-6th Grade Science Description
IQWST (Investigating & Questioning our World Through Science & Technology) is a new world-class, rigorous, investigation-centered science curriculum designed to challenge and engage middle school students.
Engaging in scientific practices enables students to experience how it is that scientists come to particular understandings rather than to experience science as a set of complete, discrete, isolated facts. In addition, a focus on practices, as an extension of previous approaches to inquiry, expands students’ understanding of science beyond viewing it as a limited set of procedures or as a single approach typically characterized as “the scientific method.”
Scientific practices require both knowledge and skill, and IQWST approaches scientific practices in that manner; they are always contextualized. Rather than a lesson about “how to construct a good scientific explanation,” explanations are taught in the context of a lesson about core content using the construction of an evidence-based explanation as a way to think about, make sense of, and communicate one’s understanding of phenomena. All eight practices are reflected throughout IQWST. However, each unit’s learning goals emphasize particular practices, emphasizing those best taught (and practiced) in the context of a given unit’s learning goals and investigative activities.
To log in to IQWST go to this link:
https://www.iqwst.com/webapp/#login
User name: student email address
Password: The 5 capital letters with the !!! at the end
Science Units
Unit 1- Physical Science
Can I Believe My Eyes? Investigate light waves, their role in sight, and interaction with matter.
Unit 2 - Introduction to Chemistry
How Can I Smell Things from a Distance? Investigate particle nature of matter and phase changes.
Unit 3 - Earth Science
How Does Water Shape Our World? Investigate water and rock cycles.
Unit 4 - Life Science
Where Have All the Creatures Gone? Investigate organisms and ecosystems.
The following unit learning goals emphasize particular practices, emphasizing those best taught (and practiced) in the context of a given unit’s learning goals and investigative activities.
• Asking Questions and Defining Problems
• Developing and Using Models
• Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
• Analyzing and Interpreting Data
• Using Mathematics, Information and Computer Technology, and Computational
Thinking
• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence
• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
IQWST (Investigating & Questioning our World Through Science & Technology) is a new world-class, rigorous, investigation-centered science curriculum designed to challenge and engage middle school students.
Engaging in scientific practices enables students to experience how it is that scientists come to particular understandings rather than to experience science as a set of complete, discrete, isolated facts. In addition, a focus on practices, as an extension of previous approaches to inquiry, expands students’ understanding of science beyond viewing it as a limited set of procedures or as a single approach typically characterized as “the scientific method.”
Scientific practices require both knowledge and skill, and IQWST approaches scientific practices in that manner; they are always contextualized. Rather than a lesson about “how to construct a good scientific explanation,” explanations are taught in the context of a lesson about core content using the construction of an evidence-based explanation as a way to think about, make sense of, and communicate one’s understanding of phenomena. All eight practices are reflected throughout IQWST. However, each unit’s learning goals emphasize particular practices, emphasizing those best taught (and practiced) in the context of a given unit’s learning goals and investigative activities.
To log in to IQWST go to this link:
https://www.iqwst.com/webapp/#login
User name: student email address
Password: The 5 capital letters with the !!! at the end
Science Units
Unit 1- Physical Science
Can I Believe My Eyes? Investigate light waves, their role in sight, and interaction with matter.
Unit 2 - Introduction to Chemistry
How Can I Smell Things from a Distance? Investigate particle nature of matter and phase changes.
Unit 3 - Earth Science
How Does Water Shape Our World? Investigate water and rock cycles.
Unit 4 - Life Science
Where Have All the Creatures Gone? Investigate organisms and ecosystems.
The following unit learning goals emphasize particular practices, emphasizing those best taught (and practiced) in the context of a given unit’s learning goals and investigative activities.
• Asking Questions and Defining Problems
• Developing and Using Models
• Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
• Analyzing and Interpreting Data
• Using Mathematics, Information and Computer Technology, and Computational
Thinking
• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence
• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information