Unit 1 · Energy & Matter in My World

Driving question: Where does energy go, and where does "stuff" come from? Across five lessons students build one connected model — that energy and matter are never created or destroyed, only transferred and rearranged — and then use it to design a real device.

NGSS MS-PS1 · MS-PS3 Early fall ~5 weeks Ends in a design performance task

The lessons

Week 1

Where does the warmth come from?

A hand-warmer heats up with no flame. Particles, energy, and exothermic change.

MS-PS1-1 · MS-PS3-3 Week 2

Why does an ice pack get cold?

The mirror of Week 1 — energy absorbed (endothermic), still conserved.

MS-PS1-6 · MS-PS3-3 Week 3

Where does a melting popsicle go?

States of matter as particle arrangement — and conservation of matter.

MS-PS1-4 Week 4

When something burns or rusts, where does the matter go?

Physical vs. chemical change; atoms rearrange but are conserved.

MS-PS1-2 · MS-PS1-5 Week 5 · Performance task

Design something that gives off or soaks up heat

Synthesis + the summative design task, scored with a 3-dimensional rubric.

MS-PS1-6 (integrating PS1-2 · PS1-5 · PS3-3)