Module 1 of the Kindergarten curriculum in A Story of Units.  In Topics A and B, classification activities allow students to analyze and observe their world and articulate their observations.  Reasoning and dialogue begin immediately.  In Topics C, D, E, and F, students order, count, and write up to ten objects to answer “how many?” questions from linear, to array, to circular, and finally to scattered configurations wherein they must devise a path through the objects as they count.  In Topics G and H, students use their understanding of relationships between numbers and know that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one greater and that the number before is one less.

Students learn the basic properties of light the concepts of light absorption, transmission, reflection and refraction, as well as the behavior of light during interference. Lecture information briefly addresses the electromagnetic spectrum and then provides more in-depth information on visible light. With this knowledge, students better understand lasers and are better prepared to design a security system for the mummified troll.

With the assistance of a few teacher demonstrations (online animation, using a radiometer and rubbing hands), students review the concept of heat transfer through convection, conduction and radiation. Then they apply an understanding of these ideas as they use wireless temperature probes to investigate the heating capacity of different materials sand and water under heat lamps (or outside in full sunshine). The experiment models how radiant energy drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, thus producing winds and weather conditions, while giving students the hands-on opportunity to understand the value of remote-sensing capabilities designed by engineers. Students collect and record temperature data on how fast sand and water heat and cool. Then they create multi-line graphs to display and compare their data, and discuss the need for efficient and reliable engineer-designed tools like wireless sensors in real-world applications.

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how aircrafts have decreased the amount of time it takes to transport people and cargo. Students will compute the time it takes to travel between two cities for several modes of transportation including trucks, trains and airplanes. Students will also do some critical thinking to determine why airplanes are not always used.

Students are introduced to the correct technical vocabulary for lighting, which is different than layperson's terms. They learn about lamp (light bulb) technology and how to identify the various types of lighting in their spaces. They are also introduced to lighting controls as a means for saving energy- reducing costs, human energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions on the environment. Using an accompanying worksheet, students embark on a guided audit in which they survey the lighting in their classroom and identify the potential savings from using controls.

Students measure the light output and temperature (as a measure of heat output) for three types of light bulbs to identify why some light bulbs are more efficient (more light with less energy) than others.

This lesson unit is intended to help teahcers assess how well students are able to interpret speed as the slope of a linear graph and translate between the equation of a line and its graphical representation.

In this Cyberchase video segment, Matt and Jackie must figure out which combination of knob and key will get them one step closer to retrieving the Black Crystal.

The purpose of this task is for students to compare two options for a prize where the value of one is given $2 at a time, giving them an opportunity to "work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication." This context also provides students with an introduction to the concept of delayed gratification, or resisting an immediate reward and waiting for a later reward, while working with money.

In this activity, students gain first-hand experience with the mechanical advantage of pulleys. Students are given the challenge of helping save a whale by moving it from an aquarium back to its natural habitat into the ocean. They set up different pulley systems, compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantage of each and discuss their recommendations as a class.

Students use everyday building materials sand, pea gravel, cement and water to create and test pervious pavement. They learn what materials make up a traditional, impervious concrete mix and how pervious pavement mixes differ. Groups are challenged to create their own pervious pavement mixes, experimenting with material ratios to evaluate how infiltration rates change with different mix combinations.

As a weighted plastic egg is dropped into a tub of flour, students see the effect that different heights and masses of the same object have on the overall energy of that object while observing a classic example of potential (stored) energy transferred to kinetic energy (motion). The plastic egg's mass is altered by adding pennies inside it. Because the egg's shape remains constant, and only the mass and height are varied, students can directly visualize how these factors influence the amounts of energy that the eggs carry for each experiment, verified by measurement of the resulting impact craters. Students learn the equations for kinetic and potential energy and then make predictions about the depths of the resulting craters for drops of different masses and heights. They collect and graph their data, comparing it to their predictions, and verifying the relationships described by the equations. This classroom demonstration is also suitable as a small group activity.

In this lesson, students learn about sound. Girls and boys are introduced to the concept of frequency and how it applies to musical sounds.

This task requires students to study the make-a-ten strategy that they should already know and use intuitively. In this strategy, knowledge of which sums make a ten, together with some of the properties of addition and subtraction, are used to evaluate sums which are larger than 10.

The purpose of this task is to generate a classroom discussion about ratios and unit rates in context.

This task includes problem types that represent the Compare contexts for addition and subtraction (see Table 1 in the glossary of the CCSSM for all all addition and subtraction problem types). There are three types of comparison problems – those with an unknown difference and two known numbers; those with a known difference and a bigger unknown number; and those with a known difference and smaller unknown number. Each of these problem types can be solved using addition or subtraction, although the language in specific problems tends to favor one approach over another.

This task provides three types of comparison problems: Those with an unknown difference and two known numbers; those with a known difference and a bigger unknown number; and those with a known difference and smaller unknown number. Students may solve each type using addition or subtraction, although the language in specific problems tends to favor one approach over another.

As part of a design challenge, students learn how to use a rotation sensor (located inside the casing of a LEGO® MINDSTORMS ® NXT motor) to measure how far a robot moves with each rotation. Through experimentation and measurement with the sensor, student pairs determine the relationship between the number of rotations of the robot's wheels and the distance traveled by the robot. Then they use this ratio to program LEGO robots to move precise distances in a contest of accuracy. The robot that gets closest to the goal without touching the toy figures at the finish line is the winning programming design. Students learn how rotational sensors measure distance, how mathematics can be used for real-world purposes, and about potential sources of error due to gearing when using rotation sensor readings for distance calculations. They also become familiar with the engineering design process as they engage in its steps, from understanding the problem to multiple test/improve iterations to successful design.