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Grades 9–12 · Semester 6 · 49 readings

Look deeper into the wider world

Begin with traces of lives in biological material. Follow the connected explanations through chemistry behind lasting images and buildings, 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 1Traces of lives in biological material2 readings ⌄

DNA and tooth enamel carry different evidence about ancestry and past surroundings.

  1. How can ancient DNA help trace past population movement?History & Evidence
  2. How can tooth enamel preserve clues about childhood surroundings?History & Evidence
Unit 2Comparisons, measurements and design choices3 readings ⌄

Reference points affect a decision, electrodes compare voltages, and component connections affect later recovery.

  1. Why can the same result feel like a gain or a loss?Organisms
  2. How can electrodes on the scalp record brain activity?Organisms
  3. How can a product’s connections affect whether its parts are reused?Arts & Music
Unit 3Making the invisible measurable4 readings ⌄

Follow molecular copies, moving DNA and separated chemicals from hidden mixtures to interpretable evidence.

  1. How can PCR make a selected DNA segment abundant enough to study?Organisms
  2. How can an electric field separate DNA fragments by length?Organisms
  3. How can a mass spectrometer distinguish molecules using charged particles?Materials & Matter
  4. How can chromatography separate chemicals that entered together?Materials & Matter
Unit 4Cells that signal, select and clear4 readings ⌄

Discover how controlled removal, electrical pulses, assistive technology and immune selection depend on precise biological processes.

  1. How can a body remove a cell through programmed cell death?Organisms
  2. How can a nerve impulse travel along an axon without fading away?Organisms
  3. How can a cochlear implant turn sound into stimulation of a hearing nerve?Machines
  4. How can an immune response produce antibodies that bind a target more strongly?Organisms
Unit 5Materials that carry and exchange4 readings ⌄

Connect fiber arrangement and long-term deformation with the movement of ions and energy through engineered materials.

  1. Why does the direction of fibers matter in a composite structure?Materials & Matter
  2. How can a hot turbine component slowly change shape under a steady load?Materials & Matter
  3. How can electric fields move salt out of one water stream and into another?Systems
  4. How can heat inside one battery cell accelerate its own release of energy?Systems
Unit 6Chemical routes through industry4 readings ⌄

Trace how catalytic surfaces, absorption, distillation and extraction transform or separate real industrial streams.

  1. How can a catalytic converter change several exhaust pollutants at once?Machines
  2. How can a power plant capture sulfur dioxide with a limestone slurry?Systems
  3. How can one refinery column separate crude oil into several streams?Systems
  4. How can compressed carbon dioxide remove caffeine from coffee beans?Everyday Life
Unit 7Coupled changes in a living planet4 readings ⌄

Connect ocean chemistry, Pacific circulation, atmospheric reactions and Earth’s magnetic engine through their causal mechanisms.

  1. Why can extra dissolved carbon dioxide make shell-building harder?Earth & Space
  2. How can Pacific winds and ocean temperatures reinforce one another during El Niño?Earth & Space
  3. How can a small amount of chlorine destroy many ozone molecules?Earth & Space
  4. How can moving liquid metal inside Earth sustain a magnetic field?Earth & Space
Unit 8Navigating and reading the universe4 readings ⌄

See how trajectories, timed beams, rare particles and stellar vibrations become tools for exploration and discovery.

  1. How can a planetary flyby change a spacecraft’s speed around the Sun?Earth & Space
  2. Why can a spinning neutron star appear to flash like a clock?Earth & Space
  3. How can a detector in Antarctic ice notice a particle that usually passes through matter?Earth & Space
  4. How can tiny changes in starlight reveal a star’s interior?Earth & Space
Unit 9Heat, power and flowing matter4 readings ⌄

Follow energy through combined engines, rocket cooling, electric propulsion and the pressure changes inside pumps.

  1. How can one power plant make electricity from the same fuel in two stages?Systems
  2. How can rocket fuel help stop an engine wall from overheating?Machines
  3. How can a tiny push from an ion engine gradually change a spacecraft’s journey?Machines
  4. Why can a pump make vapor bubbles even when its liquid is not hot?Machines
Unit 10Computing across boundaries4 readings ⌄

Explore how computers agree on records, protect statistical releases, translate programs and share incoming work.

  1. How can several servers keep one agreed record when a machine fails?Computing
  2. How can useful statistics reveal less about any one person?Computing
  3. How can a compiler turn one program into instructions for different processors?Computing
  4. How can a busy website distribute requests across several servers?Computing
Unit 11Institutions and uncertain evidence4 readings ⌄

Understand financial timing, shared emissions limits and the careful comparisons used to study treatments and wildlife.

  1. How can a bank own valuable assets yet struggle to meet sudden withdrawals?Societies
  2. How can tradable allowances help enforce a shared emissions limit?Societies
  3. Why does assigning trial participants by chance help compare treatments?Societies
  4. How can seeing some marked animals again help estimate a whole population?Mathematics
Unit 12Evidence, uncertainty and population models4 readings ⌄

Follow how institutions examine a signal, test a claim and interpret a conditional projection.

  1. Why does a positive screening result lead to more investigation?Systems
  2. Why can a population keep growing after average family size falls?Societies
  3. What does peer review check before a research paper is published?History & Evidence
  4. How is repeating an analysis different from repeating a study?History & Evidence
Unit 13Chemistry behind lasting images and buildings4 readings ⌄

Connect salt weathering, selective printing, color translation and ancient concrete with the material lives of human creations.

  1. How can growing salt crystals damage a stone wall from inside?Materials & Matter
  2. How can a flat printing stone hold ink in some places but repel it in others?Arts & Music
  3. How can a photograph keep a similar appearance on different devices?Arts & Music
  4. How can small lime fragments help explain the durability of some ancient concrete?History & Evidence