How the KTFR Curriculum Aligns with Science Standards

The KTFR curriculum is designed to be flexibly purposeful and academically rigorous. It seeks to inspire the co-creation of STEAM educational experiences which position students as change agents, who understand the importance of using evidence-based reasoning to make informed decisions and shape messaging that connects.

Alignment to South Carolina State Science Standards

Grade 6

6-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to identify patterns, which help forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

6-ESS2-5. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Grade 7

7-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Grade 8

8-ESS1-1. Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, tides, and seasons.

8-PS2-4. Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects and the distance between them.

High School

E-ESS2-2. Analyze data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.

E-ESS3-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources and occurrence of natural hazards have influenced human activity.

E-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.

E-ESS3-7. Create an argument, based on evidence that describes how changes in climate on Earth have affected human activity.

B-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem health.

Dimension 1: Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs)

ALL of the SEPs are integrated into the KTFR teaching/learning model.

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Dimension 2: Cross Cutting Concepts

The crosscutting concepts begins with two concepts that are fundamental to the Nature of Science (NoS)—Patterns and Cause & Effect, which, along with Systems Thinking and Change Over Time, are the organizing principles of the KTFR curriculum.

1. Patterns. Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.
2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such
   mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity. In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different measures of size, time, and energy and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance.
4. Systems and system models. Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.
5. Energy and matter. Flows, cycles, and conservation. Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.
6. Structure and function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure determine many of its properties and functions.
7. Stability and change. For natural and built systems alike, conditions of stability and determinants of rates of change or evolution of a system are critical elements of study.

Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI)

Disciplinary ideas are grouped in four domains: the physical sciences; the life sciences; the earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology and applications of science.

The DCI foci of the KTFR curriculum are:

1. Earth’s Systems (ESS), with specific emphasis on Weather and Climate and Human Impact on the Environment
2. Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society (ETS)