BSCS Science:
An Inquiry Approach
Level 1
First edition, © 2006 by BSCS
Unit 1 Overview
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Overview
High school is different from middle school. Yet the
laws of nature we teach remain the same. What changes?
The National Science Education Standards (NSES) make
it clear. For example, Properties of Matter is a physical
science standard addressed at both levels. In grades five
through eight, teachers help students focus on observation and description of macroscopic features of matter,
resulting in the ability to categorize materials by physical
and chemical properties. In grades nine through 12,
teachers help students focus on connecting microscopic
explanations to macroscopic behavior, resulting in the
ability to construct physical, mathematical, and
conceptual models of matter.
In unit 1, Matter Is Marvelous, students are invited
to bridge from concrete to abstract understandings of
matter. They use prior knowledge about the standards
Structure and Properties of Matter and Structure of
Atoms to gain an enriched understanding of the materials
they encounter every day. When that happens, students
perform better in any circumstance, at work or play, that
requires interaction with materials.
The transition from middle school to high school
approaches to physical science involves increasing mathematical and conceptual rigor. In this unit, for example,
density is not only a formula or definition. Students link
the slope of mass versus volume data to the intensive
property of matter we call density. Conceptual rigor
increases as students move from direct observations of
properties to abstract representations of atoms and molecules. These representations frequently lead to mathematical relationships, thus forming a logical connection
between macroscopic observation and microscopic
conceptual model.
Matter Is Marvelous begins with physical and chemical properties, a topic familiar to many students from
middle school. The focus shifts from direct observation
of matter to an explanation of observations based on the
particle nature of matter. Students then apply the particle
model of matter to chemical reactions, phases of matter,
and conservation of matter (chapter 2); solubility,
conductivity, and bonding (chapter 3); and emission spectra, atomic structure, and periodicity (chapter 4). Finally,
students integrate the knowledge acquired in chapters
2–4 with an earth science example—stellar composition.
Along the way, they learn and use important literacy
skills specifically adapted to science.
Goals for the Unit
National standards for science guide the goals for this
unit. In this unit, two of the standards from the NSES
are addressed here: Structure and Properties of Matter
and Structure of Atoms. This unit addresses these core
standards at an appropriate ninth-grade level, keeping in
mind student background and developmental stage. This
program in total extends, elaborates, and builds on these
standards in 10th and 11th grades as it addresses the
remaining physical science standards. At the end of a
grade nine through 11 sequence with this program, students will experience an inquiry-based exposure to all
physical science national standards.
Specific content for all students to learn in this unit
follows:
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Matter has characteristic physical and chemical
properties, which result in unique qualities that you
can see and measure—its macroscopic behavior.
Properties are a result of the underlying structure of
matter at the invisible level—its microscopic form.
When properties are used to arrange elements,
repeating patterns emerge that are related to the
underlying structure of matter at the microscopic
level. The periodic table of the elements expresses
these patterns by its unique layout of elements in
rows and columns.
At the microscopic level, all matter is made up of
tiny particles, called atoms, in constant motion.
Atoms are composed of even smaller components.
Atoms interact with one another by transferring or
sharing electrons to make other tiny particles called
molecules, which are held together by forces of
attraction sometimes called bonds.
The national standards emphasize students’ ability to
conduct and understand scientific inquiry in addition to
specific content. Unit 1 addresses this aspect of the
national standards by fostering the logical connection
between evidence and interpretation. Students frequently
express this logic in terms of three questions, which they
ask themselves in each experience: What do I see? What
does it mean? and How do I know?
Unit 1 continues teaching effective scientific inquiry.
Each chapter uses literacy techniques adapted to science
content. Two types of information are common in
science: text based (reading, writing, numbers, and symbols) and spatial (graphs, tables, diagrams, and models).
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Unit 1 uses literacy techniques specifically designed to
help students with both types of information. Further, the
unit encourages increased problem-solving capability by
making explicit connections among concepts. Analogy
maps, T-tables, and highlight comments are specific
examples you will find discussed in detail where appropriate in each chapter. These literacy techniques lead to
an outcome important to students. They learn how to
spend the least amount of time obtaining the most
possible understanding. This interpretation of learning
efficiency is very motivational to students.
Learning efficiency as discussed above plays a role in
student motivation to learn, but it isn’t sufficient to
teach them how to be efficient on their own. This happens when students monitor their own learning with
ongoing self-assessment sometimes called metacognition. The literacy and problem-solving strategies
employed in unit 1 orchestrate students’ experiences and
foster metacognition, an integral step in producing students with increased intellectual independence. The
combination of student-centered motivation with programmed metacognitive skills training has produced significant achievement gains.
The dynamic equilibrium between what happens
inside students’ minds (metacognition) and the laws of
nature (science standards content) is inquiry. For this
reason, inquiry is the unifying principle of this program.
Without inquiry, this program would be another assembly of facts on paper, unconnected to student motivation and distanced from the natural habits of the mind
called learning.
Names of Chapters
Chapter 2:
The Material World
Chapter 3:
Get a Charge Out of Matter
Chapter 4:
Organizing the Elements:
The Periodic Table
Chapter 5:
Star Material
Notes:
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Unit 1 Matter Is Marvelous
Strategies for the Unit Engage
In school settings, students often ask themselves questions like, Why am I doing this? Where am I headed? and
How does this connect to anything important to me? This
unit addresses these questions with a unit engage activity.
The chapter 2 engage serves as the unit engage and
invites students to wonder about the properties of matter
that are required to produce a functioning wave toy. It sets
the stage for all the important questions answered during
the unit. Each chapter refers to the wave toy and its properties. In this sense, the unit engage provides a story line
for the entire unit in the form of lingering questions.
Designing an effective wave toy means learning about
solubility, bonding, density, phases of matter, and conductivity—all features of this unit’s learning goals. The unit
engage helps students know where they are going, why they
are going there, and how any of it connects to things that
matter to them.
Each chapter helps students answer lingering questions
about the wave toy. Keep a wave toy in the classroom and
use it as a prop during discussions. Seek every opportunity
to refer to those lingering questions as you teach and
interact with students. In a way, the unit engage serves as
a refrain much like the phrase “I have a dream” did in
Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech. Such a reoccurring theme can be a very effective learning tool.