High School - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Disciplinary Core Ideas.

Across the program, the materials claim 27/38 physical science DCIs, 16/28 earth and space science DCIs, all 5 engineering (ETS) DCIs. No life science elements are claimed in the program. There is a mix of full and limited claims, indicated in the materials with strikethroughs in the element language. The Elements of the NGSS Dimensions document, provided for each unit, contains the location of each element by lesson, the language of the element, and rationale which includes a description of either how the publisher intends for students to engage with the element or a description of the limited claim. Another location to find element claims is within the objectives provided in the What Students Will Do section of each lesson-level teacher guide in the form of color coded statements and corresponding element codes. Overall, students usually have more than one opportunity to engage with the DCI elements, and elements are mostly claimed either within one unit or across different units. Students have opportunities to engage with nearly all of the claimed elements from the physical science and earth and space science DCIs, as well as all of the claimed engineering DCIs.

Examples of claimed grade-band DCI elements present in the materials:

• PS1.C-H1: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 7: Where does the energy that drives convection come from?, students read about and describe radioactive decay from a forces, matter, and energy perspective. They create an explanation about how radioactive decay provides the energy to drive mantle convection.

• PS2.A-H1: In Unit P.3, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 4: What affects the amount of time it takes a vehicle to stop after the driver presses the brakes?, students investigate the different variables that affect how well a car can brake. Utilizing a simulation, students look at when there is more braking force applied that a car takes less time to stop. Students then apply mathematical models to their simulations. They interpret empirical data from graphs to identify the trends that they are seeing. They then utilize these trends to solve algebraic equations for single variables.

• PS3.A-H1: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 5: How does radiation interact with the parts of the microwave oven system?, students explore the structure of a microwave oven’s door and ask questions about how it interacts with both visible light and microwave radiation. Students plan and complete an investigation to determine what happens to energy transferred by waves as they reach the oven door and walls and use this information to develop a consensus model of radiation’s interactions with matter, including reflection, absorption, and transmission.

• PS4.A-H1: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 8: Why do we see patterns of hot and cold spots in the microwave oven?, students investigate the idea of hot and cold spots in food cooked in a microwave. They make observations of wave interference using waves on a string simulation. They create an explanation for wave interference and make a connection to electromagnetic waves.

• ESS1.A-H3: In Unit P.6, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 6: How has the matter in the Universe changed over time, and how do we know?, students analyze a spectra graph of the stars, galaxies, and empty space. Then students research how they can use their analysis of this information to explain the Big Bang Theory. Students share the gathered research and then read two different articles about the Big Bang Theory.

• ESS2.B-H1: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 10: What is happening at plate boundaries?, after determining the different types of plate boundaries by exploring a simulation, students read about the flow of matter between the mantle and the crust, including radioactive decay as the energy source.

• ETS1.C-H1: In Unit P.3, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 12: How can we use our models from across the unit to explain how vehicle systems can be designed to increase safety?, students read conflicting arguments about speed limits and their impact on society. These readings are then used to guide the criteria that students need to abide by when coming up with design solutions. Students look at the unanticipated effects or “trade-offs” that their design solutions may have. 

Claimed grade-band DCI elements partially present in the materials:

• PS1.C-H2: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 8: Is the rock at Afar radioactive, and what can that tell us?, students analyze radioactive decay graphs and read about radioactive materials in the crystals of rocks. They use a computer simulation to examine radioactive decay and determine the age of the rocks in the Afar area. Students do not have the opportunity to extend their study of radioactive materials beyond rocks.

• PS2.B-H2: In Unit P.4, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 2: How far does Earth's gravity extend into space?, students investigate how distance affects the forces of gravity and how mass and height can affect gravitational force. Then students investigate this interaction using magnets, wooden blocks, and a scale. They use various sized magnets to investigate how distance affects the magnetic force and use the data to create a graph. While the words “electric fields” do appear on the Gravity-Magnetism Comparison posters, students do not have the opportunity to actually engage in this part of the element.

• PS3.A-H4: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 3: How does energy transfer through a wave?, students produce waves with a spring and observe energy transferred to a point on the spring. They develop a model of how physical waves transfer energy through solids, including relative position of particles. Students do not have an opportunity to extend this connection to energy stored in fields, nor do they explore radiation.

• PS3.B-H3: In Unit P.4, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 8: What is the probability of a future or past meteor event impacting Earth?, students analyze a graph of different-size objects that have entered Earth’s atmosphere over a 28 year period and use a line of best fit to predict the frequency of large objects reaching Earth. Students then calculate the kinetic energy, using mass and speed, and estimate the potential damage large object impacts could inflict. Students do not have the opportunity to calculate potential energy based on relative positions of its particles, nor do they explicitly draw the connection to the concept of conservation of energy.

• ESS2.A-H1: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 3: What happens to the matter and energy in a system when the magnitude of balanced forces on it increases?, after developing an initial model of how unbalanced forces can cause changes (including deformation) in foam, students consider deformation in rocks and gather evidence from a reading to connect these unbalanced forces to Earth’s systems. Students do not have the opportunity to consider these forces in the context of feedback that either increases or decreases original changes.

• ESS2.A-H3: In Unit P.4, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 14: How could an impactor have killed off some types of life on Earth but not all?, students analyze a graph of extinction events over Earth’s history and develop a model to explain how an impactor collision could lead to differential extinction and revise the model based on information about matter changes, force interactions, and energy transfers as they relate to short-term and long-term effects of such an impact. Students do not have the opportunity to explore changes in the sun’s energy output, earth’s orbit, ocean circulation, glaciers, vegetation, and human activities.

• ESS2.B-H3: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 10: What is happening at plate boundaries?, students identify three types of plate boundaries and then use a simulation to investigate plate interaction at convergent and divergent boundaries. Students analyze data to compare surface features on Earth and those seen in the simulation and use a reading to aid in constructing a consensus model to explain these features. The features under study are those at the seafloor, students do not have the opportunity to consider the distribution of rocks and surface features.

• ESS3.A-H2: In Unit P.1, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 4: What makes an energy source reliable?, students gather information from energy source cards to connect to the phenomenon of the blackouts in Texas. Students realize that reliability is hard to quantify, so they develop a decision matrix to determine how well each source meets criteria the class decides are important. Students do not have the opportunity to explicitly consider the costs and benefits of economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical issues.

• ESS3.B-H1: Unit P.4, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 8: What is the probability of a future or past meteor event impacting Earth?, students collect evidence from a graph of different-sized objects that have entered Earth’s atmosphere over a 28-year period and predict the frequency of larger-mass objects reaching Earth. Students discuss what this implies about Earth’s past, arguing that these events have affected human history. Students do not have the opportunity to explicitly engage with the idea that natural hazards have significantly altered human population sizes and have driven human migrations.

Claimed grade-band DCI elements not present in the materials:

• PS3.B-H1: Conservation of energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system.

• ESS2.D-H1: The foundation for Earth’s global climate systems is the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space.

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Science and Engineering Practices.

Across the program, the materials claim 36/49 SEP elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each practice. For each practice, students have multiple opportunities to engage with the elements, oftentimes across units, as appropriate. Asking Questions and Defining Problems is part of the framing lesson for each unit, so it appears most often. In Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, when an element was not met, it was largely due to inconsistencies in planning and carrying out investigations both individually and collectively. Additionally, connections to components of the Nature of Science associated with the SEPs are noted in the teacher guide for each unit. There is a section titled Connections to the Nature of Science (NOS) and Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science (ETS) that contains a table for each category. The tables include information about which elements are developed in the unit and how they are developed.

Examples of claimed grade-band SEP elements present in the materials:

• AQDP-H3: In Unit P.1, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 6: How does energy transfer in wires?, as part of the investigation using a simulation, students determine the independent variable they want to change and the dependent variable they want to measure in order to determine relationships prior to constructing a model of energy transfer inside a wire.

• MOD-H1: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 4: What is changing in the matter at a particle level before an earthquake, and when a solid elastically deforms or breaks?, students evaluate the merits and limitations of two models (foam panels and inverter magnets) for understanding and explaining earthquakes. Students utilize a model evaluation tool to support their work.

• INV-H6: In Unit P.1, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 5: Where does electrical energy come from?, students dissect and then build and refine a generator as part of a design challenge. Through this process they work to improve its performance.

• DATA-H5: In Unit P.3, Lesson Set 1: Lesson 7: Can our models be used to predict the motion of real-world vehicles in a collision?, students investigate the impact of a variety of variables in relationship to driver safety, including vehicle type, mass, speed limit, and cell phone usage. They make predictions on the outcome, then compare it to the actual data. Students identify key patterns in the data and interpret the data to identify any trends.

• MATH-H2: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 12: How do forces act on objects, such as the plates, when they are on inclines?, students investigate the force of gravity concerning plate motion. Students use computational strategies to calculate the gravitational force on an object and use vector components when that object is on an incline to determine the gravitational force. They use this mathematical representation to make sense of the effect of gravity and the effect of an incline at divergent and convergent plate boundaries.

• CEDS-H3: In Unit P.3, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 9: How do safety features affect the forces over time on a person during a collision?, students investigate how safety features affect the forces acting on a person during a collision. They investigate the characteristics of seat belts and airbags that would affect survivability, and they use Newton’s Second Law, rearranging the equation, to evaluate the optimization strategies.

• ARG-H1: In Unit P.3, Lesson 2, Lesson 12: How can we use our models from across the unit to explain how vehicle systems can be designed to increase safety?, students evaluate competing arguments about speed limits. They compare the arguments from a science perspective and from a societal perspective which includes trade-offs for each argument.

• INFO-H2: In Unit P.6, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 4: How does running out of fuel cause a star to change?, students model the macro force of a star to figure out what keeps it stable. Students are then required to make a poster that communicates their answer to a specific research question about what causes stars to remain stable or become unstable and change. They can answer this research question using words, symbols, or drawings and are supported with the Evaluating Online Sources tool to make sure their sources are reliable. Students then participate in a gallery walk to view posters and participate in a consensus discussion about star stability.

Claimed grade-band SEP elements partially present in the materials:

• INV-H1: In Unit P.4, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 10: What determines the size of the crater made on impact?, students collaboratively plan an experiment to collect data on impact craters from meteors in order to determine the relationship between velocity, mass, and kinetic energy. Students do not have the opportunity to plan an investigation individually.

• INV-H3: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 5: How does radiation interact with the parts of the microwave oven system?, after inspecting the structure of a microwave door, students plan an investigation to determine what happens to energy transferred by electromagnetic radiation when the waves reach the oven. Though students consider safety from a personal perspective, they do not have the opportunity to consider safety and ethical concerns for environmental or social impacts.

Claimed grade-band SEP elements not present in the materials:

• MATH-H5: Apply ratios, rates, percentages, and unit conversions in the context of complicated measurement problems involving quantities with derived or compound units (such as mg/mL, kg/m3, acre-feet, etc.).

• ARG-H3: Respectfully provide and/or receive critiques on scientific arguments by probing reasoning and evidence and challenging ideas and conclusions, responding thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, and determining what additional information is required to resolve contradictions.

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Crosscutting Concepts.

Across the program, the materials claim 28/29 CCC elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each CCC. For each concept, students have multiple opportunities to engage with the elements, oftentimes across units, as appropriate. Elements from Patterns, Energy and Matter, and Stability and Change occur most often across the program. Additionally, connections to components of the Nature of Science associated with the CCCs are noted in the teacher guide for each unit. There is a section titled Connections to the Nature of Science (NOS) and Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science (ETS) that contains a table for each category. The tables include information about which elements are developed in the unit and how they are developed.

Examples of claimed grade-band CCC elements present in the materials:

• PAT-H2: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 5: How do we investigate the connection between matter in Earth's interior and surface features above?, students explore patterns in subsurface composition at a global scale and then at a regional scale. From comparing these patterns and attempting to use their model to explain both, students are faced with the realization that their model is insufficient to explain patterns at both scales and therefore needs revision.

• CE-H4: In Unit P.4, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 14: How could an impactor have killed off some types of life on Earth but not all?, students analyze a graph of mass extinction events over Earth’s history and then develop an initial model to explain how an impactor collision would lead to extinction of some types of organisms but not others, in addition to differential changes in earth systems as a result of the Chicxulub impactor.

• SPQ-H3: In Unit P.1, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 7: What could have caused the disparities we saw in the blackouts in Texas?, after exploring how electricity supply must be cut off from one area to preserve power in another, students discuss how the power companies in Texas might have made decisions on who lost power by analyzing data and looking for correlations in county-level factors that may have informed decisions. Students realize that the data is not granular enough for strong conclusions and that they need more specific data.

• SYS-H2: In Unit P.3, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 6: Do our motion relationships help predict any of the interactions or outcomes in a collision?, students analyze sensor data as they investigate collisions between a cart and a barrier and a system with two carts. Students define and identify the variables in the two-cart system they are investigating. Later in the lesson, as they consider momentum relationships, teachers are instructed to emphasize to students, “that this is another way to consider the two-object system, which is to keep track of all the relevant inputs and outputs.”

• EM-H2: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 1: How do microwave ovens function, and why does their structure affect wireless signals?, students create initial models that explain their observations of how a microwave oven heats food and why a Bluetooth signal from a phone is affected when the phone is in the microwave oven. Student models are evaluated for the way that changes in matter and energy are described in the model. This is incorporated into the M-E-F model built in previous lessons.

• SF-H1: In Unit P.5, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 2: How does a microwave oven use electricity to produce microwave radiation?, students study the microwave oven and focus on a part called the magnetron. Through a reading, students investigate the way that the design of the magnetron, including different materials, causes electrons to vibrate in the antenna.

• SC-H1: In Unit P.1, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 1: What can we learn from a blackout in Texas about producing reliable energy for our communities?, students begin their investigation into the power grid failures that caused massive blackouts in Texas. They start with discussing how a power grid is stable and what causes a blackout to occur. Students then construct a model to explain how the energy grid functions when the grid is operational. 

Claimed grade-band CCC elements partially present in the materials:

• EM-H4: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 1, Lesson 6: How is temperature related to the behavior of the matter in the mantle?, students analyze a tank with liquid and plastic pellets, simulating what happens to matter in the mantle when it is heated. Students engage in a discussion of energy into and out of the system. Students do not have the opportunity to address matter cycling within or between systems.

• SC-H2: In Unit P.2, Lesson Set 2, Lesson 13: How can we use our science ideas to explain what happened at the Midcontinent Rift?, students revisit the scale chart and add ridge push and slab pull. Students then connect what they learned about the Midcontinent Rift and other processes that happen over a very long period of time to what is happening in Afar today. Students do not have the opportunity to engage in the idea of irreversible changes.

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that materials present Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) in a way that is scientifically accurate. Across the course, the teacher materials, student materials, and assessments accurately represent the three dimensions and are free from scientific inaccuracies.

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that they do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-band disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Across the course, the materials consistently incorporate student learning opportunities to learn and use the DCIs appropriate to the HS grade-band.

The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that materials are designed for student tasks related to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems to increase in sophistication.

Across the program, student tasks related to explaining phenomena and solving problems consistently increase in sophistication. In some cases, tasks increase in complexity and in other cases, student responsibility increases. The way tasks increase in sophistication varies but often there is a rubric or specific approach that students are given explicitly in early units and then those pieces of guidance are gradually removed as students progress through the program. Notably, tasks related to the SEPs of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking and Analyzing Data increased in both complexity and student responsibility. Whereas, tasks related to the SEPs Using and Developing Models and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions showed little to no change in terms of increasing sophistication across the program.

Examples where student tasks related to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems increase in sophistication across the course:

• Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students begin engagement with this practice in a highly scaffolded approach with teacher support and guidance. As students progress through the program, they are supported to work more independently to gather information from reliable sources to then present this information in a professional manner. For instance, in Unit P.1, students work as a class with teacher support to utilize scientific readings and a podcast to engage with the phenomenon of energy blackouts in Texas. In Unit P.4, students use scientific literature that is adapted for the classroom to determine mechanisms and draw conclusions about the Earth's processes. In Unit P.5, students start with a technical reading of a microwave oven manual, to understand how the microwave oven works, and then utilize readings curated by the materials on how the Magnetron operates. They also read informational texts including those with models and graphs to understand the transfer of temperature between objects. In Unit P.6, students analyze and research star spectra graphs. They evaluate a variety of resources to determine the reliability of the information and its relevance in answering student-developed research questions.

• Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in planning and carrying out investigations. Students are scaffolded from concrete tasks initially to more complex tasks that they are asked to refine with guidance. The most complex task requires students to carry out controlled experiments with safety parameters in mind, to argue for and refine a plan, and then carry out the experiment. For instance, in Unit P.1, students investigate a switch and its internal structures to understand how it works. They also build a generator as a design challenge. In Unit P.2, students investigate the more complicated motion of an object when several forces are acting on it. In Unit P.4, they design an investigation to understand craters, sharing and refining their protocol before proceeding. In Unit P.5, they conduct a more sophisticated experiment about transmission and reflection in a microwave oven. Students discuss safety concerns regarding the use of a microwave, brainstorm safety measures, and carry out a controlled experiment. They argue for a plan for testing the walls and the doors of the oven and then carry out the experiments collaboratively.

• Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in analyzing and interpreting data. Students responsibility increases related to making sense of patterns in data, observations, and graphs, and increasing complexity of the data sets students draw from. For instance, in Unit P.1, students receive significant guidance and scaffolding as they assess correlation in graphs using the r value, and are guided to consider limitations in their analysis such as smaller patterns not being apparent. Students use guiding questions to evaluate information communicated graphically about supply and demand in an electrical system and identify characteristics of energy sources that make them more reliable. In Unit P.2, students learn about exponential decay and use related data to estimate the age of rock samples and then reconstruct the geologic history of a region at a tectonic plate boundary over the last 700 million years, and obtain new data that prompts them to revise a model and explanation for the composition of Earth's crust in the area. In Unit P.3, students consider vehicle collisions and model distracted vs. non-distracted driving in movement-time graphs and complete analysis of their own collected data to evaluate initial explanations about factors influencing changes in casualties over time. Students then use more complex data from simulation graphs to identify safety components of a vehicle system and optimize them based on criteria for success, and then use data gathered from cart collisions in order to support claims about design components to increase likelihood of survival in a collision. In Unit P.4, students consider meteor frequency on the moon and Earth, and determine the correlation coefficient (first introduced in Unit 1) to analyze the relationship between velocity and mass of impactor and the resulting size of a crater, and then use these findings to revise their explanation for changes in matter and energy in the meteor-Earth system. In Unit P.5, students use slinkies to model waves and consider amplitude and frequency effects on energy in EM radiation. From a reading with limited scaffolding, they determine that their model is insufficient to explain why increases in frequency cause more damage than increases in amplitude, which leads them to study ionization and the photon model of light and determine that this model more adequately explains the complex patterns in data about how microwaves work.