High School Curriculum Explorer · Grades 9–12

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138 original mini-lessons with video choices23 courses9 subject areas

Suggested pathways · Selected standards contributions · No calculus
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Each course has six lessons in three suggested units. Grade ranges guide placement; they are not universal requirements.

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35 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 1: Earth Evidence and Energy

Read a Seafloor Age Pattern

Evaluate an idealized age transect as evidence for a plate-motion explanation.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Read a Seafloor Age Pattern
Preview lesson: Read a Seafloor Age Pattern

Goal: Plot ages against distance and defend a qualified spreading interpretation with two data comparisons.

Before this: Use signed coordinates and unit conversions.

Try together: Together predict the model age at +300 km if the same average rate continued, then label it a prediction rather than a supplied measurement.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS1-5High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.7Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Read a Seafloor Age Pattern
40 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 1: Earth Evidence and Energy

Model a Changing Energy Budget

Connect reflection, outgoing radiation and an initial energy imbalance without treating the model as a weather forecast.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Model a Changing Energy Budget
Preview lesson: Model a Changing Energy Budget

Goal: Construct two energy budgets and explain the direction of the initial change under stated assumptions.

Before this: Add and subtract energy quantities.

Try together: Together analyze an initial outgoing-radiation decrease from 70 to 68 while reflection remains 30.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS2-4High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.7Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Model a Changing Energy Budget
35 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 2: Carbon and Resource Decisions

Keep Stocks Separate From Carbon Flows

Account for annual carbon transfers across interacting reservoirs.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Keep Stocks Separate From Carbon Flows
Preview lesson: Keep Stocks Separate From Carbon Flows

Goal: Calculate net reservoir changes and explain how a transfer can conserve carbon while increasing atmospheric stock.

Before this: Distinguish a total amount from an amount per year.

Try together: Together calculate the atmospheric change if the fossil transfer were 3 instead of 8, with all other modeled flows unchanged.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS2-6High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.7Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Keep Stocks Separate From Carbon Flows
40 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 2: Carbon and Resource Decisions

Compare Resource Strategies Transparently

Evaluate competing metal-use options using economic, environmental and social criteria.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Compare Resource Strategies Transparently
Preview lesson: Compare Resource Strategies Transparently

Goal: Recommend a feasible strategy with two numerical comparisons and an explicit tradeoff.

Before this: Compare costs, percentages and constraints.

Try together: Together explain why 100 refurbished frames would exceed the supplied inspection capacity even though the purchase price is lower.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS3-2High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.1Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Compare Resource Strategies Transparently
35 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 3: Environmental Solutions and Projections

Refine an Impact-Reduction Proposal

Compare mitigation data and improve a design while guarding against single-measure claims.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Refine an Impact-Reduction Proposal
Preview lesson: Refine an Impact-Reduction Proposal

Goal: Evaluate a habitat proposal against three criteria and propose a testable refinement.

Before this: Interpret averages and distinguish before/after evidence from a causal conclusion.

Try together: Together label every predicted quantity in a comparison table and explain why it should not be presented as a measured success.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS3-4High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.1Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Refine an Impact-Reduction Proposal
40 minutes

Earth and Environmental Science

Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 3: Environmental Solutions and Projections

Read a Projection as a Conditional Model

Interpret model outputs and associated impacts without turning a scenario into an exact prediction.

▷ 2 teacher video choices: Read a Projection as a Conditional Model
Preview lesson: Read a Projection as a Conditional Model

Goal: Compare two scenario rates and write a qualified explanation with one associated impact and two uncertainties.

Before this: Calculate a finite change per decade and read a graph.

Try together: Together explain why the shared 0.5°C starting anomaly is not a statement that either place’s absolute temperature is 0.5°C.

Subject-content contributionHS-ESS3-5High school band
Supporting literacy connectionRST.9-10.7Grades 9–10
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Open lesson →: Read a Projection as a Conditional Model

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