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Grade 2. Over the 10 lessons in this module, students explore and collect evidence on the fast and slow ways water and wind can change the shape of land. The end-of-module summative performance assessment asks students to apply the evidence gathered in previous lessons to a scenario-based engineering design challenge. Module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 2. Module Highlights: Over the 10 lessons in this module, students explore and collect evidence on the fast and slow ways water and wind can change the shape of land. Students examine photographs and models of certain changes in the land caused by flowing water and blowing wind. They engage in a literacy activity that highlights the successful and unsuccessful ways people have attempted to minimize the impact water and wind have on the land. Then they use a stream table as a model to compare multiple solutions designed to prevent water from changing the shape of the land. The end-of-module summative performance assessment asks students to apply the evidence gathered in previous lessons to a scenario-based engineering design challenge.

This module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Student Readers Available HERE

Next Generation Science Standards®:
Performance Expectations

• K-2 ETS 1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2 ETS 1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• K-2 ETS 1-3. Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
• 2-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
• 2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
• ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
• ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution
• ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
• ESS1.C: The History of Planet Earth

Science and Engineering Practices

• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Constructing explanations
• Designing solutions
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
• Developing and using models
• Engaging in argument from evidence

Crosscutting Concepts

• Stability and change
• Structure and function
• Cause and effect
• Systems and system models
• Scale, proportion, and quantity

Common Core:
English Language Arts Connections

• RI.2.1
• SL.2.1
• SL.2.1 B
• SL.2.2
• SL.2.3
• SL.2.4
• W.2.8

Math Connections

• 2.MS.D.9
• 2.OA.A.1

Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Soil and Sand
Define the problem of erosion.
Students use evidence to make a claim about the similarities and differences between soil and sand.
Lesson 2: Wind and Water
Wind and water can change the land.
Students develop a model for representing land and how it is affected by wind and water. They carry out an investigation to provide evidence for how wind and water can change the shape of the soil and sand.
Lesson 3: Earth Events
Some events happen quickly; others happen slowly.
Students analyze and interpret data about soil loss on a construction site to provide evidence for a claim about its cause.
Lesson 4: Modeling Materials
Making observations is helpful in thinking about problems.
Students analyze the effectiveness of models for four materials that could be used to prevent or slow down erosion based on the structure and function of each model and the material it represents.
Lesson 5: Built to Last
Designs are useful in communicating ideas for a solution.
Students carry out an investigation into how different materials might slow down erosion using models to represent the real materials. They analyze and interpret data from four tests to determine if and how each material could slow down erosion.
Lesson 6: Creative Solutions
There is always more than one possible solution to a problem.
Students develop a measurement scale to determine how much sand is washed away by water during tests. They use understanding of all components in the system and their relation to each other to design and test two solutions to the erosion problem.
Lesson 7: Lessons Learned
Problems are situations people want to change and can be solved through engineering.
Students obtain and evaluate information from text to compare multiple solutions designed to reduce the ways water and wind have changed the shape of the land.
Lesson 8: Castle on the Edge
Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to understand the problem.
Students analyze and interpret data to construct an explanation for what caused a castle to end up right on the edge of a river. They develop two possible solutions to the problem of preventing the castle from eventually toppling and communicate ideas through a sketch.
Design Challenge
Lesson 9: Save the Sand Towers Part 1
Designs are useful in communicating ideas for a solution to the erosion problem.
Students define the problem of saving the sand towers from destruction caused by water. They design a solution that is based on understanding of all the components of the system the sand towers are a part of and that works within set limits and is based on evidence from prior tests.
Lesson 10: Save the Sand Towers Part 2
It is useful to compare and test designs for the erosion problem.
Students use evidence to optimize their original design to save the sand towers by considering the effect of changing one component. They communicate how the final design attempted to solve the problem of saving the sand towers by keeping them stable.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.