Stanford NGSS Assessment Project

Stanford NGSS Integrated Curriculum: An Exploration of a Multidimensional World

Integrated, NGSS-designed, project-based curriculum for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.

This 6th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum aligns to the California Integrated model in which earth and space science, life science, physical science and/or engineering are integrated within each curriculum unit.

All the units:

  • are project-based

  • include Instructionally embedded assessments

  • align to the 5E instructional model (i.e., engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate)

  • are phenomena-based 

  • provide students with opportunities to generate their own questions to motivate sense-making and/or problem solving

  • incorporate language development strategies

  • provide an additional pop-out lesson that allows students to apply what they've learned to delve deeper into the intersection of social justice,  science, and the "greater good" (see "Pop-Outs" tabs)

In addition to our four instructional units, there is a unit devoted to groupwork to help teachers establish classroom norms and expectations around effective collaborative work.

6th Grade Curriculum 7th Grade Curriculum 8th Grade Curriculum

In partnership with Scoutlier, we have begun creating a virtual and hybrid version of this curriculum. To access our pilot unit, 8th Grade - Colossal Collisions, click here.

Grade 6

Grade 6 - Pop-Outs

Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Pop-Out Slides (PDF) (Google Drive)

Grade 6 - Unit 1 - Setting Things In Motion

How do our bodies produce and use the energy needed to move objects?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 1 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 6 - Unit 2 - Extreme Living

How do people use technology to survive in regions with different climates?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 2 Slides (PDF) (Google Drive)

Grade 6 - Unit 3 - Nature via Nurture

How can we use environmental and genetic factors to explain changes in organisms?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 3 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 6 - Unit 4 - A Warmer World

How do humans impact organisms around the world and what can we do about it?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 4 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 7

Grade 7 - Pop-Outs

Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Pop-Out Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 7 - Unit 1 - A Balanced Biosphere

How have natural processes and human activities created the ecosystem we see today?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 1 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 7 - Unit 2 - Matter Matters

How can models of matter help us understand the resources we use?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 2 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 7 - Unit 3 - Mimicking Nature's Design

How does energy and matter flow within natural and designed systems?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 3 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 7 - Unit 4 - Save the Andes!

How can we sustain biodiversity in a modern, changing world?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 4 Slides (PDF) (Google Slides)

Grade 8

Grade 8 - Pop-Outs

Lessons that correspond to each unit and focus on issues of social justice and the nature of science.

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Pop-Out Slides (PDF) (Google)

Grade 8 - Unit 1 - Colossal Collisions

What are the effects of an asteroid collision and how can we prevent a future one?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 1 Slides (PDF) (Google)

Grade 8 - Unit 2 - Traveling Through Space

What forces keep the parts of our solar system together and how can we use this knowledge to plot a telescope route through space?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 2 Slides (PDF) (Google)

Grade 8 - Unit 3 - Adapt or Die?

How do species change over time and should we intervene?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 3 Slides (PDF) (Google)

Grade 8 - Unit 4 - Using Engineering & Technology to Sustain Our World

How are humans harming Earth, plants, and animals, and what can we do about it?

Teacher Unit (PDF) (Word)

Student Unit (PDF) (Word)

Unit 4 Slides (PDF) (Google)