Does it have to take three years?
“To develop a thorough understanding of scientific explanations of the world, students need sustained opportunities to work with and develop the underlying idea and to appreciate those ideas’ interconnections over a period of years rather than weeks or months.” (Framework. P. 26)
The Inquiry curricula progressively build students’ understanding of a network of concepts about weight, volume, material (including the material property density), and matter across a three-year grade span. These science concepts are essential for understanding the core idea matter and will inform investigations in physical science, life science, earth science and engineering contexts from K-12. The sequence of ideas and activities are designed so that one idea builds on another and students have opportunities to understand concepts such as weight or volume more deeply by working with them in different contexts over time.
The curricula are designed to be used in a Grade 3, 4, 5 sequence and as a whole, that is, students experience all of the investigations in order.
