Science: Systems, Evidence & Our Origins
Objectives
- D06.S1.10.01 Analyze data using basic statistics (mean, range, and trend) and assess how well the data support a conclusion.
- D06.S1.10.02 Explain how peer review, replication, and open sharing make scientific knowledge trustworthy, and where they fall short.
- D06.S2.10.01 Explain how genetic information passes from parents to offspring, how mutations arise, and how the environment shapes how genes are expressed.
- D06.S2.10.02 Analyze how human activity (such as land use, pollution, and introduced species) affects ecosystems and evaluate responses.
- D06.S3.10.01 Explain motion, force, and energy quantitatively in everyday and engineered systems (such as work, power, and momentum).
- D06.S3.10.02 Explain how energy generation (renewable and nonrenewable) works and evaluate its environmental and social trade-offs.
- D06.S4.10.01 Explain the Big Bang model and the evidence that supports it, and distinguish a model from revealed truth.
- D06.S4.10.02 Analyze human impacts on Earth systems and evaluate responses to environmental change with hope and agency.
Essential questions
- How do I analyze data with statistics and assess how well they support a conclusion, and what makes scientific knowledge trustworthy?
- How does genetic information pass and change, and how does human activity affect ecosystems and how do we respond?
- How do I explain motion, force, and energy quantitatively, how does energy generation work, and what is the evidence for the Big Bang?
Big ideas
- Statistics reveal how well data support a conclusion, and peer review, replication, and open sharing are what make scientific knowledge trustworthy.
- Genes pass and change, and the environment shapes how genes are expressed; human activity affects ecosystems, and responses can be evaluated.
- Motion, force, and energy are quantitative, energy generation carries trade-offs, and the Big Bang model is a model grounded in evidence, not revealed truth.
Lessons
- 1 Reading Data: Mean and Range 55 minutes
- 2 Trend: How Well Does the Data Support the Conclusion? 55 minutes
- 3 Why We Trust Science: Peer Review, Replication, Open Sharing 55 minutes
- 4 Inheritance: How Traits Travel from Parents to Offspring 55 minutes
- 5 Mutation: Where New Variation Comes From 55 minutes
- 6 Gene Expression: How the Environment Shapes What Genes Do 55 minutes
- 7 Human Activity and Ecosystems: Land Use, Pollution, Introduced Species 55 minutes
- 8 Evaluating Responses to Ecosystem Harm 55 minutes
- 9 Force and Work: A Quantitative Language for Motion 55 minutes
- 10 Power and Momentum: Rates, Motion, and Collisions 55 minutes
- 11 Energy Generation: Renewable and Nonrenewable 55 minutes
- 12 Energy Trade-Offs: Environmental and Social 55 minutes
- 13 The Big Bang Model and Its Evidence 55 minutes
- 14 Human Impacts on Earth Systems and Responses 55 minutes
- 15 Origins as Stories: Model, Evidence, and Many Ways of Knowing 55 minutes
Assessment plan
A statistical analysis of a data set with an assessment of how well it supports a conclusion; a peer-review-and-replication explanation; a genetics explanation covering inheritance, mutation, and gene expression; a human-impact-on-ecosystems analysis with a response evaluation; quantitative work on work, power, and momentum; an energy-generation trade-offs evaluation; a Big Bang model-and-evidence reflection; and a human-impacts-on-Earth-systems analysis, gathered as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 6 — Science: Systems, Evidence & Our Origins
Overview
This unit is the full pass through Grade 10 science, carrying Grade 9’s evidence-and-source discipline and its living, physical, and Earth systems into the three great bodies of the natural world. Learners analyze data using basic statistics — mean, range, and trend — and assess how well the data support a conclusion, and explain how peer review, replication, and open sharing make scientific knowledge trustworthy, and where they fall short. They explain how genetic information passes from parents to offspring, how mutations arise, and how the environment shapes how genes are expressed, and analyze how human activity — land use, pollution, and introduced species — affects ecosystems and evaluate responses. They explain motion, force, and energy quantitatively in everyday and engineered systems such as work, power, and momentum, and explain how energy generation — renewable and nonrenewable — works and evaluate its environmental and social trade-offs. They explain the Big Bang model and the evidence that supports it, distinguishing a model from revealed truth, and analyze human impacts on Earth systems and evaluate responses to environmental change with hope and agency. Origins are held as stories grounded in evidence, among many others — never as dogma.
Essential questions
- How do I analyze data with statistics and assess how well they support a conclusion, and what makes scientific knowledge trustworthy?
- How does genetic information pass and change, and how does human activity affect ecosystems and how do we respond?
- How do I explain motion, force, and energy quantitatively, how does energy generation work, and what is the evidence for the Big Bang?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| L.10.006.01 | Reading Data: Mean and Range | D06.S1.10.01 |
| L.10.006.02 | Trend: How Well Does the Data Support the Conclusion? | D06.S1.10.01 |
| L.10.006.03 | Why We Trust Science: Peer Review, Replication, Open Sharing | D06.S1.10.02 |
| L.10.006.04 | Inheritance: How Traits Travel from Parents to Offspring | D06.S2.10.01 |
| L.10.006.05 | Mutation: Where New Variation Comes From | D06.S2.10.01 |
| L.10.006.06 | Gene Expression: How the Environment Shapes What Genes Do | D06.S2.10.01 |
| L.10.006.07 | Human Activity and Ecosystems: Land Use, Pollution, Introduced Species | D06.S2.10.02 |
| L.10.006.08 | Evaluating Responses to Ecosystem Harm | D06.S2.10.02 |
| L.10.006.09 | Force and Work: A Quantitative Language for Motion | D06.S3.10.01 |
| L.10.006.10 | Power and Momentum: Rates, Motion, and Collisions | D06.S3.10.01 |
| L.10.006.11 | Energy Generation: Renewable and Nonrenewable | D06.S3.10.02 |
| L.10.006.12 | Energy Trade-Offs: Environmental and Social | D06.S3.10.02 |
| L.10.006.13 | The Big Bang Model and Its Evidence | D06.S4.10.01 |
| L.10.006.14 | Human Impacts on Earth Systems and Responses | D06.S4.10.02 |
| L.10.006.15 | Origins as Stories: Model, Evidence, and Many Ways of Knowing | D06.S4.10.01, D06.S4.10.02 |