STC-Middle School™, My Generation™: Space Systems Exploration 1-Class Unit Kit (©2015)

Grades 6–8. Students of all ages have an innate curiosity about our solar system and the broader universe. STC My Generation™: Space Systems Exploration taps this curiosity by helping students clarify what they already know about space. Then, starting with the Sun-Earth-Moon system, it challenges them to perform a series of investigations through which they extend and enrich this knowledge.

STC My Generation™: Space Systems Exploration supports students' growth in science and engineering through engagement in these types of investigations and activities. This unit addresses Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations, disciplinary core ideas, associated science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts for grades 6 through 8. It allows students to experience phenomena that they find fascinating and exciting and that often make headline news. By completing this unit, students and teachers alike develop a better understanding of the relationships among the bodies within our solar system and beyond.

To structure and scaffold the development of students' knowledge, skills, and cognitive reasoning, the unit includes a sequence of 4 primary lesson types: Skills and Knowledge Building lessons, an Exploration Activity, Systems lessons, and Applications lessons. In addition, this unit begins with a pre-assessment, allowing educators to assess students' preconceptions, misconceptions, and skills that relate to the practices; and each ends with an assessment lesson that comprises performance and written assessment activities.

The Space Systems Exploration unit addresses the following standards:
Alignment to Next Generation Science Standards
Performance Expectations

• MS-ESS1-1
• MS-ESS1-2
• MS-ESS1-3
• MS-PS2-4
• MS-ETS1-1
• MS-ETS1-2
• MS-ETS1-3
• MS-ETS1- 4

Science and Engineering Practices

• Defining problems
• Developing and using models
• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Using mathematics and computational thinking
• Constructing explanations and designing solutions
• Engaging in argument from evidence
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns
• Cause and effect
• Systems and system models
• Scale, proportion, and quantity
• Connections to Nature of Science: Scientific knowledge assumes an order and consistency in natural systems
• Connections to engineering, technology, and applications of science: Influence of science, engineering, and technology on society and the natural world

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• ESS1.A: The universe and its stars
• ESS1.B: The Earth and the solar system
• PS2.B: Types of interactions
• ETS1.A: Defining and delimiting engineering problems
• ETS1.B: Developing possible solutions
• ETS1.C: Optimizing the design solution

Connections to Common Core English Language Arts

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.4
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.7
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.5
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.6
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.1
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.2
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.3
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.4
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.7
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.8
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1.d
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.5
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1.a
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1.b
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.2
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.6
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.7

Connections to Common Core Mathematics

• CCSS.Math.Content.6.EE.A.2C
• CCSS.Math.Content.6.EE.C.9
• CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3.C
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.G.A.1
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.G.A.2
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.G.B.4
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.2
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.2b
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.3
• CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.3
• CCSS.Math.Content.8.F.B.5
• CCSS.Math.Content.8.SP.A.1