"What if you could challenge your kindergartners to create a mini roller coaster? Physics in Motion turns a fun building project into an opportunity to investigate concepts such as energy, gravity, friction, and speed. Students will use the engineering design process while working collaboratively to design, build, and test marble track roller coasters. They will measure, compare, and evaluate numbers related to their project. They'll use technology to do research and demonstrate their awareness of motion-related concepts. They'll even craft a plan for making the roller coaster part of a theme park and then create a flyer to advertise it. The module is an entry point for students to explore the physics of motion through play and then decide which roller coaster design is best"--

STEM Road Map: A Framework for Integrated STEM Education is the first resource to offer an integrated STEM curricula encompassing the entire K-12 spectrum, with complete grade-level learning based on a spiraled approach to building conceptual understanding. A team of over thirty STEM education professionals from across the U.S. collaborated on the important work of mapping out the Common Core standards in mathematics and English/language arts, the Next Generation Science Standards performance expectations, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning into a coordinated, integrated, STEM education curriculum map. The book is structured in three main parts—Conceptualizing STEM, STEM Curriculum Maps, and Building Capacity for STEM—designed to build common understandings of integrated STEM, provide rich curriculum maps for implementing integrated STEM at the classroom level, and supports to enable systemic transformation to an integrated STEM approach. The STEM Road Map places the power into educators’ hands to implement integrated STEM learning within their classrooms without the need for extensive resources, making it a reality for all students.

What if you could challenge your kindergarten students to compare their local habitats with other habitats in the United States? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can! Habitats in the United States outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. Like the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms. This interdisciplinary, three-lesson module uses project- and problem-based learning to help students look at their own neighborhood, city, state, and beyond to learn about the geography and habitats of various regions of the United States. Students will gather information on habitats and their similarities and differences based on weather, climate, and the animals, plants, and people residing there, to develop a reference manual for local zoo officials reorganizing their animal displays. To support this goal, students will do the following: Explain that there are different types of habitats in different parts of the U.S. Explain how various habitats sustain animals and plants Identify climatic characteristics of several habitats Apply their knowledge of habitats to develop a reference guide about habitats in the U.S. Utilize technology to gather research information and communicate Identify technological advances and tools that scientists use to learn about sustainable systems Design and construct models of habitats Understand local weather patterns and make connections among weather patterns and plant and animal life where they live The STEM Road Map Curriculum Series is anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. In-depth and flexible, Habitats in the United States can be used as a whole unit or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools, and teachers who are charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.

What if you could challenge your kindergartners to come up with a way to reduce human impact on the environment? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can! Our Changing Environment outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. Like the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms. This interdisciplinary, three-lesson module uses project- and problem-based learning to help students investigate the environment around them, with a focus on ways that humans can impact the environment. Working in teams, students will investigate various types of human impact on the environment (including pollution, littering, and habitat destruction), will participate in a classroom recycling program, and will explore the engineering design process as they devise ways to repurpose waste materials. To support this goal, students will do the following: Identify human impacts on the environment. Identify technological advances and tools that scientists use to learn about the changing environment, and use technology to gather data. Explain, discuss, and express concepts about the environment through development and design of a publication to report their scientific findings about the environment around the school. Chart and understand local weather patterns, and make connections between weather conditions and their observations of the environment. Identify and demonstrate recycling practices, including sorting materials and tracking amounts of materials recycled, and participate in a class recycling program. The STEM Road Map Curriculum Series is anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. In-depth and flexible, Our Changing Environment can be used as a whole unit or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools, and teachers who are charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.

Activity resource book teaching scientific principles in a vivid way with Lego, balloons etc.

A group of farmyard animals illustrate the action of force and motion.

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.