Fusion 3rd-5th Grade Curricula Choices | Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Fusion 3rd-5th Grade Curricula Choices

 

Music: Organized Sound

Students explore the science and math behind music structure and production.  Sound waves, vibration, and other aspects of music creation are investigated as students engineer their own musical instruments.

What’s the Story, Data

Information is all around us and constantly being generated. “Big data” concepts of volume, variety, and velocity of data will be explored and students will create a unique data visualization to convey the story of data they collect.  Finally, data will be critically analyzed to test the validity of claims and students will explore how data can be manipulated to misrepresent a claim.

Dive-In: Oceanographic Engineering

Through inquiry-based explorations, students will engineer solutions to aquatic challenges. Engaging in island construction, growing crops through aquaculture, and examining ocean “ownership” will afford learners the opportunity to participate in various aspects of the engineering design cycle.

Synthetic Scorecard: Building the Future of Biology

Biology, engineering, and technology will intersect in in this curriculum. Investigations will familiarize students with various equipment and techniques used in these fields of study. Protein folding, population densities, gel electrophoresis, case studies, design challenges and more will be explored throughout the curriculum.

You Be the Judge

Welcome to an introduction of some basic principles involved in chemistry, the application of chemistry as well as practices required to create and carry out meaningful investigations. After students have experienced the concepts in a lab setting, they will have a chance to apply their knowledge and lab skills in a variety of simulations throughout the unit. Students will take the role of experts and identify problems, develop methods of testing, and conduct the tests. After gathering, analyzing, and interpreting results, students will make and share evidence based decisions in a variety of settings.

Climate Change: The Future is Now

Now available in Spanish!

This unit engages participants in a variety of investigations to help establish basic understandings regarding climate science literacy. Exploration through real-time and virtual experiments, the use of web based applications, as well as modeling and engineering experiences will help participants identify the facts, issues, and actions they wish to take.

Engineering: Design & Build

Now available in Spanish!

Student led teams conceptualize, build, test, and acquire knowledge while becoming familiar with the engineering design process. Using an open-ended inquiry approach students are able to foster their creativity. Students learn to apply multiple skills and develop the habits of innovators.

Fighting Fire with STEM

Students become cadets of Fire Academy Rescue and embark upon an exploration of the concept of fire, tactics, forensics and innovations in fire rescue. Students engage in hands-on activities that help construct their knowledge on how fire starts and how to manage it. Students will use strategic thinking and mathematics when calculating distances between locations for fire rescue and develop writing skills as they analyze and create shift reports.