DCI: Physical Sciences

The first three physical science core ideas answer two fundamental questions - "What is everything made of?" and "Why do things happen?" - that are not unlike questions that students themselves might ask. These core ideas can be applied to explain and predict a wide variety of phenomena that occur in people's lives. And because such explanations and predictions rely on a basic understanding of matter and energy, students' abilities to conceive of the interactions of matter and energy are central to their science education. A fourth core idea introduces students to the ways in which advances in the physical sciences during the 20th century underlie all sophisticated technologies available today. This stresses the interplay of physical science and technology, as well as expands students' understanding of light and sound as mechanisms of both energy transfer and transfer of information between objects that are not in contact. (NRC Framework 2012, p. 104)



PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

How can one explain the structure, properties, and interactions of matter?

PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

How can one explain and predict interactions between objects and within systems of objects?

PS4: Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

How are waves used to transfer energy and information?