High School - Gateway 2
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Coherence and Scope
Gateway 2 - Meets Expectations | 93% |
|---|---|
Criterion 2.1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions | 30 / 32 |
The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence & Scope; Criterion 1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions meets expectations.
Criterion 2.1: Coherence and Full Scope of the Three Dimensions
Materials are coherent in design, scientifically accurate, and support claims made for all three dimensions.
NOTE: Indicators 2d-2e are non-negotiable; instructional materials being reviewed must score above zero points in each indicator; otherwise, the materials automatically do not proceed to Gateway 3.
Claims-Based Review: EdReports reviewers verify claims made by publishers regarding NGSS alignment rather than confirming the presence of all standards. For example, in a biology course, it is unlikely that all grade 9–12 NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs) be incorporated into that one course. In this case, EdReports will look for the presence of the standards that have been claimed through NGSS alignment documents and learning objectives. If claims are made above the element level, all elements for that target (Performance Expectations, component, sub-idea, etc.) are considered “claimed.” This is due to the grade-banded nature of the 9–12 NGSS PEs.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations for Gateway 2: Coherence and Scope. The materials claim all elements of the high school life science DCIs and three elements from the high school engineering, technology, and applications of science (ETS) DCIs. The materials fully address most of the claimed elements with four elements partially present and two elements not present. The materials claim about a third of all the SEP elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each practice. The materials fully address all of the claimed elements from the SEPs. The materials claim about half of all the CCC elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each concept. The materials address most of the claimed elements from the CCCs, with one partially present and two not present in the materials. The most commonly occurring elements come from Asking Questions and Defining Problems for SEPs and Cause and Effect from the CCCs. The least common occurrences are Planning and Carrying Out Investigations from the SEPs and Structure and Function from the CCCs. Across the program, the materials provide multiple and repeated opportunities for students to engage with the claimed SEP and CCC elements. There are no instances of inappropriate use of science ideas or of presenting elements of the three dimensions in a way that is scientifically inaccurate. Connections within and across Units, where students are explicitly asked to recall and use previous learning experiences to make broader connections, are only made occasionally. More often, students are asked to make learning connections within an individual Lesson with explicit prompts to think back to earlier Lesson Phases. The Course Guide and Teacher Materials provide instructional guidance to support the intentional sequencing of disciplinary content throughout the program. However, in most cases, tasks engage students in a similar level of complexity throughout the course, with no clear increase of sophistication.
Indicator 2a
Materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs).
Claims-Based Review: Indicator 2a focuses on collecting evidence across the entire course to determine the extent that the claimed grade-band disciplinary core ideas and their elements are included within the course.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that they provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop nearly all claimed grade-band DCI elements.
Across the program, the materials claim all elements of the life science DCIs and three elements from the engineering (ETS) DCIs. The materials fully address most of the claimed elements with four elements partially present and two elements not present. Overall, students usually have more than one opportunity to engage with the life science elements and elements are mostly claimed either within one Unit or across different Units, as appropriate.
Claimed grade-band DCI elements present in the materials:
LS1.A-H2: In Unit 3, 5E Sequence: Leptin Resistance, Explain 1, students watch two animations about transcription and translation and describe their observations. They then read a text that describes the process of protein synthesis, make connections between the animations and the article, and write a final summary of the process including the terms DNA, chromosome, gene, protein, codes, instructions, form, and function.
LS1.A-H3: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Gas Exchange and Cellular Respiration, Elaborate, students read a text comparing gas exchange in plants, amphibians, and fish, including details about cellular structures, organs, and processes. They use a Read-Generate-Sort-Solve protocol to generate ideas about concepts connected to the reading, identify the most important ideas, and work as a group to develop a response to the question, “Do all organisms do gas exchange the same way humans do?”
LS1.A-H4: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Water Balance, Explain, students work in groups to create a sequence diagram representing their understanding of osmoregulation in response to exercise. Then they read a text about osmoregulation at the system level and the negative feedback mechanisms in the kidneys and brain that maintain a constant blood solute concentration, including during exercise.
LS1.B-H1: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Genetic Variation, Explain, students access three different resources (a video about mitosis, a reading about differentiation, and a video and reading about mutations) then work as a group to take notes on patterns and information that will help them explain the cause behind the abnormalities observed in the Florida panther population. Students then read a short text about inbreeding and look for additional information that will help them make and defend a claim that explains the cause behind the observed abnormalities.
LS1.C-H1: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Neolithic Revolution, Explain, students create a model to show how corn grows, where it gets energy and nutrients from, and where glucose in corn comes from. Students participate in a class discussion in which they clarify that carbon dioxide in the air is the source of carbon dioxide for the carbon in glucose, that plants transform light energy into chemical energy during photosynthesis, and that the energy from the sun is stored in the bonds of glucose molecules.
LS1.C-H2: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Muscles and Energy, Explain 1, students read the text “Muscle Fatigue” in order to revise an input-output model for cell respiration in muscle cells. The text calls out that glucose is broken down into carbon dioxide and water during this process. Then in Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Food for Plants, Explore, students examine the structure of Niacin, identify the elements of Niacin, and explain where those molecules come from.
LS1.C-H3: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Food for Plants, Explain, students recreate a model for photosynthesis from the Explore phase and revise their model to show how plants recombine chemical elements to make molecules like niacin and amino acids.
LS2.A-H1: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Neolithic Revolution, Explain, students read a text on carrying capacity while annotating two graphs, one showing human population over the past 20,000 years and the other showing two different mouse populations from a simulation. Students then create a poster in groups, using evidence from the text and graph, explaining the human population from 20,000 years ago to about 4,000 years ago and predicting what is occurring with the human population between 4,000 years ago and today. Groups share their posters and clarify ideas about the impact of carrying capacity and limiting factors on population size.
LS2.B-H1: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: The Superfood that Changed the World, Explore 1, students complete an investigation to identify the reactants and products of photosynthesis and then answer questions and create a model about how corn grows and where its energy comes from. Then, in 5E Sequence: Infectious Agent or Insufficient Diet, Explain 2, students read a text that details how bacteria and fungi break food down into smaller organic molecules and then use anaerobic and/or aerobic cellular respiration to generate ATP for life's processes. There is a missed opportunity for students to consider the role of photosynthesis in this process.
LS2.B-H3: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explain 2, students develop a model to represent how carbon moves and interacts through different parts of the Earth through photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the geosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere.
LS2.C-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: The Microbiome, Explain, students read and annotate a text which defines the human microbiome as a resilient ecosystem that can overcome modest biological or physical disturbances. But, in the case of extreme changes in population (such as during a C. difficile infection) the challenge to the ecosystem is harder to overcome.
LS2.C-H2: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Elaborate, students watch a video and answer questions about the role of different groups in the decrease of the population of bluefin tuna. They then complete an Overfishing Simulation, identifying how human activities are disrupting bluefin tuna survival.
LS2.D-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Cooperation and Survival, Explain, students use ideas from previous Lesson phases and a group discussion at the start of this phase to write a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) that addresses the question, ““How do cooperative behaviors evolve over time through natural selection?”
LS3.A-H1: In Unit 3, 5E Sequence: Lactase Persistence, Explain 2, students review initial DNA models and read a text about non-coding DNA before writing a CER using evidence from previous Lesson phases that address the idea of why some people can digest milk and others cannot, including the role of proteins.
LS3.B-H1: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Genetic Variation, Explain, students record patterns about mitosis, differentiation, and mutations before working in groups to write and defend a claim related to the cause of abnormalities in Florida populations of mountain lions. Student explanations include concepts of inbreeding, a build up of mutations, and an increased frequency of abnormal traits.
LS3.B-H2: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Engineering Gene Flow, Elaborate, students apply the concepts of abnormal cell production in mountain lions to sea turtles. After looking at a graphic of the role of temperature on the sex of turtles and reading a brief text about sex determination, students write and defend a claim that explains how environmental factors affect turtle gender.
LS4.A-H1: In Unit 3, 5E Sequence: Common Ancestry, Explore, students conduct an investigation of the degree of similarity in amino acid sequence between humans and four other organisms (mouse, chimpanzee, rainbow trout, and fruit fly) using the NCBI Database. They then use the Timetree Database to calculate the evolutionary divergence time from humans for each of the four species and answer five summary questions about their results. The reading in the subsequent Explain phase includes information about the comparing embryos, the fossil record and anatomical evidence.
LS4.B-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: The Black Death, Explain 2, students work in groups to complete a sequencing activity showing the change in traits in rock pocket mice on different colored habitats over time. They then read a text about natural selection, variation in genetic information between individuals, and variation in expression of traits.
LS4.B-H2: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Antibiotic Resistance, Elaborate, students read two texts, one about treating diseases with bacteriophages and the other about antibiotics and the development of advantageous traits in bacteria, like antibiotic resistance.
LS4.C-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Black Death, Explain 2, after completing an investigation to learn about color variation in rock pocket mice fur, students put a set of cards in order to represent the process of trait variation. One of the cards specifically mentions that variation in fur color of the population is due to sexual reproduction and mutation. Then, in 5E Sequence: Antibiotic Resistance, Explain, students reflect on the importance of taking a full round of antibiotics before viewing a time lapse video of how antibiotic resistance evolves over time in a population of humans. Students apply their learning to the overuse of antibiotics in livestock by evaluating a claim about the overuse of antibiotics causing population level resistance.
LS4.C-H2: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Cooperation and Survival, Explain, students complete a jigsaw activity about cooperative behaviors among bacteria. During the jigsaw, students complete a note taking sheet in which they answer questions about how individual cooperative behaviors benefit an individual organism or the population of organisms. Students are reminded to "discuss the following concepts in your response; variation, adaptation, competition, differential survival & reproduction, cause and effect." Finally, students construct a CER that explains how cooperative behaviors evolve over time through natural selection and how changes in the environment can impact future populations of an organism.
LS4.C-H3: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Elaborate, students read an online text about heat-tolerant coral and use the Read-Generate-Sort-Solve organizer to respond to a prompt about how organisms adapt to climate change, including traits changing in a population when conditions change.
LS4.C-H4: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Elaborate, students read an online text and use the Read-Generate-Sort-Solve organizer to respond to a prompt about how organisms adapt to climate change. Students read that animals can either “adapt, move, or die” showing that changes in the environment have thus contributed to the expansion of some species, the emergence of new distinct species as populations diverge under different conditions, and the decline–and sometimes the extinction–of some species.
LS4.C-H5: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Elaborate, students read an online text and use the Read-Generate-Sort-Solve organizer to respond to a prompt about how organisms adapt to climate change. Students read about the effect of temperature change on the reproduction of monarch butterflies, showing that if members cannot adjust to change that is too fast or drastic, the opportunity for species’ evolution is lost.
ETS1.B-H1: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Elaborate, students use a simulation to better understand the impacts of overfishing on fish populations. They use observations made during the overfishing simulation to revise their solutions for elephant decline, considering a range of constraints and trade-offs for stakeholders.
ETS1.C-H1: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Explain, students watch a video and read a text about selection for tuskless elephants. The information is utilized to design a solution to reduce the effects of human activities on elephants. Students are guided to break the criteria for the problem down into simpler criteria that can be analyzed to identify trade-offs.
Claimed grade-band DCI elements partially present in the materials:
LS1.C-H4: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Muscles and Energy, Explain 1, students generate input-output models for muscle cells at rest vs while exercising. Students collaborate to generate relevant information to include in their models including where energy comes from and if there is more than oxygen as an input. During a group discussion of their input-output models, students discuss how the circulatory system plays a role in transporting needed materials to all cells in the body. There is a missed opportunity for students to consider how the energy released by cellular respiration is also needed to maintain body temperature despite ongoing energy transfer to the surrounding environment.
LS2.B-H2: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: The SuperFood that Changed the World, Explore 2, students investigate energy transfer between trophic levels by estimating the number of producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers in an ecosystem. Those predictions are used to create an energy pyramid demonstrating the small fraction of energy that is transferred upward from each level to the next, leading to fewer organisms at higher trophic levels. In the Explain 2 phase, students answer questions that include the way the energy from food consumed is used for life functions. There is a missed opportunity for students to consider the conservation of matter alongside the conservation of energy.
LS4.D-H1: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Explain, students discuss how elephants impact the ecosystem and biodiversity and that it would be important to protect them (prevent extinction). There is a missed opportunity for students to consider how biodiversity is increased by the formation of new species.
LS4.D-H2: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Explain, students read a text about the negative impacts of humans on elephant populations including how the poaching of elephants is a type of overexploitation and how increasing human population is limiting elephant habitat. Benefits to conservation of elephants is also discussed including the role of elephants in increasing biodiversity as a keystone species and how some people regard elephants in their natural habitat as an inspirational species. In 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explore and Explain 2, students use a simulation to collect data and then construct a model about how human-caused pollution and climate change raises ocean temperatures and impacts the survival of coral reefs, an important habitat for fish and other marine life. There is a missed opportunity for students to consider how the adverse impacts of human activity relate to the introduction of invasive species.
Claimed grade-band DCI elements not present in the materials:
LS1.A-H1: Organisms contain systems of specialized cells that help them perform essential functions of life.
ETS1.B-H2: Both physical models and computers can be used in various ways to aid in the engineering design process. Computers are useful for a variety of purposes, such as running simulations to test different ways of solving a problem or to see which one is most efficient or economical; and in making a persuasive presentation to a client about how a given design will meet his or her needs.
Indicator 2b
Materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs).
Claims-Based Review: Indicator 2b focuses on collecting evidence across the entire course to determine the extent that the claimed grade-band science and engineering practices and their elements are included within the course (including connections to Nature of Science (NOS) topics connected to the SEPs) and whether materials provide multiple and repeated opportunities with the claimed grade-band SEPs.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that they provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop nearly all claimed grade-band SEP elements.
Across the program, the materials claim about 30% of all the SEP elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each practice. The materials fully address all of the claimed elements from the SEPs. For each practice, students have multiple opportunities to engage with the elements, oftentimes across Units, as appropriate. Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Developing and Using Models, and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information are present the most across the materials. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking and Planning and Carrying Out Investigations are present the least across the materials. Additionally, connections to components of the Nature of Science associated with the SEPs are noted in a few places throughout the teacher materials as call out boxes.
Claimed grade-band SEP elements present in the materials:
AQDP-H1: In Unit 3: Evolution of Sick Humans, Unit Opening, students read a text about a girl from Japan who develops an upset stomach after eating a school lunch with a lot of dairy products, then they annotate important details and compose a paragraph that tells the story of the phenomenon. Students generate questions about the phenomenon and share and categorize them to create a driving question board.
AQDP-H2: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Passenger Pigeon, Explore, students work in groups to model the complex interactions between passenger pigeons and the physical and living parts of their habitat. Students then trade models with other groups and complete a See-Think-Wonder chart to ask questions about their classmates’ models.
MOD-H3: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Muscles and Energy, Explain 1, students use evidence from the previous investigation to develop two models to illustrate the similarities and differences in the energy inputs and outputs in muscle cells at rest vs. during exercise.
INV-H1: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Gas Exchange and Cellular Respiration, Explore 1, students initially consider an experimental design independently, then work collaboratively to design and carry out an investigation about the relationship between exercise and cellular respiration. Before beginning the experiment, students brainstorm as a group, considering what they know is the same between the lab groups, what might be the same between groups, and what is not the same between groups. As part of the investigation design, students list out the independent, dependent, and controlled variables. Students then gather data from the investigation to demonstrate the relationship between exercise and cellular respiration.
INV-H2: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Human Thermoregulation, Explore, students develop a plan for their investigation by identifying what they are measuring, the tools needed to measure, how accurate the tools are, the units of measurement, and time intervals. The class determines a common procedure to follow and then students carry out the investigation to collect data on thermoregulation.
DATA-H1: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Gas Exchange and Cellular Respiration, Explore 1, students collect and use data to better understand cellular respiration in yeast. Students graph data, discuss why using averages provides the most accurate representation of data, and use data to support/refute their hypotheses.
DATA-H2: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: The Microbiome, Explore, students compare three different data sources in the Comparing Microbiomes investigation. Students record noticings and questions in a See-Think-Wonder chart, calculate a correlation coefficient, and generate a line of best fit. In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Genetic Variation, Explore, students analyze large data sets in the Mountain Lion Genetic Diversity investigation. Students use a diversity calculator to find a coefficient to describe rates of inbreeding in mountain lions. In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Engineering Gene Flow, Explore, students complete a set of investigations about increasing genetic variation among mountain lion populations. Students apply probability to scientific questions while using digital tools to support understanding.
DATA-H3: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Antibiotic Resistance, Explore, students collect and analyze data from an investigation that simulates a bacterial infection. In the summary of the investigation, students address limitations of the simulation.
MATH-H1: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Elaborate, students use an overfishing simulation to collect data about various fishing scenarios. They use their observations to determine the meaning of sustainable fishing. Students provide ideas for revising the simulation so that it better models and tests real-life overfishing scenarios. They consider stakeholders, constraints, and trade-offs in their revisions.
MATH-H2: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explore 1, students use graphical data to calculate the DHW value (degree heating weeks) for an assigned location. They use these calculations to identify areas of the world that are at higher risk for coral bleaching.
CEDS-H2: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Cooperation and Survival, Explain, students use ideas from class discussions, an investigation of cooperation and cheating, and their understanding of evolution by natural selection to construct a scientific explanation that addresses the question, “How do cooperative behaviors evolve over time through natural selection?” Students use a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer to identify evidence and reasoning, receive peer feedback prior to writing, construct an explanation, and revise based on additional feedback.
CEDS-H5: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Explain, students consider information from the investigation in the Explore phase and a text about tuskless elephants. They design a solution to reduce the negative effects of human activities on the environment and biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park. Their design includes a description of the problem, criteria for the proposed solution and their priorities, relevant scientific knowledge and evidence, and tradeoffs the students are considering.
ARG-H2: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Genetic Variation, Elaborate, students read online texts about the causes of mutations. Then, using the Read-Generate-Sort-Solve protocol, students defend the claim that environmental toxins caused the abnormalities in the Florida population using evidence from the texts.
ARG-H5: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Engineering Gene Flow, Explain, students read a text about solutions for the Florida mountain lions and watch a video on meiosis before making and defending a claim on a solution for the Florida mountain lion population that enhances their long term survival.
INFO-H1: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Gas Exchange and Cellular Respiration, Elaborate, students consider whether they think other organisms regulate gas exchange in the same way humans do, then consider a guiding prompt about how different organisms conduct gas exchange as compared to humans. Students then read a text about the gas exchange in each type of organism and use the Read-Generate-Sort-Solve protocol to generate ideas from the reading which are connected to the prompt.
INFO-H5: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Gas Exchange and Cellular Respiration, Explore 1, students create a graph of data from an investigation about cellular respiration in yeast, draw a model of inputs and outputs in cellular respiration and then, in groups, discuss their initial models to reach consensus. In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Kelp Forest, Explore, students create a graph of kelp forest and urchin barren data, write about the trends they observed, and discuss their responses with their group and then with the whole class.
Indicator 2c
Materials provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop all claimed grade-band Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs).
Claims-Based Review: Indicator 2c focuses on collecting evidence across the entire course to determine the extent that the claimed grade-band crosscutting concepts and their elements are included within the course (including connections to Nature of Science (NOS) and Science, Technology, Society, and the Environment (STSE) topics connected to the CCCs) and whether materials provide multiple and repeated opportunities with the claimed grade-band CCCs.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School partially meet expectations that they provide opportunities for students to fully learn and develop nearly all claimed grade-band CCC elements.
Across the program, the materials claim about 52% of all the CCC elements from the high school grade band, including at least one element from each concept. The materials address most of the claimed elements from the CCCs, with one partially present and two not present in the materials. For each concept that is present, students have multiple opportunities to engage with the elements, oftentimes across Units, as appropriate. Patterns, Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation, and Stability and Change are present the most across the materials. Scale, Proportion, and Quantity, and Structure and Function are present the least across the materials.
Claimed grade-band CCC elements present in the materials:
PAT-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: The Black Death, Explain 2, students reflect on the patterns they observed in the data from the pocket mice investigation and consider whether or not the patterns support the conclusion that the changes in fur color were caused by natural selection. They then watch a video and consider patterns at the individual level of the mouse, fur color changes at the population level, and changes in human traits at the population level.
CE-H1: In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: Antibiotic Resistance, Explain, after students watch a video about antibiotic use in agriculture, they evaluate a claim that antibiotic resistance is due to the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and complete a cause and effect chart. Students summarize why some people in the video state that the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture causes antibiotic resistance, and others say that there is only a correlation or possible relationship between the two.
CE-H2: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explain 1, students watch a coral bleaching animation in parts and use a cause and effect graphic organizer to explain the coral bleaching phenomenon.
SPQ-H4: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explain 2, students create a model showing how carbon moves, read a short text, and then explain how representing the phenomenon at different scales helps them to understand why there was an increase in coral bleaching events.
SPQ-H5: In Unit 4, 5E Sequence: Engineering Gene Flow, Explain, after watching a video, students read a text about meiosis and genetic variation. During this reading, students use a formula to calculate the possible number of genetic combinations for mountain lions. They then use that data, along with data from the previous investigation, to predict how changing one variable (bringing in individuals from different populations) would change another (the genetic diversity).
SYS-H3: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Coral Bleaching, Explain 2, students generate individual and group models of the carbon cycle before watching a brief video about the Greenhouse Effect. Students update their models to include how human actions are impacting coral bleaching. Finally, students revise their models one more time to answer the question, “How can we use evidence to model our phenomenon of coral bleaching at different scales?”
EM-H2: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: The SuperFood that Changed the World, Explore 2, students construct a pyramid of numbers of organisms, a pyramid of biomass, and a pyramid of energy. They calculate and describe changes in energy at each level of the energy pyramid by tracing the flow of energy from one organism to the next.
EM-H3: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: The SuperFood that Changed the World, Explain 2, students reflect on the Patterns in Pyramids investigation and consider what happens to energy that is not transferred between different levels of the pyramid. Students then are asked to explain whether they think the mass and energy represented in the energy pyramid model is lost and why.
EM-H4: In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Food for Plants, Explain, after revising their models to show how agricultural practices impact crop growth and the formation of essential nutrients like niacin, students describe the role of energy in driving the cycling of matter and production of glucose and other nutrients in their models.
SF-H2: In Unit 3, 5E Sequence: Lactase Persistence, Explore 1, after completing a Dairy Investigation, students work individually or in pairs to make sense of an enzyme lock and key diagram. Students pay close attention to the structure and function of the model to better understand how structure supports the function of enzymes in the human body.
SC-H1: In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Tuskless Elephants, Explain, students generate a model to better understand the stability of each ecosystem including why and how one ecosystem can switch to another ecosystem.
SC-H3: In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Muscles and Energy, Explain 2, students annotate a blood glucose graph to show how feedback can lead to changes in blood sugar levels in the body.
Claimed grade-band CCC elements partially present in the materials:
SF-H1: In Unit 3, 5E Sequence: Lactase Persistence, Explore 1, students complete a See-Think-Wonder diagram about the structure and function of components in an enzyme lock-and-key diagram. In Explain 2, students answer a question about structure and function in the context of investigating a new system. There is a missed opportunity for students to engage with the examination of the properties or different materials.
Claimed grade-band CCC elements not present in the materials:
SPQ-H1: The significance of a phenomenon is dependent on the scale, proportion, and quantity at which it occurs.
SYS-H4: Models can be used to predict the behavior of a system, but these predictions have limited precision and reliability due to the assumptions and approximations inherent in models.
Indicator 2d
Materials present Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) in a way that is scientifically accurate.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School meet expectations that they 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.
Indicator 2e
Materials do not inappropriately include scientific content and ideas outside of the grade-band Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs).
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.
Indicator 2f
Materials are designed for students to build and connect their knowledge and use of the three dimensions across the course.
Indicator 2f.i
Materials support understanding of how the dimensions connect within and across units.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School partially meet expectations that materials support understanding of how the three dimensions connect within and across units. Across the program, the materials provide support for students to understand and benefit from connections with the dimensions, but not consistently.
There are examples of connections throughout the course when students are explicitly asked to recall and use previous information, but these explicit connections are only made occasionally. More often, students are asked to make learning connections within an individual Lesson with explicit prompts to think back to earlier Lesson Phases. There is a missed opportunity for materials to consistently make broader connections across an individual Unit or multiple Units throughout the series.
In cases where teacher guidance is present regarding making connections explicit, it often exists in the form of callout boxes and other notes in the instructor materials. Frequently, the materials reference connections that students should be making, but in these instances, guidance to the instructor is generalized and specific detail about the connection is not provided. While these connections are sometimes present across Units and increase in later Units, they are inconsistent within Units across the course.
Examples of student learning experiences that demonstrate how the dimensions connect within and across units:
In Unit 1, 5E Sequence: Water Balance, Explore, students consider how kidney cells maintain water balance in the body. As students use onion cells to model osmoregulation, they are prompted to reflect on their use of yeast as a model of an organism in a prior Lesson. Between these opportunities, the materials support students building understanding of feedback mechanisms in connection to the use of models based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system (SEP-MOD-H3).
In Unit 2, 5E Sequence: The Black Death, Explore 1, students consider how infectious diseases spread between people. Students are prompted to reflect on their prior use of simulations to model organisms in an earlier Lesson, as they consider how they might model or simulate disease transmission in the classroom. Students then use ‘contaminated’ water and an online simulation to model the transmission of several fictional diseases. Between these opportunities, the materials support students building understanding of variables that affect the rate of disease transmission in connection to the use of models to generate data to support explanations, predict phenomena, and analyze systems and their interactions (SEP-MOD-H7).
In Unit 5, 5E Sequence: Infectious Agent or Insufficient Diet, Explain 2, students consider how processing food to increase its shelf life impacts its nutritional value. Students are prompted to incorporate evidence collected during a prior Unit as they develop a model to show the effect of photosynthesis and cellular respiration on decomposers in an ecosystem. Between these opportunities, the materials support students building understanding of the cycling of matter in an ecosystem in connection to the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration (DCI-LS1.C-H3).
In Unit 6, Unit Opening, students consider what factors led to the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Students are prompted to recall an earlier Unit where they explored the need for empirical evidence to support claims of cause and effect, as they develop initial models to explain why woolly mammoths are no longer living. Between these opportunities, the materials support students building understanding of the relationships between ecosystems and organisms in connection to evidence that differentiates between correlation and causation (CCC-CE-H1).
In Unit 6, 5E Sequence: Kelp Forest, Explain, students consider how components of an ecosystem interact to maintain stability. Students develop ecosystem models that show how an ecosystem can switch between supporting one type of organism to a different type of organism over time. Students are prompted to incorporate what they have learned about carrying capacity and dynamic equilibrium from prior Units as they develop models of the Kelp Forest and Urchin Barren ecosystems. Between these opportunities, the materials support students building understanding of the complex interactions within an ecosystem (DCI-LS2.A-H1) in connection to impact of feedback mechanisms on systems (DCI-LS1.A-H4).
Indicator 2f.ii
Materials have an intentional sequence where student tasks increase in sophistication.
The instructional materials reviewed for High School partially meet expectations that they have an intentional sequence where student tasks increase in sophistication.
In the materials, the progression of content follows a logical sequence within and across all Units. The Course Guide and Teacher Materials provide instructional guidance to support the intentional sequencing of disciplinary content throughout the program. However, student tasks related to making sense of disciplinary content, especially as they relate to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems, do not increase in sophistication across the course.
Throughout the program students engage with activities, investigations, and multiple established learning routines. In most cases, tasks engage students in a similar level of complexity throughout the course, with no clear increase of sophistication. In some instances, scaffolds for learning are provided in some Lessons or Units but not others, and without a clear indication of why they are present or absent.
Examples where student tasks related to explaining phenomena and/or solving problems do not increase in sophistication across the course:
Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in asking questions. However, student engagement does not increase in sophistication as students work to explain phenomena or solve problems. While the materials consistently engage students in a series of learning routines (Asking Questions, See-Think-Wonder) to generate questions, expectations for question generation do not change. For example, in Unit 1, students are asked to complete a “See-Think-Wonder” chart from a marathon runner’s medical tent data before brainstorming additional questions for a class-generated driving question board (SEP-AQDP-H1). Later, in Unit 6, students use the same routine to generate questions about the extinction of the woolly mammoth for a driving question board from a brief video clip about the use of biotechnology to bring back extinct animals (SEP-AQDP-H2). In both instances, students are generating questions based upon packaged information. This is a missed opportunity to systematically increase the sophistication of student engagement with asking questions.
Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in constructing explanations. However, student engagement does not increase in sophistication as students work to explain phenomena or solve problems. While the materials frequently engage students in a series of Summary Tasks to construct explanations for phenomena, supports and scaffolds are provided at inconsistent intervals. For example, Summary Task items in Unit 2 prompt students to construct explanations using a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning format. Students are provided with a graphic organizer and engage in a peer review process to support the development of their explanation (SEP-CEDS-H2). Later in Unit 3, students are tasked to construct their explanation without these supports. Then, in Unit 5 Summary Task, students are again provided with a graphic organizer and access to peer review (SEP-CEDS-H2). This is a missed opportunity to systematically increase the sophistication of student engagement with constructing explanations.
Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in obtaining and communicating information. However, student engagement does not increase in sophistication as students work to explain phenomena or solve problems. Students engage with information in a similar way across the course, typically identifying key ideas or evidence and recording their ideas in a graphic organizer or note catcher. And in most cases, students work in groups and utilize a group learning routine to surface their ideas. For example, in Unit 2 students use a Read-Generate-Sort-Solve (RGSS) graphic organizer to analyze a text or video in small groups to determine what claim is better supported by evidence. They then participate in the RGSS group learning routine to synthesize and extend their thinking (SEP-INFO-H2). In Unit 6, students watch a video and read a text, annotating it. They are provided with a note catcher to track their ideas. Then, they use the Domino Discover group learning routine to discuss two of the questions from the note catcher (SEP-INFO-H2). There is a missed opportunity to increase the sophistication and complexity of engagement with information as students work to explain phenomena or solve problems.
Across the program, the materials consistently engage students in arguing from evidence. However, students engage with argument in a similar way across the course, typically identifying evidence from a video or text, considering whether evidence supports or refutes a claim or counterclaim, and evaluating the strength or weakness of the evidence. For example, in Unit 2, students watch a video and utilize a structured worksheet where they identify the evidence that supports a particular claim, ideas or evidence that refute or critique the claim, and a possible counterclaim (SEP-ARG-H2). In Unit 6, students watch a video, read a text, and utilize a Think-Talk-Open Exchange Notetaker. They choose one argument to evaluate and revise ideas after sharing with a partner (SEP-ARG-H2). There is a missed opportunity to increase the sophistication and complexity of engagement with argument as students work to explain phenomena or solve problems.