4 TH GRADE PLTW STEM in the General

Education Classroom
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLTW Slide 3
APB Approach Slides 4-8
Processes Slides 9-10
Claims and Evidence Slides 11-14
Organisms: Structure and Function Slides 15-20
Variation of Traits Slide 21
Weather: Factors and Hazards Slide 22
Life Cycles and Survival Slide 23
Earth’s Water and Interconnected Systems Slide 24
Patterns in the Universe Slide 25
PLTW
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APB APPROACH
APB APPROACH
APB APPROACH

Activities are designed for knowledge and skill

acquisition.
Activities set the stage for developing the content
skills and understandings that will help students
successfully navigate the design problem. • While
activities may be directed, they’re still designed for
hands-on, engaged student learning.
APB APPROACH

Projects lead to meaning making.

Projects provide investigations into concepts or skills that
will be applied in solving the design challenge for the module.
Projects are designed for helping students not only make
meaning but also make meaning that lasts.
Application of learning causes students to consolidate their
understanding, making learning more memorable.
APB APPROACH

Problems are real world and relevant .

Problems are open-ended, with no clear or best solution intended. • Problems
are designed to provide a common challenge that will typically result in unique
solutions that require the transfer of new and past knowledge and skills.
ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS
ENGINEERING DESIGN & THE SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY PROCESSES
CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE
How can I foster students’ capacity to use claims and evidence?
Before a Learning Experience:

Model the use of claims and evidence. Students can start by patterning their
responses to probing questions after your examples.

Use examples from concepts they have already explored. This allows them to
concentrate on the practice rather than constructing an explanation about a
phenomenon they have not yet investigated.
CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE
How can I foster students’ capacity to use claims and evidence?
At the Beginning of a Learning Experience:

Ask students to make claims early in learning experiences—before they engage in an

investigation. This offers a way for you to uncover misconceptions. Students often have
preconceptions about phenomena that are based on conjecture or their own
experience. Understanding their thinking allows you to plan for ways to engage
students in active investigations that build accurate conceptual understanding.
 CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE
How can I foster students’ capacity to use claims and evidence?
During an Investigation:
•Guide students to record their observations. Model examples of the level of detail you expect.
•Ask students to describe their thinking using prompts such as:
•What have you observed about __?
•Why do you think __ happened?
•Tell me more. • Encourage students to engage in constructing explanations as they investigate.
•It is also important for students to share ideas and “argue” their ideas using evidence with their
collaborative groups.
 CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE
How can I foster students’ capacity to use claims and evidence?
Reflecting on the Learning

• After students investigate questions about the phenomenon, guide them to examine their initial claims
in light of the evidence uncovered. At this point students are ready to confirm or revise their claim.
• Continue to ask probing questions that guide students to look closely at the evidence they have—
results of an investigation, data charts, graphs, comparisons of results among groups. They may find
they need more evidence to have confidence in their claim.
• Allow opportunities for students to use the practice of engaging in argumentation from evidence as
they discuss their claims with classmates. Powerful discussions can arise when students learn to talk
through competing ideas just as scientists do!
• Use explanations to formatively assess evidence of students meeting the learning goals.
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Activity 1: Exploring Living Things
Activity 2: Structure and Function
Activity 3: Systems
Project: Design a Plant
Problem: Animal Prosthesis
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Lesson 1:
Standard 4.L.5: The student will demonstrate an understanding of how the structural
characteristics and traits of plants and animals allow them to survive, grow, and
reproduce.

Distance Learning and In Person Learning Options

- Introduction
-Select an animal to design a prosthesis for.
- Sketch your initial prosthesis.
-Do
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Lesson 2
4.L.5A: Scientists have identified and classified many types of plants and
animals. Each plant or animal has a unique pattern of growth and development
called a life cycle. Some characteristics (traits) that organisms have are inherited and
some result from interactions with the environment.
Present Introduction
Flash Card Vocabulary
Discussion: Living things and their needs.
Organism Cards (from Science Kit).
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Lesson 9
4.L.5.B. Plants and animals have physical characteristics that allow them to receive
information from the environment. Structural adaptations within groups of plants and
animals allow them to better survive and reproduce.
PLTW Activity 3:
Day 1 Day 4
PD Instructional Video Systems of the Human Body (Interactive)
Animal Structure Presentation
Octopus Structure Interactive Video
Scenario Activity
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Lesson 12

4.L.5A. Conceptual Understanding: Scientists have identified and classified many

types of plants and animals. Each plant or animal has a unique pattern of growth
and development called a life cycle. Some characteristics (traits) that organisms have
are inherited and some result from interactions with the environment.

PLTW Project: Design a Plant

Day 1 Day 2
Plant Structures Presentation Fictitious Plant Scenarios
Vocabulary Cards - Do
ORGANISMS: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Lesson 13

4.L.5A. Conceptual Understanding: Scientists have identified and classified many

types of plants and animals. Each plant or animal has a unique pattern of growth
and development called a life cycle. Some characteristics (traits) that organisms have
are inherited and some result from interactions with the environment.

PLTW Problem
Use the Design Process and content learned throughout the unit to design and
construct a prosthesis for your selected animal.
-Do
VARIATION OF TRAITS
Module from PLTW 3rd Grade

Activity 2: Types of Traits

Activity 3: Traits Exploration
Problem: A New Species
WEATHER: FACTORS AND HAZARDS
Module from PLTW 3rd Grade

Activity 1: Weather Factors (Rain Gauge and Thermometer)

Activity 2: Weather and Climate
Activity 3: Weather Hazards
(Rain gauge, Thermometer, Digital anemometer, Compass)
LIFE CYCLES AND SURVIVAL
Module from PLTW 3rd Grade
Activity 1: Animal Life Cycles
Activity 2: The Life of a Bee (Flowering Plants)
Problem: How Can We Help Honeybees (Informative writing/ Persuasive writing)
EARTH’S WATER AND INTERCONNECTED SYSTEMS
Module from PLTW 5th Grade
Activity 2: The Water Cycle
Activity 3: Salt Water and Fresh Water
Project: The Process of Evaporation
PATTERNS IN THE UNIVERSE
Module from PLTW 5th Grade
Activity 1: What is a Star?
Activity 2: Shadows
Activity 3: Predictable Patterns
Project: Changes in the Sky
Problem: Space Science Exhibit