Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 01 — Systems, Evidence & Models: Where We've Been, Where We're Going

Learners recall three Grade-7 science ideas — correlation versus causation, variation and natural selection, and deep time — and preview this unit's four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit's organizing idea: science works in **systems**, builds **models**, and tests them with **evidence**.

D06 P3: Intellectual & Cognitive Awareness D06.S1 50 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

What is science as a way of asking questions — and where are we going in this unit?

systemevidencemodelfair testvariablecorrelationcausation

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A map of the unit showing four strands — scientific inquiry, living systems, physical systems, and Earth space and origins — each with two short goals, connected by the words systems, evidence, and models
A map of the unit showing four strands — scientific inquiry, living systems, physical systems, and Earth space and origins — each with two short goals, connected by the words systems, evidence, and models

Lesson 1 — Systems, Evidence & Models: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going

Summary

Learners recall three Grade-7 science ideas — correlation versus causation, variation and natural selection, and deep time — and preview this unit’s four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit’s organizing idea: science looks at the world in systems, builds models, and tests them with evidence.

Objectives

  • Begin to name the parts of a controlled experiment — a hypothesis, variables, and a fair test — as the unit’s first goal. (D06.S1.08.01)
  • Begin to name what a scientific model is and the idea that models are revised, not thrown away, when evidence changes. (D06.S1.08.02)

Connection

Think of something you have wondered about and checked for yourself — whether a plant grows toward a window, whether a coin always lands one way, why the moon changes shape. Every one of those questions is a doorway into science. Science is not a list of answers to memorize; it is a way of asking questions, building a model of how something works, and checking that model against evidence from the real world. Today we remember what we already know how to do and see where it is taking us.

Materials

  • Unit map sheet
  • Recall cards

Preparation

  • Copy the unit map sheet and recall cards.
  • Retrieval: from Grade 7, recall (a) correlation versus causation, (b) variation and natural selection, and (c) deep time. Today we link those to the new unit.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). It is the unit’s opening and retrieval pass, so the goals are modest: (1) recall three Grade-7 ideas — correlation is not causation (a pattern alone does not prove a cause), variation plus inheritance and natural selection shape populations, and evidence in fossils, rock layers, and ice cores tells the story of deep time; (2) preview the unit’s four strands — inquiry, living systems, physical systems, Earth/space — and its eight goals; (3) plant the organizing idea: science studies systems, builds models, and tests them with evidence. Do not try to teach the eight goals today; just name and locate them. The critical-thinking lens: “correlation is not causation” is the habit we carry forward (S-306, S-355). The global lens: the same way of asking questions works everywhere, though the questions and the living things differ by place. The ethics lens: honest science distinguishes what the evidence shows from what we value — that distinction runs through the whole unit (philosophy §5). Keep origins open: nothing here is creed (philosophy §11). Spacing note (S-039): this recall pass is what makes the unit’s ideas stick later.

Procedure

  1. Recall (10 min). In a small group, look at three recall cards: correlation vs. causation, variation and natural selection, deep time. For each, say in one sentence what you remember from Grade 7.
  2. Connect the three (5 min). What do all three have in common? (Each is about how we know something — through evidence, not just a guess.)
  3. Meet the map (10 min). Look at the unit map. Four strands: scientific inquiry, living systems, physical systems, Earth, space & origins. Eight goals — two per strand. Read each goal aloud once; don’t worry about understanding them yet.
  4. Plant the big idea (10 min). The unit’s idea in one breath: science studies systems (things made of parts that work together), builds models (simplified pictures of how something works), and tests them with evidence. Say it back in your own words.
  5. Wonder (10 min). Write one question about each strand in the wonder box. Which question do you most want answered by the end of the unit?
  6. Close (5 min). Today we remembered what we know and saw the road ahead. Next: we design a controlled experiment.

Differentiation

  • Support: Give sentence starters for the recall round (“A pattern is not a cause because…”).
  • Extension: Add a fourth Grade-7 idea of your own and say why it will matter in this unit.

Assessment

  • Formative (observation): Can the learner recall each Grade-7 idea in one sentence and name the unit’s four strands?
  • Artifact: The completed unit map (or the learner’s written recall), kept in the portfolio.

Home connection

Ask someone at home: what is one thing you once believed, then changed your mind about because of new evidence? Bring the story (no names needed) to the next lesson.

Resources