade 2, Plants and Animal Relationships, Activity 6, Lesson 6D: Not Enough Bees, students are told about the decrease in the honeybee population over the last 50 years. Using information from previous lessons about how bees and other animals pollinate plants, students are presented with the engineering design challenge to build a hand pollinator. Students plan, collect materials, and build/test their pollinator devices. Then, they share their solutions with the class. Students are encouraged to comment and question the designs of others including the materials used.
Indicator 2E
Materials incorporate all grade-level Science and Engineering Practices.
Indicator 2E.i
Materials incorporate grade-level appropriate SEPs within each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level science and engineering practices and associated elements.
Materials incorporate all grade-level science and engineering practices (SEPs) and associated elements within the grade level. Students are provided with multiple opportunities in which to engage with a variety of SEPs.
Examples of SEPs and elements associated with the grade-level performance expectations that are met in the materials:
AQDP-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: Weather Watchers: Making Observations, students make observations of the weather and draw and label pictures of the weather that they like the most and least. Then, students generate questions they have about the weather based on their observations.
MOD-P3. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 3, Lesson 3A: Preparing to Present Solutions: Explaining Motion, students select one of the four motion charts that they investigated in a previous lesson and create a model to represent the relationship between pushes and pulls and how they change the motion (start, stop, change direction) of a ball.
INV-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Balls in Motion, as a class, the teacher and students develop a question about how balls of different size and/or weight move. Students select two different balls and other materials to conduct an investigation of how they move compared to each other. They select one of the balls they observed and draw and label a picture of how it moved.
INV-P4. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Planting Seeds, students are given an assortment of mixed seeds and work with a partner to make observations about the seeds and compare and sort them based on their similarities.
DATA-P3. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Plants and Animals Cause Change, students observe one of seven different pictures of animals and plants and their impact on their environment found in their Student Journal. They are asked to identify the cause of the changes that occurred to the environment. The groups share their observations with the class. Then ,students individually select one animal and draw and write about how it changes its habitat to get food or make a home.
DATA-P5. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 2, Lesson 2C: Hiding From the Sun, students engage in a design challenge to construct a shelter for an animal made of UV beads to keep it safe from the sun. Students are given time to construct and test their initial ideas, evaluate their plan based on trials, and make adjustments to their shelter using the data from their trials.
CEDS-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Blowing in the Wind, students record observations of the wind and design devices for measuring wind speed and direction. Students compare the wind at various places around the schoolyard, then brainstorm ideas, select materials for their device, and build their device.
ARG-P6. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Investigating Worms, students construct an argument, with evidence from simple tests, of a worm’s reaction to various stimuli (light, sound, a wet cotton swab, a wet versus dry paper towel, nearby cornmeal or soil, and any other stimuli tests students carry-out), to support a claim about whether worms have senses.
INFO-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1D: And Everyone Shouted, “Pull”!, students use the trade book And Everyone Shouted, “Pull”!, about forces and motions of a farm cart traveling along a road to find evidence of when a push or pull is necessary to start, change direction, speed up, or slow down an object.
INFO-P4. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 7, Lesson 7A: Making Sense of Our Weather Data, students work in groups to communicate information about a weather pattern they observe in the class Weather Watchers Observation Chart through an oral presentation or skit.
Indicator 2E.ii
Materials incorporate all SEPs across the grade band
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades K-2 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level science and engineering practices and associated elements across the grade band.
Materials incorporate all science and engineering practices (SEPs) and associated elements within the grade band, and include few elements of the SEPs from above or below the grade band without connecting to the grade-band appropriate SEP.
Examples of SEP elements associated with the grade-band performance expectations that are met in the materials:
AQDP-P1. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: Weather Watchers: Making Observations, students make observations of the weather and draw and label pictures of the weather that they like the most and least. Then, students generate questions they have about the weather based on their observations.
MOD-P3. In Grade 2, Changing Earth: Today and Over Time, Activity 1, Lesson 1A: Schoolyard Detectives, students explore the schoolyard and identify a location where the shape of the land was changed. They discuss, as a class, the possible causes of those changes such as wind and water. Students draw and label a model of one of their observations in their Student Journal and explain the relationship between the change and the possible cause of the change.
MOD-P4. In Grade 2, Plant and Animal Relationships, Activity 5, Lesson 5E: Designing a Seed Model for Dispersal, students work in pairs and select a particular method of seed dispersal. They use what they learned previously in this activity to design a model of a seed that is dispersed using this specific method. Students test and revise the model to improve dispersal.
INV-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: Balls in Motion, as a class, the teacher and students develop a question about how balls of different size and/or weight move. Students select two different balls and other materials to conduct an investigation of how they move compared to each other. They select one of the balls they observed and draw and label a picture of how it moved.
INV-P2. In Grade 1, Waves: Light and Sound, Activity 3, Lesson 3C: What Can We Learn From A Shadow?, students work in pairs to plan and conduct an investigation and collect data to use as evidence for whether or not the length, direction, and shape of their shadows will differ between morning, noon, and afternoon.
INV-P4. In Grade 1, Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Stargazing, students use the Stellarium computer simulation program to observe and compare the positions of stars over the course of a night.
DATA-P3. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Plants and Animals Cause Change, students observe one of seven different pictures of animals and plants and their impact on their environment found in their Student Journal. They are asked to identify the cause of the changes that occurred to the environment. The groups share their observations with the class. Then ,students individually select one animal and draw and write about how it changes its habitat to get food or make a home.
DATA-P5. In Grade 2, Plants and Animal Relationships, Activity 6, Lesson 6D: Not Enough Bees, students are told about the decrease in the honeybee population over the last 50 years. Using information from previous lessons about how bees and other animals pollinate plants, students are presented with the engineering design challenge to build a hand pollinator. After students have planned, collected materials, built, and tested their pollinator devices, they share their solutions with the class. In their Student Journals, students draw a model of the hand pollinator as well as how they revised the model after their initial tests.
CEDS-P1. In Grade 1, Waves: Light and Sound, Activity 4, Lesson 4B: Sounds We Have Heard, students participate in a variety of stations (rubber band guitar, bottle rattlers, screeching cups, etc) to determine and explain that sound is caused by vibrations.
CEDS-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Blowing in the Wind, students record observations of the wind and design devices for measuring wind speed and direction. Students compare the wind at various places around the schoolyard, then brainstorm ideas, select materials for their device, and build their device.
CEDS-P3. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Lesson 2, Activity 2B: Sharing Our Solutions, students share their findings from a previous lesson in which they designed a structure that would withstand wind and water and discuss how those findings can be used in the design of the structure. Students are asked to identify patterns in the properties of the materials chosen. After the discussion, students write in their Student Journals about how they would alter their structure to be more wind or water-resistant, using the information shared during the class discussion.
ARG-P6. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animals Live Here, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Investigating Worms, students construct an argument, with evidence from simple tests, of a worm’s reaction to various stimuli (light, sound, a wet cotton swab, a wet versus dry paper towel, nearby cornmeal or soil, and any other stimuli tests students carry-out), to support a claim about whether worms have senses.
INFO-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 1, Lesson 1D: And Everyone Shouted, “Pull”!, students use the trade book And Everyone Shouted, “Pull”!, about forces and motions of a farm cart traveling along a road to find evidence of when a push or pull is necessary to start, change direction, speed up, or slow down an object.
INFO-P3. In Grade 1, Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: The Shape of the Moon, the teacher reads two trade books, Faces of the Moon and The Phases of the Moon. Students use the text to identify the pattern of the phases of the moon and draw a model of each phase of the moon based on the information conveyed in the text.
INFO-P4. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 7, Lesson 7A: Making Sense of Our Weather Data, students work in groups to communicate information about a weather pattern they observe in the class Weather Watchers Observation Chart through an oral presentation or skit.
Indicator 2F
Materials incorporate all grade-band Crosscutting Concepts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade K-2 meet expectations that they incorporate all grade-level crosscutting concepts and associated elements across the grade band.
Materials incorporate all crosscutting concepts (CCCs) and associated elements within the grade band, and they include few elements of the CCCs from above or below the grade band without connecting to the grade-band appropriate CCC.
Examples of CCC elements associated with the grade-band performance expectations that are present in the materials:
CE-P1. In Grade 2, Plant and Animal Relationships, Activity 5, Lesson 5B: Sock Walk, students investigate one way that seeds are dispersed by animals by going on a walk wearing socks over their shoes. They look at the seeds that stuck to their socks and describe the features of the seeds that caused them to stick.
CE-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: It’s Raining! It’s Pouring!, students draw how the clouds look on a rainy day. This helps students see that events (low, dark gray clouds) generate observable patterns (it rains).
EM-P1. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 7, Lesson 7A: Putting Pieces Together, students are given a structure made of smaller pieces (such as Legos or wooden blocks) and are instructed to take the structure apart and then, using all of the original pieces, create a new and different structure.
PAT-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2A: Collisions: Moving/Not Moving - Understanding the Problem, in groups, students investigate the motions that result from the collision of two moving balls. The class combines the group data to identify patterns in the test result and use it as evidence to create individual student drawings that describe the motion of the two moving balls before and after collision.
SC-P2. In Grade 1, Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles, Activity 4, Lesson 4A: Stargazing, students participate in a class model where students play the roles of earth, sun, and stars. The model includes labels for the astronomical seasons and cardinal directions. As the “earth” orbits around the “sun”, students observe that the stars that are visible to the “earth” volunteer change as the “earth” rotates to simulate day and night. The students then observe that there is also a slower change in what stars are visible from earth in terms of seasonal changes in the nighttime sky when the “earth” orbits around the “sun” to simulate the earth’s motion throughout the passage of a year.
SF-P1. In Grade 1, Plant and Animal Traits, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: Fiddler Crabs Use Their Body Parts, students work in groups to observe fiddler crabs and identify their different structures. Each group is assigned one structure to compare to a variety of human tools. Student groups identify the human tool that most closely resembles the assigned structure and use that comparison to identify the likely function of that structure.
SYS-P2. In Kindergarten, Plants and Animal Live Here, Activity 5, Lesson 5B: Human Habitats, students review their observations from a previous lesson identifying certain organisms that changed the environment in their schoolyard. Students work in groups to discuss where humans get the food, water, and shelter they need to survive. Students then create a model of their home or habitat and identify where they get their food, water, and find shelter in their home/habitat.
Indicator 2G
Materials incorporate NGSS Connections to Nature of Science and Engineering.
The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 partially meet expectations that they incorporate NGSS connections to nature of science and engineering.
Materials incorporate grade-band NGSS connections to the nature of science (NOS) and engineering (ENG) within individual activities or lessons across the series. Elements from two categories are included in the materials for the grade band, grade-band NOS elements associated with science and engineering practices (SEP) and grade-band ENG elements associated with crosscutting concepts (CCC). The materials miss the opportunity to include any NOS elements associated with CCCs.
Examples of grade-band connections to NOS elements associated with SEPs present in the materials:
VOM-P1. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 1, Lesson 1B: What Are Objects Made Of?, students design a structure that will remain standing in a rain and wind storm. They begin by exploring the properties of possible materials to use in their solution. Before they investigate the materials, the teacher tells students they should have a question in mind and that scientists begin investigations with a question they would like to answer.
VOM-P2. In Kindergarten, Weather and Climate, Activity 3, Lesson 3B: Blowing in the Wind, students discuss how to measure the speed and direction of the wind, and the teacher explains that meteorologists and other scientists use several different ways to measure the wind including windsocks, flags, and weather vanes. Students then build their own windsocks to measure the speed and direction of the wind.
BEE-P1. In Kindergarten, Motion: Pushes and Pulls, Activity 2, Lesson 2B: Investigating Collisions: Moving/Not Moving-Understanding the Problem, students investigate what happens to the speed and direction of two moving balls when they collide, and the teacher provides a clear summary of the class findings. Then, students discuss that, just like scientists, they made and recorded their observations so that they could look for patterns and use them to make sense of how the balls changed their motion.
ENP-P1. In Grade 2, Changing Earth: Today and Over Time, Activity 7, Lesson 7C: Combining and Comparing Causes and Effects of Changes to Earth’s Surface, the teacher discusses with the class how scientists and engineers develop and use models to help them learn and explain phenomena. The class then discusses how the models they made in this unit helped them to better understand landforms, bodies of water, and how wind and water can change the surface of the earth. Students then draw two models that explain how planting grass on a hillside can prevent erosion.
ENP-P2. In Grade 1, Waves: Light and Sound, Activity 5, Lesson 5A: Good Vibrations, students explore materials that produce sound and enable them to observe the vibrations that cause sound. Students make observations of sound traveling through air, water, and solid objects. As they discuss their observations, the teacher tells students that scientists call the relationship between vibrations and sound a pattern of cause and effect.
Examples of grade-band connections to ENG elements associated with CCCs present in the materials:
INFLU-P1. In Grade 1, Plant and Animal Traits, Activity 4, Lessons 4A and 4B, students apply their understanding of the function of plant and animal structures to brainstorm and design plans for a product that can solve a human problem by mimicking or modifying a plant or animal structure. Students then construct physical models of their solutions in Lesson 4B.
INFLU-P1. In Grade 2, Solving Problems with Properties, Activity 6, Lesson 6C: Engineering From Nature, the teacher reviews different tools, such as a hammer, and discusses how the design of a hammer is similar to a beaver’s teeth. Students then work collaboratively to design a useful tool, toy, or item of sports equipment using different properties that animals possess, keeping in mind the examples discussed in class (i.e., a hammer and beaver teeth, a bike helmet and turtle shell, velcro and burrs).
INFLU-P3. In Grade 1, Waves: Light and Sound, Activity 6, Lesson 6A: People Use Light and Sound, using prior knowledge, students discuss as a class how people depend on light for communication in their lives (traffic signals, emergency vehicles, turn signals on vehicles, on/off lights on electrical devices, etc.), as well as sounds (sirens, horns, alarm clocks, clock chimes, telephone ringing, doorbells, church bells, school bells, and buzzers). The students then participate in an activity where they develop a set of emergency codes to use in a town that does not have modern communication technologies (i.e. no telephones, TVs, cellphones, computers, or radios).
Overview of Gateway 3
Usability
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports
The program includes opportunities for teachers to effectively plan and utilize materials with integrity and to further develop their own understanding of the content.
Indicator 3A
Materials provide 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.
Indicator 3B
Materials contain adult-level explanations and examples of the more complex grade/course-level concepts and concepts beyond the current course so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
Indicator 3C
Materials include standards correlation information, including connections to college- and career-ready ELA and mathematics standards, that explains the role of the standards in the context of the overall series.
Indicator 3D
Materials provide strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator 3E
Materials provide explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.
Indicator 3F
Materials provide a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support instructional activities.
Indicator 3G
Materials provide clear science safety guidelines for teachers and students across the instructional materials.
Indicator 3H
Materials designated for each grade are feasible and flexible for one school year.
Criterion 3.2: Assessment
The program includes a system of assessments identifying how materials provide tools, guidance, and support for teachers to collect, interpret, and act on data about student progress towards the standards.
Indicator 3I
Assessment information is included in the materials to indicate which standards are assessed.
Indicator 3J
Assessment system provides multiple opportunities throughout the grade, course, and/or series to determine students' learning and sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up.
Indicator 3K
Assessments include opportunities for students to demonstrate the full intent of grade-level/grade-band standards and elements across the series.
Indicator 3L
Assessments offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.
Criterion 3.3: Student Supports
The program includes materials designed for each student’s regular and active participation in grade-level/grade-band/series content.
Indicator 3M
Materials provide strategies and supports for students in special populations to support their regular and active participation in learning grade-level/grade-band science and engineering.
Indicator 3N
Materials provide extensions and/or opportunities for students to engage in learning grade-level/grade-band science and engineering at greater depth.
Indicator 3O
Materials provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for for students to monitor their learning.
Indicator 3P
Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Indicator 3Q
Materials provide strategies and supports for students who read, write, and/or speak in a language other than English to regularly participate in learning grade-level/grade-band science and engineering.
Indicator 3R
Materials provide a balance of images or information about people, representing various demographic and physical characteristics.
Indicator 3S
Materials provide guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning.
Indicator 3T
Materials provide guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student cultural and social backgrounds to facilitate learning.
Indicator 3U
Materials provide supports for different reading levels to ensure accessibility for students.
Indicator 3V
This is not an assessed indicator in Science.
Criterion 3.4: Intentional Design
The program includes a visual design that is engaging and references or integrates digital technology (when applicable) with guidance for teachers.
Indicator 3W
Materials integrate interactive tools and/or dynamic software in ways that support student engagement in the three dimensions, when applicable.
Indicator 3X
Materials include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable.
Indicator 3Y
The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.
Indicator 3Z
Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.