2nd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations that they consistently support meaningful student sensemaking with the three dimensions.

Across Grade 2, multiple learning sequences include opportunities for students to engage in sensemaking using all three dimensions. In a few sequences, students engage in sensemaking with two dimensions. In some cases student sensemaking takes place across the entire sequence and in others student sensemaking happens within a single learning opportunity. In cases where there is only two-dimensional sensemaking, a CCC is missing. When sequences do not engage students in sensemaking, they typically include tasks for students to recall information or apply the SEPs or CCCs in isolation,however there are missed opportunities to provide students the opportunity to use SEPs and CCCs in concert to make sense of a DCI.

Examples of materials that are designed for SEPs and CCCs to meaningfully support student sensemaking with the other dimensions:

• In Grade 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1: Water on Earth, students engage in a learning sequence that explores where water is found on the earth and that it is found in both liquid and solid states. Students discuss different types of bodies of water (including those that flow), groups research a body of water, and compare their water body to other students’, noting similarities and differences in a chart (SEP-INFO-P1, SEP-MOD-P2, and SEP-DATA-P1). Students look for patterns in their data and use this information to make a claim about the different types of bodies of water and where they are found (CCC-PAT-P1, SEP-CEDS-P1, and DCI-ESS2.C-P1). Students ask a question about how water changes with temperature (SEP-AQDP-P1) and plan and conduct an investigation using a model to find out how temperature affects a body of water (SEP-INV-P2, SEP-MOD-P3). Students record their observations (SEP-DATA-P1), compare their results with their classmates, and look for patterns (CCC-PAT-P1). Using their results as evidence, students make a claim about how temperature may affect a body of water, helping students to understand how water exists as solid ice and in liquid form in the natural world and how temperature is responsible for the different states (SEP-CEDS-P1, DCI-ESS2.C-P1).

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 1, Exploration 2: Modeling Weathering and Erosion, students engage in a modeling activity to make sense of how erosion changes the earth’s surface. Students create a model using sugar cubes to represent soil and earth and water droppers to represent rain or rivers (SEP-MOD-P3). They gradually add drops of water on the sugar cubes until they begin to dissolve and record their observations. They share and use their observations to make a claim about how weathering and erosion change earth’s surface (SEP-DATA-P3, SEP-CEDS-P1, and DCI-ESS1.C-P1). The activity concludes with a discussion that, in nature, these changes occur over long periods of time (DCI-ESS1.C-P1, CCC-SC-P1).

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 4, Exploration 1: Explore Sunlight & Water, students investigate plants’ need for sunlight and water. Students conduct an investigation comparing plants with and without water or sunlight to collect data (SEP-INV-P2, SEP-DATA-P3). Students compare their findings to make a claim about the effects of water and light on plants’ growth (CCC-CE-P2) and write an explanation of what plants need to grow and how their environment provides what they need (DCI-LS2.A-P1, SEP-CEDS-P1).

Examples of materials that are not designed for SEPs and CCCs to meaningfully support student sensemaking with the other dimensions:

• In Grade 2, Unit 1, Lesson 1: Compare Design Solutions, students engage in a learning sequence to design, test, and revise a ramp. Students talk with a partner about the problem and create a model of their ramp design (DCI-ETS1.A-P3, DCI-ETS1.B-P1, and SEP-MOD-P4). Students compare their models with another group and make observations (SEP-CEDS-P3, SEP-DATA-P1). Students describe how they could use new materials to improve their solutions (DCI-ETS1.C-P1). Students make a plan and test two of the materials in their ramp design, recording the “good” and “flawed” features into a table (SEP-DATA-P1). Students make a claim (SEP-CEDS-P1) that comparing solutions gives you new ideas, allowing a scientist a better design (DCI-ETS1.C-P1). Students use the design process to explain how a box could be lifted on a truck. There is a missed opportunity for students to use these SEPs or any CCC to make sense of a DCI from life, physical, or earth and space science.

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2: Objects Can Be Put Together, students engage in a learning sequence in which they explore the parts of buildings and how the same materials/parts can be used to build different things. Students observe images of buildings and talk about their parts and what they are made of (CCC-SYS-P1) and design a building, label- the parts and indicate what they’re made of (SEP-DATA-P1, SEP-MOD-P2). Students are told how a variety of larger objects can be made from the same set of small items (DCI-PS1.A-P3). Students are given building materials and come up with a plan to find out how many objects they can build from the same pieces (SEP-INV-P2). They implement their plan and then record how the objects they’ve built are similar and different (CCC-EM-P1) and compare their objects with their classmates’ (SEP-MOD-P2). Although there are learning opportunities within this lesson that include all three dimensions, there is a missed opportunity for students to engage in sensemaking because the materials tell students what they will discover at the beginning of the lesson. 

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 3: Matter Can Change, students engage in a learning sequence that explores that cooling and heating matter can cause it to change in reversible and irreversible ways. At the beginning of each exploration, students read text that explains what happens to matter when it is heated or cooled and the definitions for reversible and irreversible changes (DCI-PS1.B-P1). Students use this information to perform simple tests to determine what happens to objects either placed in a freezer or the microwave, recording their observations (SEP-DATA-P1). At the conclusion of each exploration, students write claims explaining the effect of the heating and cooling on the objects (CCC-CE-P1), there is a missed opportunity for students to engage in sensemaking because the materials tell students what they will discover at the beginning of the lesson. 

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 2: Plants Depend on Animals, students engage in a learning sequence that explores how plants need animals to spread seeds and carry pollen from flower to flower. Students look at pictures and read text that explains how animals often carry the seeds of plants to other places. They engage in an activity where they simulate animal fur that could potentially pick up and carry burdock seeds. They pick materials to test, make predictions about which ones will pick up the seeds, test each material, and record their observations (SEP-DATA-P1, SEP-INV-P6, SEP-DATA-P4, and DCI-ETS1.A-P2). Based on their results, they determine the properties of the materials that picked up the seeds (CCC-SF-P1). Then, students design a tool that could be used to help people pick up and move seeds (SEP-MOD-P4, DCI-ETS1.B-P1, and SEP-CEDS-P2). After comparing their designs with others, students make a claim about how animals move seeds based on their investigation (SEP-CEDS-P1, DCI-LS2.A-P2). Students engage in an investigation to model how insects move pollen from flower to flower, recording observations (SEP-DATA-P1). Students determine what parts of the insects can help move pollen (CCC-SF-P1). They make a claim about how animals move pollen and explain how animals help plants (SEP-CEDS-P1, DCI-LS2.A-P2). Although there are learning opportunities within this lesson that include all three dimensions, there is a missed opportunity for students to engage in sensemaking because the materials tell students what they will discover at the beginning of the explorations.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations that they are designed to elicit direct, observable evidence for the three-dimensional learning in the instructional materials.

In Grade 2, materials provide three-dimensional lesson objectives tied to performance expectations. Each lesson includes a Lesson Objective stating what students will do in the subsequent explorations. The lesson objectives are supported by the Making 3D Connections feature, which names which performance expectations the lesson is building to and the elements of the three-dimensions that students are supposed to be engaged in. The exception is Unit 1, which only includes engineering performance expectations and does not include DCIs from life, physical, or earth and space science.

Each lesson includes multiple opportunities for formative assessment. The assessments, however, do not consistently reveal student knowledge of all of the elements of the lesson objectives. There is a Making Sense question at the end of each hands-on exploration that asks students to connect the exploration content to the publisher identified phenomenon or science concept presented at the start of the Lesson. This question is most often connected to a DCI. Can You Explain It? questions usually mirror the questions found in the Making Sense section. The remaining Some explorations also include Apply What You Know formative assessments that typically address a DCI. At the end of the lesson, the materials provide a Self Check quiz. This quiz consists of three-four multiple-choice or matching questions. These questions are most often assessing student knowledge of one dimension, typically a DCI or a portion of an SEP. The materials miss several opportunities to assess student understanding of SEPs and CCCs.

The materials inconsistently incorporate tasks for purposes of supporting the instructional process. They provide suggested responses or scoring guidelines, but only provide support for adjusting instruction for the hands-on explorations. 

Examples of lessons that have three-dimensional learning objectives, formative assessment tasks do not assess student knowledge of all (three) dimensions in the learning objective, and provide limited guidance to support the instructional process:

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 1: Properties of Matter, the three-dimensional lesson objective is ”Children can classify materials based on properties and explain why different properties make materials best suited for a purpose,” and is associated with performance expectations 2-PS1-1 and 2-PS1-2. Formative assessment is embedded in the Making Sense, Can You Explain It?, Apply What You Know, and Self Check portions of the learning sequence. The Making Sense and Can You Explain It? questions ask students to explain why baseballs and basketballs are used in different sports (DCI-PS1.A-P2). The Lesson Check includes a question where students analyze data to determine the best material for a bike pedal (SEP-DATA-P5). There is a missed opportunity to assess SEP-INV-P2 and CCC-PAT-P1. While the materials provide remediation guidance for hand-on explorations, the other formative assessments only include sample answers and scoring guidelines.

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2: Objects Can Be Put Together, the three-dimensional lesson objective is “Children can use observations to explain how an object made of a small set of pieces can be taken apart and made into a new object,” and is associated with performance expectation 2-PS1-3. Formative assessment is embedded in the Making Sense, Can You Explain It?, Apply What You Know, and Lesson Check portions of the learning sequence. The Making Sense and Lesson Check portions of the sequence ask students how a toy truck can become a toy boat and provide scenarios where students arrange smaller pieces to create something new (DCI-PS1.A-P3, SEP-CEDS-P1, and CCC-EM-P1). There is a missed opportunity to assess a DCI-PS1.A-P2. While the materials provide remediation guidance for hand-on explorations, the other formative assessments only include sample answers and scoring guidelines.

• In Grade 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1: Water on Earth, the three-dimensional lesson objective is “Children obtain information to identify patterns in various bodies of water and whether they exist as a solid or a liquid,” and is associated with performance expectation 2-ESS2-3. Formative assessment is embedded in the Making Sense, Can You Explain It?, Apply What You Know, and Lesson Check portions of the learning sequence. The Making Sense question in Exploration 2 asks students to explain how freezing explains a river’s different appearance at different times of year (DCI-ESS2.C-P1, SEP-CEDS-P1, and CCC-CE-P2). The Lesson Check includes a question asking students to describe a model of an ocean (SEP-MOD-P3). There is a missed opportunity to assess SEP-INFO-P3. While the materials provide remediation guidance for hand-on explorations, the other formative assessments only include sample answers and scoring guidelines.

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 1: Slow Changes on Earth, the three-dimensional learning objective is “Children use information from different sources to explain that some events on Earth’s surface can occur slowly,” and is associated with performance expectation 2-ESS1-1. Formative assessment is embedded in the Making Sense, Can You Explain It?, Apply What You Know, and Lesson Check portions of the learning sequence. The Making Sense and Can You Explain It? questions ask students to explain how rocks can change slowly over time (DCI-ESS1.C-P1, SEP-CEDS-P1). The Lesson Check includes questions about the speed of changes in the landscape (CCC-SC-P2). There is a missed opportunity to assess SEP-MOD-P4. While the materials provide remediation guidance for hand-on explorations, the other formative assessments only include sample answers and scoring guidelines.

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 3: Plants and Animals in Land Habitats, the three-dimensional lesson objective is “Children make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in land habitats,” and is associated with performance expectation 2-LS4-1. Formative assessment is embedded in the Making Sense, Can You Explain It?, Apply What You Know, and Lesson Check portions of the learning sequence. The Making Sense and Can You Explain It? questions ask students to explain why iguanas and zebra plants can live in the rain forest but not the desert (DCI-LS4.D-P1). The Apply What You Know and Lesson Check assessments ask a variety of questions about why animals are suited to different habitats, but miss the opportunity to assess SEP-INV-P4 and CCC-CE-P2. While the materials provide remediation guidance for hand-on explorations, the other formative assessments only include sample answers and scoring guidelines.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations that phenomena and/or problems are presented to students as directly as possible.

Grade 2 materials present phenomena and/or problems to students as directly as possible in multiple instances but not consistently across the grade level. In multiple instances, the materials provide students with access to the phenomena that leads to a shared common experience and a robust entry point into the phenomena. The materials present the phenomena as a video or image that is accompanied by narration. No instances are present where students engage with the phenomena first hand. The lessons that include a video most often present the phenomena as directly as possible. 

Examples of phenomena and problems that are presented to students as directly as possible, providing a common experience of the process(es) and a robust entry point: 

• In Grade 2, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Exploration 1: Engineer It - Design a Ramp, the design challenge is to construct a ramp. Students view a photograph about how to move a block to a truck. The photograph shows the ramp and explicit directions to help guide students to come up with a solution.

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 3, Exploration 1: Explore Cooling, the phenomena are a fountain with flowing water and a fountain covered in ice.. Students observe two images, one of a fountain with the water flowing and one of a frozen fountain. 

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Exploration 1: Model an Earthquake, the phenomenon is that a road cracked after an earthquake. Students observe two photographs of a road, one before and one after an earthquake occurs and listen to narration explaining an earthquake. The images clearly show the same road both intact and cracked and provide enough of a description of an earthquake to explain the crack’s formation. 

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 2: Plants Depend Animals, the phenomena are that a bee in a flower is covered in pollen and a squirrel is burying an acorn. Students view videos of a bee in a flower and a squirrel burying an acorn. The narration points out that the bee is covered in pollen and the squirrel is burying the acorn.

Examples of phenomena and problems that are not presented to students as directly as possible:

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 3: Matter Can Change, the phenomenon is that icicles can melt into water and that a mix can turn into a loaf of bread. Students view a video of icicles and a video of bread coming out of the oven. In the video, the icicles do not melt and students do not see what the bread mix looked like before it went into the oven. There is a missed opportunity for the presentation of this phenomenon to provide a common experience of these processes and a robust entry point.

• In Grade 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1: Water on Earth, the phenomenon is that water in a river moves quickly in spring and slow in the winter. Students view two videos of a river shot from overhead (like drone footage). In one video it is spring and the water is flowing, in the other it is winter, the land is covered with snow and part of the river is frozen. The video is taken from so high overhead that it’s difficult for students to actually see the water in the river and what the water is doing. There is a missed opportunity for the presentation of this phenomenon to provide a common experience of this process and a robust entry point.

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Exploration 3: Model Moving Water, the phenomenon is an area of land that is flooded. Students observe a photograph of an area of land covered by water with narration that the area is normally dry. There is not enough context given or a clear image of what the area looked like before the flooding for all students to access how or why the flooding occurred. There is a missed opportunity for the presentation of this phenomenon to provide a common experience of this process and a robust entry point.

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 3, Exploration 1: Explore Changing Land, the phenomenon is that healthy soil and unhealthy soil look different. Students observe photographs of fields of crops. One photograph has plants thriving and the other set of crops are dead and dry. It is not clear in the photos what is causing the difference in the crops. There is a missed opportunity for the presentation of this phenomenon to provide a common experience of this process and a robust entry point.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations that they intentionally leverage students’ prior knowledge and experience related to phenomena or problems.

The Grade 2 materials consistently provide opportunities for teachers to elicit students’ prior knowledge and experience of phenomena and problems. Phenomena and problems are present at both the learning sequence level, called Lessons, and the learning opportunity level, called Explorations. Phenomena and problems introduced at the lesson level include a question called a TELL Prompt in the Culturally Responsive Education portion of the teacher notes. The TELL Prompt typically asks students for their prior knowledge or experience related to the phenomenon or problem and provides possible student responses for the teacher. When phenomena are present in explorations, the teacher notes sometimes include an Everyday Phenomenon. This provides an alternate phenomenon for teachers to describe to students, along with questions for students to make connections to the alternate phenomenon. In some cases these prompts are clearly connected to the phenomenon for the Exploration and in others they only connect to the alternate phenomenon.

While the materials consistently elicit students’ prior knowledge and experiences related to phenomena and problems, they miss the opportunity to leverage those ideas and experience in student learning. The Culturally Responsive Education portion of the teacher notes in each lesson includes generic guidance for the teacher to “use what you learn from children’s responses to help them connect new academic concepts,” but student responses to the TELL prompt are not recorded, returned to later in the sequence, or explicitly incorporated into the sequence.

Examples where the materials elicit but do not leverage students’ prior knowledge and experience related to phenomena and problems:

• In Grade 2, Unit 2, Lesson 3: Matter Can Change, the phenomenon is that icicles melt into water and a mix can turn into a loaf of bread. The TELL Prompt asks students what they already know about what happens when heat is added to things and how they change. There is a missed opportunity to leverage student responses later in the lesson.

• In Grade 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1: Water on Earth, the phenomenon is that water in a river moves quickly in the spring and slowly in the winter. The TELL Prompt asks students what they know about the different forms water takes during the year and where it can be found on Earth. There is a missed opportunity to leverage student responses later in the lesson.

• In Grade 2, Unit 4, Lesson 2: Fast Changes on Earth, the phenomena are an erupting volcano and an earthquake. The TELL Prompt asks students to tell what they know about volcanoes and earthquakes and how they can change the land. There is a missed opportunity to leverage student responses later in the lesson.

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 1: Plant Needs , the phenomenon is that sunflowers are growing tall in an open field. The TELL Prompt asks students to describe what they know about what plants like sunflowers need to grow. There is a missed opportunity to leverage student responses later in the lesson.

• In Grade 2, Unit 5, Lesson 4: Plants and Animals in Water Habitats, the phenomenon is that a catfish and sea urchin live in different habitats. The TELL Prompt asks students to share what they know about water habitats and why different things live in different habitats. There is a missed opportunity to leverage student responses later in the lesson.