December High School Newsletter
Empower your students with high quality classroom materials!
We’ve recently released three new high school units that have earned WestEd’s NGSS Design Badge! These units are designed to engage students with real-world phenomena and provide them with a solid foundation to excel in college and STEM careers.
B.2 Ecosystems Matter & Energy
Students investigate the flow of matter and energy in ecosystems, including arctic fires, decomposition, photosynthesis, and carbon cycling. They also develop quantitative models and design solutions to disrupt the flow of matter and energy in communities.
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C.2 Structure & Properties of Matter
To understand what causes lightning and why some places are safer than others when it strikes, students explore static interactions, Coulomb’s law, and electric fields through captivating narratives, data analysis, and immersive investigations.
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P.2 Energy, Forces & Earth’s Crust
Students investigate a crack that opened up suddenly in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 2005 and use tomography and modeling to explain how unbalanced forces in Earth’s interior drive changes in Earth’s crust.
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IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT
Download the Teacher Handbook.
Our Teacher Handbook offers step-by-step guidance on supporting emerging multilingual learners, creating a classroom culture that engages all students regardless of their previous exposure to science and an overview of the routines in the OpenSciEd curriculum.
FEATURED CURRICULUM UNIT
P.1 Energy Flow from Earth’s Systems
“My students loved unit P.1! I found the material to be thoughtfully paced and very accessible for my students.”
-Laura Lawrence, Physics Teacher
This month, we’re highlighting our P.1 Energy Flow from Earth’s Systems unit! Students investigate the Texas power crisis of February 2022 to learn about energy transfer and the engineering decisions that go into creating reliable energy systems. Students also explore how electrons flow through wires to power our communities and discover the factors that must be considered when deciding on our energy infrastructure. They then apply their knowledge in a culminating task: designing a reliable energy solution that meets the needs of their community. This unit earned the NGSS Design Badge, certifying its quality and ability to strengthen students’ learning in the 3-Dimensions.
