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Grades 9–12 · Semester 4 · 49 readings

Discover living and designed systems

Begin with motion, fluids and interfaces. Follow the connected explanations through energy, matter and time in the wider world, 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 1Motion, fluids and interfaces4 readings ⌄

Rotor controls, an oil-film bearing, a molecular motor and a fluid beyond its critical point depend on distinct interactions at moving boundaries.

  1. How does a helicopter control blades that keep rotating?Machines
  2. How can a spinning shaft ride on a thin film of oil?Machines
  3. How can flowing ions turn a bacterium’s propeller?Organisms
  4. How can the boundary between a liquid and a gas disappear?Materials & Matter
Unit 2Patterns, signals and recordings4 readings ⌄

Video residuals, magnetic recordings, speech spectra and plate vibrations connect a changing signal to a useful representation.

  1. How can a video reuse an earlier picture?Computing
  2. How can magnetic tape keep a voice after the sound has stopped?History & Evidence
  3. How can a picture reveal the changing sounds of speech?Language
  4. Why can a vibrating plate draw lines in sand?Arts & Music
Unit 3Reconstructing and coordinating patterns3 readings ⌄

Sound correspondences and astronomical cycles reveal structure across changing forms and times.

  1. Why does a Turkish plural ending change its vowel to match the word?Language
  2. How can recurring sound correspondences reveal relationships between languages?History & Evidence
  3. Why does a lunisolar calendar sometimes need an extra month?Earth & Space
Unit 4Small interactions and large effects4 readings ⌄

Skin nanostructures, a parabolic reflector, ion exchange and tidal evolution explain remarkable results at different scales.

  1. How can a chameleon change color by moving tiny crystals?Organisms
  2. Why does a parabolic dish focus distant signals?Mathematics
  3. How can tiny resin beads soften hard water?Everyday Life
  4. How can tides make a moon keep the same face toward its planet?Earth & Space
Unit 5Exchange and reuse3 readings ⌄

A root–fungus partnership, a heat pipe and a compression method show three distinct ways of exchanging or reusing a resource.

  1. How can a plant root trade resources with a fungus?Organisms
  2. How can a sealed tube move heat without a pump?Everyday Life
  3. How can a file describe a repeated phrase without writing it again?Computing
Unit 6Repeating structures, remarkable effects3 readings ⌄

A flexible gear, a diffraction grating and a clarinet connect carefully arranged structures with motion, light and sound.

  1. How can a flexible gear turn a fast motor into tiny movements?Machines
  2. How can thousands of tiny gaps separate the colors in light?Materials & Matter
  3. Why can a clarinet jump into a higher register?Arts & Music
Unit 7Small structures, coordinated functions4 readings ⌄

Sliding filaments, renewing bone, cochlear mechanics and a gaze-stabilizing reflex connect microscopic structures with everyday body functions.

  1. How can a muscle shorten without shortening its filaments?Organisms
  2. How can a hard bone keep rebuilding itself?Organisms
  3. How does the cochlea separate pitches?Organisms
  4. How can your eyes keep looking at something while your head turns?Organisms
Unit 8Predicting and adapting movement2 readings ⌄

Follow everyday experiences into the hidden processes that make them possible.

  1. How can your hands meet a ball that is still moving?Organisms
  2. Why can a familiar swing feel wrong with a different racket?Organisms
Unit 9Motion and phase changes in useful objects2 readings ⌄

A seat-belt retractor responds to motion, while a liquid–vapor propellant supplies pressure in an aerosol can.

  1. Why does a seat belt slide slowly but lock in a sudden stop?Machines
  2. How can an aerosol can keep spraying as it empties?Everyday Life
Unit 10Body growth and regulation4 readings ⌄

Glucose feedback, lymph return, growth plates and early reproduction connect interacting processes with carefully bounded explanations.

  1. How does the body balance glucose between meals?Organisms
  2. How does fluid between cells get back into the circulation?Organisms
  3. How can a solid bone grow longer?Organisms
  4. How can an egg and sperm begin an embryo?Organisms
Unit 11Food structure and reactions2 readings ⌄

Onion browning and chocolate setting reveal different chemical and structural transformations.

  1. Why do onions become brown and fragrant as they cook?Everyday Life
  2. Why does well-tempered chocolate shine and snap?Everyday Life
Unit 12The material science inside a snack2 readings ⌄

Connect food texture and packaging with molecular behavior.

  1. Why does crisp cereal lose its crunch?Everyday Life
  2. Why is a snack bag filled with gas as well as food?Everyday Life
Unit 13Controlled materials and motion3 readings ⌄

Injection molding shapes a material, washer balancing limits an uneven load, and anti-lock braking regulates wheel slip.

  1. How can a machine make thousands of matching plastic parts?Materials & Matter
  2. Why does a washer slow down and rearrange a lumpy load?Machines
  3. How do anti-lock brakes keep checking the wheels?Machines
Unit 14Stored electric states2 readings ⌄

Rechargeable cells and flash memory retain different kinds of useful state.

  1. What moves inside a rechargeable battery?Materials & Matter
  2. How does a memory card remember with its power off?Computing
Unit 15Interpreting medical signals2 readings ⌄

MRI and pulse oximetry extract different information through carefully defined physical signals.

  1. How can an MRI scanner make pictures using magnets?Machines
  2. How can a fingertip clip estimate blood oxygen?Machines
Unit 16Energy, matter and time in the wider world5 readings ⌄

Hurricanes, solar fusion, landfills, heat pumps and satellite clocks reveal distinct physical relationships at different scales.

  1. How can warm ocean water power a hurricane?Earth & Space
  2. Why does the Sun keep shining?Earth & Space
  3. What keeps a landfill from being just a hole full of rubbish?Systems
  4. How can a water heater deliver more heat than its electrical energy input?Everyday Life
  5. Why must GPS account for Einstein’s relativity?Systems