The Triad Project builds university and school district partnerships to create the next generation of science educators. Each Triad consists of science teacher candidates, cooperating teachers, and science education professors who simultaneously engage in professional development around the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
The Triads work collaboratively over a semester to design, implement, reflect upon, revise and submit a field-tested integrated instructional NGSS unit. The units are designed using a template created by science educators at CSU Chico. Each freely downloadable NGSS unit includes a chart of lesson plans, along with support materials all geared towards engaging students deeply in all three dimensions of the NGSS: science and engineering standards, core ideas, and cross-cutting concepts. Each unit also contains formative and summative assessments, rubrics, and student work samples.
Unit Plans
Elementary School (Grades K-5)
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Grade 1: Amazing Animal Parents (1-LS1-2)
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Grade 1: Can You Hear Me Now?: Exploring Sound (1-PS4-1)
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Grade 1: How can animal parts help me grow and survive? (1-LS1-1)
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Grade 1: How Do Feet Help Animals Move and Survive? (1-LS1-1)
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Grade 1: Learning from Nature: Using Bio-mimicry to Find Solutions (1-LS1-1)
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Grade 1: Our Sun Takes Center Stage (1-ESS1-1)
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Grade 1: Shells, Spines, and Claws, Oh My! Plant and Animal Adaptations (1-ESS1-1)
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Grade 1: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (1-ESS1-1, 1-ESS1-2)
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Grade 1: Why Can We See Through a Window but Not a Door? (1-PS4-3)
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Grade 2: Are Chemical Reactions Reversible or Irreversible? (2-PS1-4)
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Grade 2: Changing Earth (2-ESS2-2, 2-ESS2-3)
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Grade 2: Earth’s Events Can Occur Quickly or Slowly (2-ESS1-1)
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Grade 2: Irreversible and Reversible Changes (2-PS1-4)
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Grade 2: Matter Mysteries (2-PS1-2)
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Grade 2: Mission to Mars (2-LS2-1)
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Grade 2: Mitigating Erosion Through the Engineering Design Process (2-ESS1-1, 2-ESS2-1)
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Grade 3: Animal Adaptation and Habitat (3-LS3)
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Grade 3: Animals & Biomes (3-LS4-3)
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Grade 3: Exploring Laws of Motion Through Rockets and Cars (3-PS2-2)
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Grade 3: Forces and Interactions (3-PS2-2)
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Grade 3: Inheritance and Variation of Traits (3-LS1-1)
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Grade 3: It’s Not Magic… It’s Magnetism! (3-PS2-3)
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Grade 3: Protect Yourself From the Flood! (3-ESS2-1, 3-ESS2-2)
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Grade 3: Survival vs. Death (3-LS4-3)
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Grade 4-5: Investigating Water Erosion – Stream Tables and Field Trip (4-ESS2-1)
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Grade 4: Collisions Crash Course (4-PS3-3)
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Grade 4: Do You See What I See? (4-PS4-2)
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Grade 4: Do You See What I See? (Version 2) (4-PS4-2)
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Grade 4: Earth’s Systems: Patterns of Earth’s Features (4-ESS2-2)
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Grade 4: Exploring Structures and Functions (4-LS1-1)
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Grade 4: Hydraulic Mining and the Transfer of Energy (4-PS3-4)
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Grade 4: Investigating Energy Through Sound, Light, Heat, and Motion (4-PS3-4)
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Grade 5: Chemical Reactions (5-PS1-4)
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Grade 5: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, & Dynamics (5-LS2-1)
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Grade 5: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics (5-LS2-1)
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Grade 5: How Can We Make Clean Drinking Water? (3-5-ETS1-1)
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Grade 5: Matter is NOT a Disappearing Act! (5-PS1-2)
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Grade 5: Protect Our Planet (5-ESS3)
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Grade 5: Star Light, Star Bright! (5-ESS1-1)
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Grade 5: The Interactions of Earth’s Spheres (5-ESS2-1)
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Grade 5: What’s the Distribution of Water on Earth? (5-ESS2-2)
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Grade K-1: What’s the Weather Like Today? (K-ESS2-1, K-ESS2-2, K-PS3-1)
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Grade K: Cloudy with a Chance of Flooding (K-ESS3-2)
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Grade K: Five Little Pumpkins (K-ETS1-2)
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Grade K: Houses Around the World (K-PS3-2)
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Grade K: Kindergarten In Motion (K-PS2-1)
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Grade K: Land, Water, Air – We Care! (K-ESS3-3)
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Grade K: Three Little Pigs (K-ETS1-2)
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Grade K: Wheel of Forces: An Exploration of Pushes and Pulls (K-PS2-1)
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Grade K: Why Do Squirrels Live in Bidwell Park? (K-ESS3-1)
Middle School (Grades 6-8)
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6-8: Designing Houses for Penguins (MS-PS3-3)
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Grade 6: K’NEX Windmill Competition (MS-ETS1-3)
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Grade 6: Population Growth and Resource Consumption (MS-ESS3-4)
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Grade 6: What is the Most Dangerous Place to Live in the U.S? (MS-ESS3-2)
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Grade 7: Biomimicry Design Challenge (MS-LS4-4)
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Grade 7: Dead Zones, Ecosystems, and Organisms (MS-LS2-1, MS-LS2-2, MS-LS2-3)
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Grade 7: Negotiating NGSS & Social Justice Education (MS-LS1-4, MS-LS1-5, MS-LS4-5)
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Grade 7: Taking a Closer Look at Big Chico Creek (MS-LS2-3)
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Grade 7: Uncovering the Big Chico Creek Ecosystem: Making Informed Decisions about Land Use (MS-LS2-4, MS-LS2-5)
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Grade 8: 3…2…1…Blast Off! (MS-PS2, MS-ETS1)
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Grade 8: Earth, Sun, and Moon (MS-ESS1-1)
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Grade 8: Exploring Kinetic and Potential Energy – Rube Goldberg Devices (MS-PS-3-1, MS-PS-3-2, MS-PS-3-5)
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Grade 8: K’NEX Force and Newton’s Laws (MS-PS2-2)
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Grade 8: Thermal Energy and Global Warming (MS-PS3-4)
High School (Grades 9-12)
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Grade 10: From Tiny Seed to Giant Sequoia (HS-LS2-5)
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Grade 11-12: Stacked Ball Drop – A Model Based Approach to Energy (HS-PS3-1)
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Grade 9-10: Evolution at the Population Level: Variation in Human Skin Color (HS-LS4-4)
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Grade 9-12: Major Factors That Influence Climate Change (HS-ESS2-4)