Integration is not decoration — it is a deliberate method for making each unit reach outward into history, reading, and writing first, then into geography, ethics, data, and economics, so the physical science becomes something a student can think with rather than just recall. Memory is associative: a formula lashed to a discovery, a controversy, and a consequence is held by a dozen threads instead of one.
Every unit radiates the same structured set of connections off the science spine — three tiers plus a quantitative lane. This is what keeps the cross-domain work rigorous instead of random.
| Tier | What it carries |
|---|---|
| Core spokes always required | History, Reading, Writing. Every unit names who discovered the idea and what they got wrong first, gives a real text to read (primary source, biography, living book — not a textbook chapter), and asks for writing in the student’s own voice. These run in every unit, no exceptions. |
| Standard spokes where they fit | Geography (where in the world this matters — industry, resources, environment) and soft social studies (the ethical and policy stakes). Where a unit genuinely doesn’t carry these, we move them to the elective pool rather than fake a connection. |
| Elective spokes pick ~two of five | Data & quantitative · Ethics · Economics · Technology & engineering · Art & design. Additive depth, never a substitute for the core. Letting students choose feeds wonder and lets faster students go deeper. |
| Applied-math lane always present | Math is not a spoke — we use math, we are not a math program. Physical Science leans on math more than most sciences; every unit names the specific math the physical science actually requires, done inside the lab context. The per-unit lane is on Page 3. |
Integration is graded as its own strand, separate from the science-mastery criteria. A student can be Mastered on the physical science and only Approaching on integration, or the reverse — which keeps the science bar pure while still rewarding cross-domain depth.
Every unit has an anchor built the same way. Each row names the unit’s physical-science big idea and the real-world anchor that carries the History, Reading, and Writing core — a doorway, not a detour.
| Unit | Physical Science big idea | Integration anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Matter & Its Properties | Matter can be sorted by measurable properties like mass, volume, and density. | Archimedes and the king’s crown — the “eureka” story of using density to test whether the gold was pure; a measured property, not a guess. |
| 02 Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table | All matter is built from atoms, and the elements fill the periodic table. | Mendeleev arranging the first periodic table and predicting elements no one had found yet. |
| 03 Chemical & Physical Changes | Some changes make new substances; others change only the form of matter — and mass is conserved. | Lavoisier’s sealed-jar experiments showing mass stays the same — what counts as real evidence of a chemical change. |
| 04 Forces & Motion | Forces change how things move, and motion follows simple, predictable rules. | Galileo’s ramps and Newton’s laws — timing motion without a stopwatch; balanced vs. unbalanced forces. |
| 05 Energy & Its Forms | Energy takes many forms and moves between them, but the total is never lost. | James Prescott Joule measuring how motion turns into heat — energy conserved on a swing or a roller coaster. |
| 06 Heat & Thermal Energy | Temperature measures average energy; heat is energy moving from warmer to cooler. | The steam engine and the Industrial Revolution — James Watt; conduction, convection, and radiation. |
| 07 Waves, Sound & Light | Sound and light travel as waves — wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. | Measuring the speed of light and mapping the sea floor with sound; one wave picture explains both an echo and a rainbow. |
| 08 Electricity & Magnetism | Electricity and magnetism are linked: a moving magnet makes a current. | Michael Faraday — the bookbinder’s apprentice who discovered induction and lit the electric age. |
Big idea: electricity and magnetism are two sides of one thing — a moving magnet can push an electric current through a coil of wire. Anchor: Michael Faraday, a bookbinder’s apprentice with almost no schooling, taught himself science and discovered electromagnetic induction in the 1830s, making electric generators possible. Question: students build a coil, a magnet, and a meter, and test what makes the current bigger — a faster magnet, more turns of wire, or a stronger magnet. Connection back: this is induction — the same discovery that runs every power plant, found first on a workbench.
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 (in the lab context) |
|---|---|
| 01 Matter & Its Properties | Measuring mass and volume; calculating density (mass ÷ volume); unit conversions. |
| 02 Atoms, Elements & the Periodic Table | Reading the periodic table; counting protons and electrons; simple whole-number ratios. |
| 03 Chemical & Physical Changes | Adding masses before and after a change to check conservation of mass; reading a balance. |
| 04 Forces & Motion | Speed = distance ÷ time; plotting and reading distance–time graphs; adding forces. |
| 05 Energy & Its Forms | Comparing kinetic and potential energy; simple energy bar charts; proportional reasoning. |
| 06 Heat & Thermal Energy | Reading thermometers; graphing temperature over time; averaging measurements. |
| 07 Waves, Sound & Light | Wavelength, frequency, and amplitude; simple wave-speed reasoning; reading a wave diagram. |
| 08 Electricity & Magnetism | Simple circuit ratios; comparing current with more turns or a stronger magnet; measuring and comparing. |
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 — Not Yet, Approaching, or Mastered — separate from the science-mastery rubric. Record demonstration tokens earned in the final column.
| Unit | Not Yet | Approaching | Mastered | Tokens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ______ |
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.