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Grades 9–12 · Semester 2 · 50 readings

Follow connected processes

Begin with uncertainty and outcomes. Follow the connected explanations through discrete signals and responses, keeping each small group together and taking time to understand its illustrations.

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One possible pace is 3–4 explanations a week over 16 weeks. Keep each small unit together, revisit its pictures and allow more time whenever an idea needs it.

Unit 1Uncertainty and outcomes4 readings ⌄

Component reliability, expected values, shared risk and irregular waiting times distinguish a distribution from one outcome.

  1. How does component arrangement affect system reliability?Systems
  2. What does expected value tell us about possible outcomes?Everyday Life
  3. How can a shared risk pool help with some losses?Societies
  4. Why can irregular departures increase expected wait?Everyday Life
Unit 2Networks and feedback4 readings ⌄

Capacity, delayed feedback, gradient descent and caching reveal different constraints on a system’s performance.

  1. What limits flow through parallel paths?Systems
  2. Why can delayed feedback overshoot or oscillate?Systems
  3. How does step size affect gradient descent toward a minimum?Computing
  4. When does a cache reduce read cost?Computing
Unit 3Populations and states4 readings ⌄

Selection, recombination, chemical equilibrium and mixing describe changes in a population or collection under different rules.

  1. How can natural selection change a population?Organisms
  2. How can crossing over produce new allele combinations?Organisms
  3. What becomes equal at dynamic equilibrium?Materials & Matter
  4. How can counting arrangements explain a tendency to mix?Materials & Matter
Unit 4How living populations change5 readings ⌄

Ancestry, isolation, chance, migration and human selection explain different parts of evolutionary change.

  1. How can a whale's flipper reveal a shared ancestor?Organisms
  2. How can one population become two species?Organisms
  3. How can a gene version spread without being more useful?Organisms
  4. How can pollen change the genetics of another meadow?Organisms
  5. How did a wild grass become maize?Organisms
Unit 5Earth, space and time4 readings ⌄

Positioning signals, radiation balance, seafloor records and calendar conventions connect measurements across space and time.

  1. How can signals help a receiver find its position?Systems
  2. How does the greenhouse effect fit an energy balance?Earth & Space
  3. How do magnetic stripes record seafloor spreading?Earth & Space
  4. How can one day have different dates in two calendars?History & Evidence
Unit 6Production and allocation4 readings ⌄

Specialization, public goods, auction rules and price indices connect resources with their allocation or measurement.

  1. How can specialization change what two workshops produce?Societies
  2. How can a public-good benefit reach someone who does not contribute?Societies
  3. How does a first-price sealed-bid auction assign one item?Societies
  4. How do price indexes help compare money from different times?History & Evidence
Unit 7Evidence and interpretation4 readings ⌄

Causal claims, date bounds, parallel records and legal procedure require different kinds of supporting evidence.

  1. Did the canal cause a port to grow?History & Evidence
  2. How can independent clues narrow a date range?History & Evidence
  3. When does a parallel record constrain a decoding?History & Evidence
  4. Why do courts use evidence and procedures?Societies
Unit 8Measures and messages4 readings ⌄

Grouped rates, reward metrics, framing and argument warrants distinguish a useful summary from a stronger claim.

  1. Why can grouped and combined rates reverse?Mathematics
  2. When can a reward metric miss its goal?Societies
  3. How can language frame the same numbers?Language
  4. How does a warrant connect evidence to a claim?Language
Unit 9Patterns and encodings4 readings ⌄

Rhythmic cycles, frequency spacing, halftones and hashes each encode information through a particular relationship.

  1. How do two rhythmic cycles align?Arts & Music
  2. Why are equal-tempered steps multiplicative?Arts & Music
  3. How can black dots suggest shades of gray?Arts & Music
  4. Why can different inputs produce the same hash digest?Computing
Unit 10Energy and conversion3 readings ⌄

Regenerative braking, a discharging battery and a phase change require different accounts of where energy goes.

  1. How can braking return energy to a battery?Machines
  2. How do electrons and ions follow different routes in a discharging cell?Materials & Matter
  3. Why can a substance keep the same temperature while melting?Materials & Matter
Unit 11Power and networks3 readings ⌄

Wind capture, grid imbalance and metered energy distinguish instantaneous power from its effects over time.

  1. Why is a wind turbine's output less than available wind power?Systems
  2. How can a power imbalance change grid frequency?Systems
  3. How does an electricity meter add up energy use?Everyday Life
Unit 12Coupled Earth and energy systems4 readings ⌄

Explain delayed ground deformation and the controlled transfer of stored or moving energy.

  1. Why can pumping groundwater make the land permanently sink?Earth & Space
  2. How can a solar power station keep generating after sunset?Systems
  3. How does a tidal current turn predictable motion into electricity?Systems
  4. Why does a power system use three alternating phases?Systems
Unit 13Discrete signals and responses3 readings ⌄

A stepper motor, a chemical synapse and sampled audio use distinct mechanisms to translate a signal into a response or representation.

  1. How does a stepper motor move in commanded steps?Machines
  2. How does a chemical synapse pass a signal between cells?Organisms
  3. Why can sampled sound leave an ambiguous frequency?Arts & Music