Stanford NGSS Integrated Curriculum: An Exploration of a Multidimensional World
Integrated, NGSS-designed, project-based curriculum for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.
Funded by S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and SilverGiving Foundation, this 6th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum aligns to the California Integrated model in which earth and space science, life science, physical science and/or engineering are integrated within each curriculum unit.
All the units:
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are project-based
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include Instructionally embedded assessments
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align to the 5E instructional model (i.e., engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate)
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are phenomena-based
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provide students with opportunities to generate their own questions to motivate sense-making and/or problem solving
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incorporate language development strategies
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provide an additional pop-out lesson that allows students to apply what they’ve learned to delve deeper into the intersection of social justice, science, and the “greater good” (see “Pop-Outs” tabs)
In addition to our four instructional units, there is a unit devoted to groupwork to help teachers establish classroom norms and expectations around effective collaborative work.
6th Grade Curriculum 7th Grade Curriculum 8th Grade Curriculum
In partnership with Scoutlier, we have begun creating a virtual and hybrid version of this curriculum. To access our pilot unit, 8th Grade – Colossal Collisions, click here.
*If you have any questions regarding the curriculum or are looking for professional development, Contact Us.
Grade 6 - Pop-Outs
Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.
Grade 6 - Unit 0 - Orientation to Groupwork
How do we work productively in groups?
Grade 6 - Unit 1 - Setting Things In Motion
How do our bodies produce and use the energy needed to move objects?
Grade 6 - Unit 2 - Extreme Living
How do people use technology to survive in regions with different climates?
Grade 6 - Unit 3 - Nature via Nurture
How can we use environmental and genetic factors to explain changes in organisms?
Grade 6 - Unit 4 - A Warmer World
How do humans impact organisms around the world and what can we do about it?
Grade 7 - Pop-Outs
Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.
Grade 7 - Unit 0 - Orientation to Groupwork
How do we work productively in groups?
Grade 7 - Unit 1 - A Balanced Biosphere
How have natural processes and human activities created the ecosystem we see today?
Grade 7 - Unit 2 - Matter Matters
How can models of matter help us understand the resources we use?
Grade 7 - Unit 3 - Mimicking Nature's Design
How does energy and matter flow within natural and designed systems?
Grade 7 - Unit 4 - Save the Andes!
How can we sustain biodiversity in a modern, changing world?
Grade 8 - Pop-Outs
Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.
Grade 8 - Unit 0 - Orientation to Groupwork
How do we work productively in groups?
Grade 8 - Unit 1 - Colossal Collisions
What are the effects of an asteroid collision and how can we prevent a future one?
Grade 8 - Unit 2 - Traveling Through Space
What forces keep the parts of our solar system together and how can we use this knowledge to plot a telescope route through space?
Grade 8 - Unit 3 - Adapt or Die?
How do species change over time and should we intervene?
Grade 8 - Unit 4 - Using Engineering & Technology to Sustain Our World
How are humans harming Earth, plants, and animals, and what can we do about it?