Grades 3–5 · 8 connected explanations
Networks, Exchange & Time
Follow words into records and digital signs, then follow products through supply networks. Layers and Earth’s turning provide two different ways to reason about time.
History & Evidence
How could marks in clay record spoken words?
Shared sign conventions let marks stand for spoken words and sounds.
History & Evidence
How can a printing press make many copies of one text?
Printing lets copies of one prepared text travel to different readers.
Computing
How do tiny pixels make a digital picture?
A digital picture represents an image through the colors of many small pixels.
Computing
How do a QR code's corner patterns help a reader orient it?
A QR pattern adds structure that helps a reader locate and orient encoded information.
Societies
How does cotton become a T-shirt?
A manufactured shirt connects materials, workplaces and transport.
Societies
How does food reach a grocery store?
Food supply connects producers with shops through a sequence of handoffs.
History & Evidence
How do undisturbed layers show which deposit came first?
Undisturbed layers can preserve evidence of a relative order of events.
Earth & Space
How does Earth’s turning bring day and night?
Earth’s turning gives a physical explanation for the repeating cycle of day and night.