Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins
Objectives
- D06.S1.09.01 Construct an evidence-based explanation that links data to a claim and states its limits and uncertainties.
- D06.S1.09.02 Critically evaluate a source of scientific information for reliability, bias, and conflicts of interest.
- D06.S2.09.01 Explain how matter cycles and energy flows through ecosystems, and how disruptions affect carrying capacity.
- D06.S2.09.02 Describe biodiversity and explain why it matters for resilient ecosystems and human well-being.
- D06.S3.09.01 Explain the law of conservation of energy and analyze energy transformations and efficiency in a real system.
- D06.S3.09.02 Use the structure of the atom to explain bonding and how chemical reactions absorb or release energy.
- D06.S4.09.01 Explain how greenhouse gases regulate climate and how human activity is changing the climate system.
- D06.S4.09.02 Explain the evidence for the age of the Earth and the universe and how scientists measure it.
Essential questions
- How does matter cycle and energy flow through ecosystems, and what happens to carrying capacity when systems are disrupted?
- What is biodiversity, and why does it matter for resilient ecosystems and human well-being?
- How is energy conserved and transformed in real systems, and what does the structure of the atom tell us about bonding and chemical energy?
- How do greenhouse gases regulate climate, and how do we measure the age of the Earth and the universe?
Big ideas
- Matter cycles and energy flows through ecosystems, and disruptions ripple into carrying capacity.
- Biodiversity underpins resilient ecosystems and human well-being, and its loss is a shared concern.
- Energy is conserved but transformed with varying efficiency, and the atom's structure explains bonding and chemical energy.
- Greenhouse gases regulate climate and human activity is changing it, while evidence lets us measure deep time and cosmic age.
Lessons
- 1 Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins: Where We've Been, Where We're Going 50 minutes
- 2 Matter Cycles and Energy Flows Through Ecosystems 55 minutes
- 3 Disruptions and Carrying Capacity 55 minutes
- 4 Biodiversity: Why Variety Keeps Ecosystems Strong 55 minutes
- 5 Conservation of Energy and Energy Transformations 55 minutes
- 6 The Atom, Bonding, and Chemical Energy 55 minutes
- 7 Greenhouse Gases and a Changing Climate 55 minutes
- 8 The Age of the Earth and the Universe: How We Measure Deep Time 55 minutes
- 9 Origins as Models with Evidence, Among Many Stories 55 minutes
- 10 Capstone: Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins — Putting It Together 60 minutes
Assessment plan
A matter-and-energy-flow ecosystem explanation with a carrying-capacity analysis, a biodiversity case study, an energy-transformation and efficiency analysis of one real system, an atom-and-bonding explanation with an endothermic or exothermic example, a greenhouse-gas and climate explanation, and an evidence-based deep-time explanation as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 8 — Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins
Overview
This unit carries Grade 9 science beyond the opener’s evidence-and-source discipline into the three great bodies of the natural world — living systems, physical systems, and the Earth, space, and origins — building on Grade 8’s cells, genes, ecosystems, atoms, energy, stars, and plate tectonics. Learners explain how matter cycles and energy flows through ecosystems and how disruptions affect carrying capacity, and describe biodiversity and why it matters for resilient ecosystems and human well-being. They explain the law of conservation of energy and analyze energy transformations and efficiency in a real system, and use the structure of the atom to explain bonding and how chemical reactions absorb or release energy. They explain how greenhouse gases regulate climate and how human activity is changing the climate system, and explain the evidence for the age of the Earth and the universe and how scientists measure it. Origins are held as stories grounded in evidence, among many others — never as dogma, and never as the only defensible account of a beginning.
Essential questions
- How does matter cycle and energy flow through ecosystems, and what happens to carrying capacity when systems are disrupted?
- What is biodiversity, and why does it matter for resilient ecosystems and human well-being?
- How is energy conserved and transformed in real systems, and what does the structure of the atom tell us about bonding and chemical energy?
- How do greenhouse gases regulate climate, and how do we measure the age of the Earth and the universe?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going | D06.S1.09.01, D06.S1.09.02 |
| 02 | Matter Cycles and Energy Flows Through Ecosystems | D06.S2.09.01 |
| 03 | Disruptions and Carrying Capacity | D06.S2.09.01 |
| 04 | Biodiversity: Why Variety Keeps Ecosystems Strong | D06.S2.09.02 |
| 05 | Conservation of Energy and Energy Transformations | D06.S3.09.01 |
| 06 | The Atom, Bonding, and Chemical Energy | D06.S3.09.02 |
| 07 | Greenhouse Gases and a Changing Climate | D06.S4.09.01 |
| 08 | The Age of the Earth and the Universe: How We Measure Deep Time | D06.S4.09.02 |
| 09 | Origins as Models with Evidence, Among Many Stories | D06.S4.09.02 |
| 10 | Capstone: Living Systems, Physical Systems & Our Origins — Putting It Together | all six D06.S2–S4 grade-9 objectives |