Use the science to investigate a real source, explain the evidence, and communicate a defensible conclusion. The guide supplies the actual reading, data, task, and chosen level before the unit begins.
| Strand | Required evidence |
|---|---|
| History, Reading, Writing | Use an approved source in context and a student-authored response. Separate the original evidence from later explanations; do not force a single-hero story. |
| Geography and ethics | Include location, social context, or ethical trade-offs where they genuinely support the scientific question. |
| Elective extensions | Choose additional depth in data, technology, economics, or art. Extensions do not replace the core work. |
| Quantitative science | Use the unit's mathematical lane at the agreed level. Supply units, denominators, and model conditions; required science is assessed as science. |
Integration is reported separately and cannot lower the science grade or block a science demonstration pass. Science and practical criteria determine that pass.
Use the same approved task in both formats. The web guide explains the source, data, assumptions, student work, and evidence checklist; this packet is its portable summary, not a different assignment.
Use the web guide's approved unit assignment.
| Unit | Physical Science big idea | Integration anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Matter & Its Properties | Use properties and uncertainty to classify matter without claiming a unique identity. | MacTutor: Archimedes. Cite a property-history claim; compare with our model and state its limits. Full task and data. |
| 02 Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table | Particle grouping, arrangement and processing help explain material properties. | OpenStax: periodic-table history. Compare a historical prediction with later evidence and our separate models. Full task and data. |
| 03 Chemical & Physical Changes | Track identity, conserved particles and the chosen measurement boundary. | Science History: Lavoisier. Use the cited collaboration/measurement history to explain a matter boundary. Full task and data. |
| 04 Forces & Motion | Separate motion, net force and different-body interaction pairs. | MacTutor: Galileo. Cite the motion account; distinguish history from our model and assumptions. Full task and data. |
| 05 Energy & Its Forms | Follow motion, arrangement and internal energy within a defined system. | OpenStax: Joule, work and heat. Compare the cited work/heat account with our model’s complete energy ledger. Full task and data. |
| 06 Heat & Thermal Energy | Relate particles, material amount and transfer paths to thermal evidence. | OpenStax: Joule, work and heat. Use the work/heat distinction; name observations that would test our model. Full task and data. |
| 07 Waves, Sound & Light | Model wave energy, material interactions and information carried through noise. | MacTutor: Newton. Cite the optics account and distinguish it from the modern signal models. Full task and data. |
| 08 Electricity & Magnetism | Account for charge and energy; distinguish current-produced fields from induced voltage. | Royal Institution: Faraday. Cite induction history; separate a current’s field, changing flux and emf. Full task and data. |
Changing flux induces an emf; the resulting current additionally depends on the circuit. Use the assigned Faraday source and synthetic records to calculate or compare polarity and magnitude, then write the historical connection and a limitation. A data exercise does not certify practical wiring, and not every electricity source uses electromagnetic induction.
Math never drives a unit, but physical science uses it constantly — always anchored to the device or measurement at the bench. Here is the quantitative skill each unit actually uses, done inside the lab context rather than as a parallel curriculum.
| Unit | Applied math at the agreed level |
|---|---|
| 01 Matter & Its Properties | Mass/volume ratios, displacement differences and bounded uncertainty; read state-change plateaus without inventing measurements. |
| 02 Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table | Count supplied molecular groups and lattice ratios; compare property/cost constraints; optional isotope/electron bookkeeping is beyond the basic structural-model target. |
| 03 Chemical & Physical Changes | Count given atom groups, reconcile mass with escaped material and bounds; use a supplied bath-energy model to compare thermal designs. |
| 04 Forces & Motion | Distance versus signed position change; ratios, one-dimensional net force and supplied average-force models; optional ideal force ratios are not universal magnetic laws. |
| 05 Energy & Its Forms | Compare mass/speed patterns and energy bars; use the given K and mgh expressions only as optional bridge tools with stated conditions. |
| 06 Heat & Thermal Energy | Read cumulative energy/state intervals; same-material weighted thermal balance; repeated-trial means, requirement bounds and design revisions. |
| 07 Waves, Sound & Light | v = f wavelength; amplitude-squared comparison only at matched conditions; complete reflected/transmitted/absorbed ledgers and optional decoding/error-model work. |
| 08 Electricity & Magnetism | Given ideal resistor V/I relations, series voltage and branch-current sums, VI time energy, I time charge; retain the separate signed flux/turn/time induction exercise. |
Students do the density calculation inside the matter-and-its-properties lab, the speed graph inside the forces-and-motion run, the heat-transfer measurement inside the thermal-energy experiment. The number always means something because it is attached to a result they produced — never a worksheet detached from the physical science.
Integration is its own strand. Track each unit’s integration level across the year — Developing, Proficient, or Mastery — separate from the science-mastery rubric. Record the evidence reference and date in the final column.
| Unit | Developing | Proficient | Mastery | Evidence / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Matter & Its Properties | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 02 Atoms & the Periodic Table | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 03 Chemical & Physical Changes | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 04 Forces & Motion | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 05 Energy & Its Forms | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 06 Heat & Thermal Energy | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 07 Waves, Sound & Light | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
| 08 Electricity & Magnetism | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
Choose a supplied-data investigation and review the selected standards connections and limits. Public worked practice is not an observed practical or a secure assessment.
A student who walks through all eight anchors finishes understanding that physical science is how humans learned to understand and shape the world around them, and that every formula on the page was once a discovery someone fought for — the version of the subject a student keeps.