Wild Ride is an activity that can be used with students, but was used in the introductory workshop as a way to engage teachers in an initial engineering design activity and to reflect on the experience as a student and as a teacher.
Welcome! In light of the COVID 19 pandemic and school closures, Portland Metro STEM Partnership has worked with thier partnering districts to create and curate distance learning resources for students.The following resources were developed by district science TOSA teams and the Portland Metro STEM Partnership (PMSP) Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Councils. These Councils represent curriculum development leads and master HS teachers from Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Portland Public. Thank you, district science leaders and PMSP Content Council leaders, for developing this set of distance learning resources for high school students!
Students are discovering how the Fibonacci Sequence occurs in nature while collecting and interpreting data. Students will also compare a specific item from nature and consider what types of variation exist in items of that sort.
The Patterns High School Science Sequence is a three year course pathway and curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The sequence consists of freshman physics, sophomore chemistry, and junior biology courses. Each course utilizes common instructional strategies and real world phenomena and design challenges that engage students and support their learning. The curriculum is a combination of teacher-generated and curated open-content materials. The Teacher generated materials are shared freely under a Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike Creative Commons License. Teacher workshops for each course are offered each summer in the Portland-Metro area. For more information, see our Professional Development page.
Different birds have specialized beaks to eat different types of food. For example, owls do not drink nectar from flowers, and hummingbirds cannot crack open nuts. Activity will use common household tools to show how different beak shapes function to collect various kinds of food.
Our Patterns Biology development team of teacher leaders has been working hard through the spring and summer of 2020 to develop distance learning versions of the Patterns Biology units. Between March and May they released Distance Learning versions of units 4 and 5, as well as paper packets that can be printed for students who do not have access to technology at home. In preparation for fall of the 2020-21 school year, the team has just published Distance Learning versions of units 1 and 2 (see below links for each unit's page). Our Distance Learning units can be used in either a fully online or hybrid school model. A Distance Learning version of Unit 3 will be released by the end of September.
Our Patterns Chemistry development team of teacher leaders has been working hard through the spring and summer of 2020 to develop distance learning versions of the Patterns Chemistry units. Between March and May they released the below Distance Learning versions of units 4, 5 and 6, as well as paper packets that can be printed for students who do not have access to technology at home. Below are the distance learning version of units 1 and unit 2. The distance learning units can be used in either a fully online or hybrid school model. A Distance Learning version of Unit 3 will be released by the end of September. For schools reopening fully in person, scroll down to see the original Patterns Chemistry unit plans.
THE PATTERNS APPROACH
The Patterns Approach to science instruction emphasizes the use of mathematical and phenomenological patterns to predict the future and understand the past. Students construct science knowledge by making an initial “wild-guess”, asking questions, planning and conducting experiments, collecting data, finding a mathematical model that fits their data, explaining the phenomenon based on that model, then finally making a data-informed prediction. Harnessing their own experiences, students compare and contrast low-evidence predictions (wild guesses) to their data-informed prediction to live the experience and learn the value of evidence-based reasoning. Additionally, students engage in several engineering projects in each course, where they must use the Patterns they discover in their designs to optimize their solutions. The Patterns Approach utilizes technology, student-constructed knowledge, frequent opportunities for student talk, and language supports to ensure the engagement and success of every student. By emphasizing, rather than removing, the mathematical connections to science, the Patterns Approach supports student conceptual understanding by connecting real-world inquiry experiences, graphical representations, and mathematical representations of science phenomena.
Animals have physical and behavioral traits that help them survive. Some traits help animals be more successful in survival than others.
Animals have traits physical and behavioral that help them survive. Some traits help animals be more successful in survival than others.
As the item moves through the contraption, energy is transferred from one object to the next, moving each one.
Designing something that works often takes many attempts, tests, and redesign. The final creation is often a combination of aspects of those many previous designs.