How can we use chemical reactions to design a solution to a problem? In this 21-day unit, students are introduced to the anchoring phenomenon—a flameless heater in a Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) that provides hot food to people by just adding water. In the first lesson set, students explore the inside of an MRE flameless heater, then do investigations to collect evidence to support the idea that this heater and another type of flameless heater (a single-use hand warmer) are undergoing chemical reactions as they get warm. Students have an opportunity to reflect on the engineering design process, defining stakeholders, and refining the criteria and constraints for the design solution.

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How do epidemics begin and spread? How do human responses help or hinder during trying times? Can the way we think about medical outbreaks tell us anything about how we should think about human behavior? In this module, students explore epidemics in many forms: historical and current, medical and social. While students learn about the scientific investigation and medical intervention in these outbreaks, they also focus on the social and cultural responses to develop a model of how best to respond to challenging circumstances. Students also examine the ways that the concept of “contagion” is applied to human behavior and ultimately explore the question of why we behave the way we do.

In Unit 1, students begin exploring the history of medical epidemics and focus on people’s mindsets and contributions, and how they behaved differently from those around them. Students define what a medical or biological epidemic is, answering questions such as: what characteristics do the large-scale disease outbreaks that we refer to as epidemics have in common, and how do they spread? Exploring these foundational questions about epidemics and the people who “fought” them provides the conceptual scaffolding and some of the terminology necessary for extending the study of medical epidemics to social epidemics in Unit 2. Students read three chapters from the anchor text, Patient Zero, examining the wide variety of text features and structures incorporated in each chapter of Patient Zero, as well as how major sections contribute to the whole text and the development of ideas. Students also practice determining the meanings of words and phrases, especially technical terms associated with epidemiology. In the second half of the unit, students focus more on the interactions between the individual epidemiologists or scientists, the events during the epidemics, and the ideas about disease at the time, as well as consider the mindsets, tools, and character traits that enabled the scientists to solve these medical mysteries. Students also practice determining the impact of word choice on meaning and tone.

In Unit 2, students transfer the knowledge about how scientists think about and investigate medical epidemics to the study of social epidemics. Students are introduced to the topic of social epidemics through various articles which describe the basic terms and theories behind social and emotional contagion. They analyze the articles both for central ideas and argument in order to evaluate whether the authors of an article have provided sufficient evidence and reasoning for their claims connecting social and disease epidemics. Students respond to the broader question of how learning from social epidemics is applied to medical epidemics both in formal discussion and informative writing.

In Unit 3, students begin by listening to exemplar podcasts and reading a model podcast script about epidemics and how people responded to them. They analyze what makes these podcasts strong and build criteria for success based off of their observations. Using these models as a template, students embark on researching an epidemic of their choosing. They gather research around the epidemic stories, toolkit, character traits, and message. In triads, students plan, write, and revise a narrative nonfiction podcast script. For their end of unit assessment, students present their script, focusing on coherence and organization of information, volume, eye contact, clarity, and formal, conventional English. Next, they find sound effects, and then finally, they record and splice together the podcast. In the end, they have a podcast created with craftsmanship to publish for their classmates, school, or even the world.

Please note that students do not read about the COVID-19 pandemic in the assigned reading in this module; however, there are references to this pandemic in some of the chapters in Patient Zero. For those students who may wish to research the COVID-19 pandemic in Unit 3, there is an entire chapter in Patient Zero dedicated to this topic.

How do things inside our bodies work together to make us feel the way we do? This unit on metabolic reactions in the human body starts out with students exploring a real case study of a middle-school girl named M’Kenna, who reported some alarming symptoms to her doctor. Her symptoms included an inability to concentrate, headaches, stomach issues when she eats, and a lack of energy for everyday activities and sports that she used to play regularly. She also reported noticeable weight loss over the past few months, in spite of consuming what appeared to be a healthy diet. Her case sparks questions and ideas for investigations around trying to figure out which pathways and processes in M’Kenna’s body might be functioning differently than a healthy system and why.

OpenSciEd content is highly rated in EdReports and is aligned to NGSS standards.

Can we “find fuel for the future in the past”? Poet Nikki Grimes asks this question in her poem “Emergency Measures,” the first in her collection One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. As Grimes does in her book, students will spend the module pondering the wisdom from works created during the Harlem Renaissance. First students will explore scenes and songs from a play, poems, and artwork to experience the explosion of creativity and ideas of collaboration and innovation. Then students examine political artwork and cartoons, informative articles, and short stories to explore the social and political context of the Harlem Renaissance. Finally, students explore the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, turning back to Nikki Grimes and her collection of poems crafted with lines from Harlem Renaissance poets. Students consider whether they and contemporary writers, singers, and musicians truly can “find fuel for the future in the past.”

In Unit 1, students explore collaboration in the Harlem Renaissance, noting how the Harlem Renaissance was an explosion and confluence of art, music, and literature. Students first examine scenes and songs from the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, experiencing this celebratory text that transformed American musical theater and was created through the collaboration of Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, F. E. Miller, and Aubrey Lyles. Students analyze how the musical and textual techniques in the play affect meaning and develop themes such as love persevering through tough times. Similarly, students explore the thematic connections of triumph over hardships in the poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson and the song and sculpture inspired by the text. Students then analyze iconic poems such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, “Calling Dreams” and “Hope” by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Claude McKay’s “I Shall Return.” In each of these poems, students analyze the structure, figurative language, and themes such as drawing strength from the past and overcoming adversity to fulfill one’s dreams. Students conclude their exploration of collaboration and cultural confluence in a collaborative discussion comparing McKay’s poem to artwork by Meta Warrick Fuller and Winold Reiss for thematic connections around drawing strength from and longing for home or Africa.

In Unit 2, students explore the social and political context of the Harlem Renaissance by reading short informational texts and examining visual art. Students learn how the Harlem Renaissance occurred during the era of the Great Migration, Jim Crow laws, and the racial violence of post-Civil War America. They then read two short stories, “His Motto” by Lottie Burrell Dixon and “The Boy and the Bayonet” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, analyzing point of view and the interactions between story elements, such as character, plot, and setting. Additionally, students discuss how both stories develop themes about working hard to achieve dreams and how community helps to bring out our best selves. Students continue their exploration of the Harlem Renaissance context by engaging with literary argument writing. Students examine a model literary argument essay then write pair and independent essays, discussing how three pieces of work from the Harlem Renaissance are connected by themes such as looking to the past for strength, collaboration and community to bring out one’s best self, and dreams giving life meaning and purpose.

In Unit 3, students explore the contemporary legacy of the Harlem Renaissance by examining short informational and literary texts, visual art, and performances to further develop their sense of how the Harlem Renaissance continues to impact us today. To develop their background knowledge about this legacy, students analyze Nikki Grimes’ poem “Emergency Measures,” original artwork associated with the poem, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s ballet, “Uptown,” which was inspired by the people, places, art, music, and writing of the Harlem Renaissance. Then students study several of Nikki Grimes’ poems in conjunction with the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, learning how Grimes uses lines from poets such as Langston Hughes and Georgia Douglas Johnson to create her own poems which develop themes similar to those of the Harlem Renaissance but in a contemporary context. Students continue their exploration of the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance by creating a museum exhibit, which includes three pieces from the Harlem Renaissance and one contemporary piece that they have studied or created themselves. Students write a curator’s statement explaining how the works are connected by theme and create labels discussing the details of structure, language, and theme in each piece. Students practice and revise the presentation of their curator’s statements and labels preparing for the Harlem Renaissance museum, in which students contribute to making a better world by sharing these important works with their community.

Where does food come from and where does it go next? This unit on the cycling of matter and photosynthesis begins with 7th grade students reflecting on what they ate for breakfast. Students are prompted to consider where their food comes from and consider which breakfast items might be from plants. Then students taste a common breakfast food, maple syrup, and see that according to the label, it is 100% from a tree.

OpenSciEd content is highly rated in EdReports and is aligned to NGSS standards.

“It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables.” So explains Erik Solheim, the environment director of the U.N., quoted in Danielle Smith-Llera’s book Trash Vortex. Craig Leeson, one of the narrators of the documentary A Plastic Ocean, also conveys the urgency of the situation: “The problem with that is that today only a fraction of the plastic that we produce is recycled. The rest ends up in our environment, and it's coating our land and our oceans like a disease.” Students spend the module learning about how plastic pollution became such a widespread problem, particularly in our oceans, and what can be done to reduce pollution. Students use their anchor text, the documentary, and additional articles in Units 1 and 2 to gather background knowledge about the problem, as well as explore possible solutions to reducing plastic pollution at different points in the plastic life cycle. As students transform their understanding into action plans and documentary clips to share with their communities, they help make into reality the final part of Erik Solheim’s quote: “We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop.”

In Unit 1, students are introduced to the topic of plastic pollution and how it affects humans, animals, and the environment. Students study the documentary A Plastic Ocean, noting the transcript’s portrayal of a subject as compared to the film’s portrayal. In each lesson throughout the first half of the unit, students view a film clip as a class several times. Then they work collaboratively to complete note-catchers and engage in discussions to compare the film and transcript portrayals of subjects as well as to evaluate the speakers’ arguments. In the second half of Unit 1, students address big ideas about where and how plastic pollutes, as well as what can be done about plastic pollution. Students analyze the anchor text Trash Vortex for the author’s purpose and central ideas. Students then learn to analyze the text to discover how the author distinguishes her position from that of others. During the end of unit assessment, students read and analyze the end of Trash Vortex, answering selected and constructed response questions to analyze central ideas as well as the author’s purpose and how she distinguishes her position from others.

In Unit 2, students continue exploring the problem of plastic pollution by focusing on what can be done to address the problem. They read three articles and revisit their anchor texts to understand what interventions can be taken at each stage of the plastic life cycle: beginning, middle, and end. Students also learn about new materials being invented to replace plastic at the beginning of the life cycle, what consumers can do to use less plastic in the middle of the life cycle, and efforts by governments and organizations to stop single-use plastic and invent ways of cleaning up plastic pollution at the end of the plastic life cycle. By the middle of the unit, students take a stand about which part of the plastic life cycle would be most effective to target. They have the opportunity to defend their position in a debate with their classmates. Although this debate is not assessed, students’ preparation and participation in the debate continues to prepare them for their end of unit assessment and performance task in the following unit. In the second half of the unit, students use the evidence and reasoning they’ve collected and organized from their reading to practice on-demand argument essay writing about which point in the plastic life cycle is the best place to target to reduce pollution.

In Unit 3, students delve deeper into their chosen areas of intervention in the life cycle of plastic. Students choose a personal action to respond to the issue of plastic pollution. Actions might include using less plastic or recycling more, communicating with officials, or researching an invention. They form triads with classmates who have chosen the same category of action to determine how to coordinate their personal actions to be used in their documentary clip. In addition to this action plan work, students write their documentary film clip script over the course of the first half of the unit. In the second half of Unit 3, students work in their triads to create a storyboard, using visuals and captions to clarify their claims and emphasize the points in their documentary script. They then learn how to pitch their documentary to potential film producers, observing a model pitch and using a Tuning protocol to practice and refine their presentation skills. These include using appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Finally, in the end of unit assessment, students work in triads to each pitch a part of their documentary script, focusing on their use of formal English, domain-specific vocabulary, storyboard visuals, and presentation skills.

How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there? This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.

OpenSciEd content is highly rated in EdReports and is aligned to NGSS standards.

How do changes in the Earth's system impact our communities and what can we do about it? This unit on Earth’s resources and human impact begins with students observing news stories and headlines of drought and flood events across the United States. Students figure out that these drought and flood events are not normal and that both kinds of events seem to be related to rising temperatures. This prompts them to develop an initial model to explain how rising temperatures could cause both droughts and floods and leads students to wonder what could cause rising temperatures, too. This initial work sets students up to ask questions related to the query: How do changes in Earth’s system impact our communities and what can we do about it?

OpenSciEd content is highly rated in EdReports and is aligned to NGSS standards.

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