6th -8th Grade Middle School: Smithsonian Middle School
6th Grade
Electricity, Waves and Information Transfer (6)
In 10 lessons, this unit allows students to develop an understanding of concepts, test ideas, and gain engineering skills through experimentation with electric circuit components and optical fibers. They also research and present information about neurological disorders that affect sensory receptors and the storage or use of information.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Structure and Function (6)
During this unit's 8 lessons, students consider how plants and animals have unique structures that assist in survival. Students first learn about cells and how they work in systems to contribute to survival. Next, they investigate photosynthesis and cellular respiration. A close investigation of the nervous system and a frog dissection show the interdependence of organs and their systems. Finally, students research unique systems of organisms.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Weather and Climate Systems (6)
In 12 lessons, this 5-Class Unit Kit allows students to study storms, winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes. They model the water cycle, the collision of air masses to visualize these effects. Students design a solution to minimize the impact of a storm surge. By the end of the unit, students use data sets to predict the weather and make evidence-based claims.
Vocabulary Quizlets
6.1: Light & Matter (OSE MS)
During this unit students work to answer the question, “Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object?” The unit begins with a perplexing phenomenon of one-way mirrors, which students directly observe and investigate.
6.2: Thermal Energy (OSE MS)
During this unit students answer the question, “How can containers keep stuff from warming up or cooling down?” Students model thermal energy transfer, revise their models, and apply what they’ve learned to design their own drink container.
6.3: Weather, Climate, and Water Cycling (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “Why does a lot of hail, rain, or snow fall at some times and not others?” They investigate small-scale storms, then explore mesoscale weather systems and climate-level patterns of precipitation.
6.4: Plate Tectonics and Water Cycling (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “What causes Earth’s surface to change?” They use modeling and hands-on investigations to explore earthquakes, how Earth’s surface can change over time, and plate movement.
6.5: Natural Hazards (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “Where do natural hazards happen and how do we prepare for them?” They explore tsunamis and engineering design solutions to mitigate their effects.
6.6: Cells and Systems (OSE MS)
Students answer the unit question, “How do living things heal?” They investigate what the human body is made of, develop an understanding of cells and how cells work together, and learn about the biological process of healing after injury.
7th Grade
Matter and its Interactions (7)
Everything students see and touch is made of matter—albeit composed of particles too small to see directly. In order to fully understand phenomena occurring on the macroscale, students must become familiar with matter at the particulate and atomic level. In this unit's 11 lessons, students make observations about matter, investigate its physical and chemical changes, and develop and use models to describe its composition and behavior.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Earth’s Dynamic Systems (7)
How did that aquatic fossil end up on top of a mountain? In this unit's 12 lessons, students learn about gradual processes (erosion, deposition, plate motion, and fossilization) and catastrophic events (earthquakes, volcanoes) and how they contribute to changes on the earth's surface. Students track the transfer of energy, build models, and investigate mineral resources. Students conclude the unit with research on preparedness for catastrophic events.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Ecosystems and Their Interactions (7)
As the unit opens, pond ecosystems and butterfly ecosystems provide the launching pad for learning how various elements of systems interact. During the unit's 11 lessons, students build models and work with simulations to learn how the food web, predation, genetics, and the energy pyramid affect ecosystems. By the end of the unit, students apply their learning to timely issues such as invasive species, runoff and its impact on drinking water, and landslides.
Vocabulary Quizlets
7.1: Chemical Reactions and Matter (OSE MS)
During this unit students answer the question, “How can we make something new that was not there before?” Students develop models, conduct investigations on substances, and gather data to explore physical changes and chemical reactions.
7.2: Chemical Reactions and Energy (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “How can we use chemical reactions to design a solution to a problem?” They think about how to heat food without using typical methods, then construct a homemade flameless heater that heats food.
7.3: Metabolic Reactions (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “How do things inside our bodies work together to make us feel the way we do?” Using a case study approach, students explore what happens to food we eat after it enters our bodies.
7.4: Matter Cycling and Photosynthesis (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “Where does food come from, and where does it go next?” They conduct a series of investigations to figure out how plants can make food molecules and where plants get the matter and energy to do that.
7.5: Ecosystems Dynamics (OSE MS)
Students answer the question, “How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there?” They investigate how palm oil production is endangering orangutans and try to design a new type of oil.
7.6: Natural Resources and Human Impact (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “How do changes in Earth’s system impact our communities and what can we do about it?” Using investigations, models, readings, and more, they explore how a changing climate affects different communities.
8th Grade
Space Systems Exploration (8)
In 10 lessons, this unit clarifies what students already know about space. Then, starting with the Sun-Earth-Moon system, the unit challenges them to perform a series of investigations through which they extend and enrich this knowledge.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Genes and Molecular Machines (8)
In 11 lessons, this unit helps students explore the different ways that organisms reproduce and what that means for their genetics. Students learn how traits are passed from one generation to the next as they study zebra fish, plants, protists, and humans. By the end of the unit, students create their own "creatures" with unique characteristics and follow those traits to their offspring to learn about inheritance.
Vocabulary Quizlets
Energy, Forces & Motion (8)
In 9 lessons, this kit allows students to develop conceptual understanding of Newton's 3 laws using equipment that is both familiar and developmentally appropriate. Daily life provides students with many experiences through which they can see evidence of forces and energy changes and observe how objects move. Students investigate different forces, how those forces change the motion of objects and energy, and the different forms energy can take.
Vocabulary Quizlets
8.1: Contact Forces (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other?” They consider situations in which their phones broke, explore what happens to objects during collisions, then design solutions to protect an object in a collision.
8.2: Sound Waves (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “How can a sound make something move?” They investigate how sounds are produced, how they travel through matter, and how they affect other objects.
8.3: Forces at a Distance (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “How can a magnet move another object without touching it?” They use modeling and hands-on investigations to explore magnetic forces and magnetic systems.
8.4: Earth in Space (OSE MS)
Students answer the question, “How are we connected to the patterns we see in the sky and space?” They use models, simulations, and collected data to understand Sun-Earth-Moon systems and explain some of the patterns in the sky.
8.5: Genetics (OSE MS)
In this unit students answer the question, “Why are living things different from one another?” They explore the topic of trait variations in living things, especially the genetic and environmental factors involved in those variations.
8.6: Natural Selection and Common Ancestry (OSE MS)
Students answer the question, “How could things living today be connected to the things that lived long ago?” They develop a model for natural selection and use it to account for patterns between ancient and current organisms.