Second Grade

how can we stop soil from washing away? (1st Edition)

10 lessons | 13 days of instruction

Over the 10 lessons in this module, students explore and collect evidence on the fast and slow ways water and wind can change the shape of land. Students examine photographs and models of certain changes in the land caused by flowing water and blowing wind. They engage in a literacy activity that highlights the successful and unsuccessful ways people have attempted to minimize the impact water and wind have on the land. Then they use a stream table as a model to compare multiple solutions designed to prevent water from changing the shape of the land. The end-of-module summative performance assessment asks students to apply the evidence gathered in previous lessons to a scenario-based engineering design challenge.

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what can maps tell us about water on earth? (1st Edition)

10 lessons | 13 days of instruction

Students explore the patterns of land and water on Earth and how they can represent those patterns with models, including maps. Exploring the kinds of land and water on Earth, students use their observations to create definitions of each kind of land and water, then demonstrate their understanding by developing a three-dimensional model. Students plan and carry out an investigation into the properties of solid and liquid water to explore the patterns of water on Earth, providing the knowledge to explain the patterns of solid water on Earth that they observe in satellite images. Students continue to obtain and use information from examples of patterns of land and water to further develop their three-dimensional models. Students read about maps from different cultures, exploring how mapmakers use symbols to show patterns of land and water, then create a custom legend using their own symbols. During the science challenge performance assessment, students make a two-dimensional map of their three-dimensional models of land and water. Students test their ability to interpret how the maps represent patterns by trading maps and matching the map to the correct model of land and water.

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how can we find the best place for a plant to grow? (2nd Edition)

10 lessons | 14 days of instruction

In this module, students learn about the relationship between plants and animals in habitat systems. In Lessons 1 through 3, students explain the phenomenon of radish seeds that sprouted in the dark. In Lessons 4 through 6, students solve the problem of a tomato plant that flowered but never grew tomatoes. In Lessons 7 and 8, students explain the phenomenon of an acorn that traveled to a planter on a balcony. In the science challenge, Lessons 9 and 10, students use data as evidence to engage in argumentation about the best place for two plants in the schoolyard habitat.

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how can we change solids and liquids? (2nd Edition)

10 lessons | 14 days of instruction

In this module, students explore the properties of materials and how solids and liquids can change by heating, cooling, putting together, and taking apart. In Lessons 1 and 2, students sort and categorize objects by properties to build multiple sculptures out of the same set of pieces. In Lessons 3 and 4, students explore melting and freezing and the properties of solids and liquids to explain how a crayon changed when melted. In Lessons 5 through 8, students develop a solution to fix the melted crayons. In Lessons 9 and 10, students apply what they have learned to construct an argument with evidence about the best filling for a cold pack.

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