Implementing District Standards
My district, like many across this country, has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to guide science curriculum. This unit seeks to address standard HS-PE-ESS2-5: Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes. Like many of the standards, though they appear concise, once you read them and un-pack the ideas within you realize how complex they really are. You also realize how broad you may go in teaching for each specific performance expectation. With this unit one may address the properties of water within the context of living organisms, trees, while weaving in the overall effect of water movement through our forests and back into the atmosphere. This unit focuses primarily on the need to understand the properties of water to fully grapple with the phenomenon of water evapotranspiration by plants.