Topic 15 — Light and warmth — internal blueprint (28 September 2026; revised after the non-author review)
What I need from you: 3 decisions
Does the student see "Light and warmth", or the architecture's "Light and heat"?
Topic 11's adjudication struck "heat" from every student-facing string (its L03 became "Giving light, making a sound, or warming something?"). The three atom titles here all say "heat" ("Light-givers usually give heat", "Rubbing makes heat"); the lessons say warm, warmer, warms up, hot and warmth, and the page title follows them.
My recommendation: "Light and warmth" — a noun phrase in the topic's own word; the architecture line and the register titles keep "heat" as ours.
Do the light lessons sit together (020, 033), with rubbing (021) last?
the architecture line reads "Light-givers give heat; rubbing makes heat; light carries energy" (020, 021, 033). Built order is 020 → 033 → 021: the light-giver itself is warm, then the thing its light lands on warms, then rubbing warms with no light at all — the contrast case that closes the topic.
My recommendation: keep 020 → 033 → 021.
Does the glow stick stay as the "usually" case in L01?
ENE3-020 says light-givers usually give heat. The lesson shows one light-giver that stays cool (a glow stick) so "usually" means something, and one quiz item and one practice item test it. Without it the rule would read as "always", which a child with a glow stick knows is false.
My recommendation: keep it; strike it if you would rather the lesson say nothing about the exception at grade 3.
Topic 15 at a glance — 3 lessons
| Lesson | Opens on | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | Things that give light are usually warm too | Suppose a desk lamp has an old glass bulb. | video + article |
| L02 | Light carries energy | Suppose a bike is left in the sunshine all afternoon. | video + article |
| L03 | Rubbing warms things up | Suppose it is a cold morning, and your hands are cold. | video + article |
What this topic is, in five lines
Three lessons, one per atom, in this order: ENE3-020, ENE3-033, ENE3-021 — then the mixed mastery practice, the summary video and the PP100.
The big idea: warmth arrives as energy — a thing that gives light is usually warm too; light carries energy to whatever it lands on, and there the thing warms up; rubbing warms both things because the moving things give some of their energy to the places that rub.
Terms coined here: none. Recalled: energy and mechanical energy (Topic 11), light source and light travels in straight lines (Topic 13), light soaks in and the thing warms a little (Topic 14).
Everyday words used, not coined: warm, warmer, warms up, hot, cool, cold, warmth, rub, rubbing, glow.
Deliberately not taught: why a filament or a flame is hot; "friction" as a force (Grade 4 coins it; here the rubbing is described); heat as a quantity, temperature and thermometers (Matter strand); why dark things warm more than pale ones (Topic 14's absorption, recalled in one line); that rubbing longer or faster warms more; where the Sun's energy comes from (SPA3).
Misconceptions exposed (vault rule: Physics lessons confront the age's misconceptions by name): ENE-06 "light is a kind of energy" — AVOIDED by the transfer sentence everywhere; ENE-08 "cold is a stuff that moves" — CONFRONTED ("Warmth passes from the hot bulb to the air around it"; "Nothing called cold left your hands"; Tomek's and Elske's claims; the "cold left" distractor in L03 and PP-4); light and warmth as one thing — CONFRONTED both ways (a glow stick gives light and stays cool; a hot-water bottle is warm and gives no light; rubbing warms with no light); rubbing "makes" warmth from nothing — CONFRONTED ("The warmth did not come from nothing. It came from the moving hands' energy"); ENE-03 "energy is used up" — AVOIDED ("gave some of that energy to the skin"); "heat rises" — not exposed by these atoms, nothing written about warm air rising. Checker: 0 inducing, exposed 2, confronted 2, gaps 0.
None block the build — there was no blueprint gate for this topic (your 28 Sep night brief), so the topic is authored end to end and these are the calls the record asks you to confirm or overturn.
Applied without asking: "heat" never printed to a student; light CARRIES energy in every sentence (giver, carrier, receiver); "mechanical energy" recalled from Topic 11, not re-coined; the moving hands GAVE some of their energy to the skin (nothing "runs out"); "nothing called cold left your hands"; the fact form for L01 and L02 (your Topic 3 ruling: no minimal-difference non-example exists for a fact, so examples only, the rule last) with one minimal pair each (the same lamp on and off; the same bike in sun and shade); the prediction form for L03 with the same hands rubbed and held still; every claim a bare yes / no; every attached question standing alone with its own drawing; hard bank items typed; three summary questions; colour figures with kinds and briefs.
Things that give light are usually warm too L01
Suppose a desk lamp has an old glass bulb.
The lamp has been on for an hour.
You reach to switch it off.
By accident, your finger touches the bulb.
Ouch, the bulb is hot!
The lamp is for giving light.
So why is the bulb hot?
Why is the bulb hot?
The lamp gives light, so energy is at work.
The same energy warms the bulb too.
Something that gives light is usually warm too.
Video: the lamp on with the finger touching the bulb, then the same lamp off and cool, then the candle, the campfire, the Sun and the glow stick in one frame — video and article.
Part 1 — ENE3-020 — State that things giving off light usually give off heat too (said as: a thing that gives light is usually warm too)
Notes
Design-check classification: (a) one-step fact — the student says whether a named light-giver is warm too; the fact is near-universal, so true / false items close the run and one boundary item tests "usually".
Example sequence: the same lamp on (light; hot bulb) and off (no light; cool bulb) — the minimal pair — then a candle, a campfire, the Sun in one frame ("Does it give light? Yes. Is it warm too? Yes."), then the glow stick (light, cool) as the boundary, then the rule. Energy is named twice on the lamp: the bulb gives light, and the bulb warms up; warmth passes from the hot bulb to the air around it.
Light carries energy L02
Suppose a bike is left in the sunshine all afternoon.
Nothing touches its seat.
You come back and sit on the seat.
Ouch, the seat is hot!
The Sun is far, far away.
So how did the seat get warm?
How did the seat get warm?
The Sun's light travels to the seat.
Light carries energy.
The light lands on the seat and gives it energy.
The seat warms up.
Light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on.
Video: the Sun's lines landing on the bike seat and the seat glowing warm, then the same bike under a tree with the lines stopping on the leaves, then the lamp and the stone — video and article.
Part 1 — ENE3-033 — State that light carries energy from its source to whatever it lands on
Notes
Design-check classification: (a) one-step fact with a why — the student says what happens where light lands and picks the reason on a fresh case; the transfer sentence (giver, carrier, receiver) is the key's shape every time.
Example sequence: the same bike in sunshine (light lands; the seat warms up) and under a tree (the Sun's light does not reach the seat; the seat stays cool) — the minimal pair — then the sun stripe on a floor (one floor: warm in the stripe, cool beside it), a lamp on a stone (any light source, not only the Sun), a cat in the sunny spot, then the rule.
Rubbing warms things up L03
Suppose it is a cold morning, and your hands are cold.
Your hands rub together, fast, for a while, and now they are warm.
Nothing hot touched them, and no light landed on them.
So where did the warmth come from?
Where did the warmth come from?
Your hands were moving, so they had mechanical energy.
The moving hands gave some of that energy to the skin.
The skin warmed up.
Rub two things together, and both get warmer.
Video: the hands rubbing with back-and-forth arrows and the glow spreading, then the same hands pressed still and cold, then the eraser on paper and the stick on the log — video and article.
Part 1 — ENE3-021 — Predict that two surfaces get warmer when rubbed together
Notes
The lesson prints Topic 11's lexicon sentence verbatim ("A moving thing has mechanical energy."); the forest line above paraphrases it only so the plan reads as one sentence per line.
Design-check classification: (a) one-step prediction — the student says what happens to two named things that rub; the non-rubbing cases (touching, pressing, leaning) are the boundary and break the key run.
Example sequence: the same hands rubbed (both warmer) and pressed together, still (cold) — the minimal-difference non-example — then an eraser on paper, a stick on a log (how people once made fire), the prediction sentence, then the rule. The mechanism is Topic 11's: the moving hands gave some of their mechanical energy to the skin; the warmth did not come from nothing, and nothing called cold left the hands.
Intro video
A cat asleep on a sunny windowsill (the sill is warm, nothing hot touched it); indoors at night a boy switches off a lamp, touches the bulb and finds it hot (the lamp is for light — so why is the bulb hot?); outside on a frosty morning a girl rubs her cold hands warm. "Three warm things. Where did the warmth come from each time?" The close names the topic and answers nothing: "That's this topic: light, and the warmth that comes with it." Ready line: "Okay, so are you ready to find out why the sunny windowsill is warm?" and the poll. 115 words.
Summary video
The four lexicon sentences in teaching order with the topic's own pictures (the lamp and the candle; the glow stick as the "usually"; the bike seat in sun and shade; the hands, the eraser); the last beats answer the intro's three questions. 222 words. Three attached questions: a gas stove's flame (is it warm too — yes); a stone step in sunshine (warms up); two sticks rubbed (both warmer).
PP100 bank
1. easy · ENE3-020 · four things on a night-time table are named, untouched for an hour; which one is warm (the student infers it from gives-light).
2. easy · ENE3-021 · two named things are rubbed together; what happens to them — four happenings.
3. medium · ENE3-033 · a thing in sunshine is warm; why — four single-statement reasons (the wind and "bright means warm" beliefs among them).
4. medium · ENE3-021 · rubbed hands warm up; why — four reasons (the "cold left" belief among them).
5. medium · ENE3-033 with a 020 distractor · a lamp has been on and the thing under it is warm; why is the thing warm — four reasons.
6. hard · ENE3-033 · TEXT: a wall in sunshine gets warm; what carries the energy from the Sun to the wall (light).
7. hard · ENE3-021 + ENE3-004 (Topic 11, pair) · TEXT: rubbed sticks were moving; what kind of energy did the moving sticks have (mechanical energy).
Figures (drawn in content/figures.py)
Depiction register additions: warm = Topic 14's orange halo (35 % opacity) on the warm thing only, chips WARM / COOL / WARMS UP; carries energy = Topic 13's light line with the chip LIGHT CARRIES ENERGY (no second arrow); rubbing = two short dark-grey arrows pointing opposite ways over the moving thing (never red or blue, Topics 5–6's pushes and pulls); the desk lamp with its glass bulb visible under the shade; a campfire; a glow stick; a toaster's glowing wires. 30 figures, each with an IMAGE_BRIEFS entry and an IMAGE_KINDS entry: 20 cartoon, 8 svg, 2 photo.
This grade’s course architecture — open only if you want the whole map
Skill: course-build → atomise (architecture, step 6b gate) → write-like-james @ acc4fb6
Grade 3 Science — course architecture v3 (James's rulings of 25 September, plus Olivia Mullins's sequencing)
Read this in five minutes. Grade 3 Science is ONE course with a fixed order; nobody picks strands. It arranges the 183 Grade 3 atoms into four strands and forty-two small topics, each with its own mixed practice, summary video and PP100. Nothing below writes a lesson sentence. The atoms stay where they are: the Science Knowledge Graph's 3-5 registers.
Rulings recorded (James, 25 September 2026)
- Strand order: Physics, Matter, Earth & Space, Life. James: "I don't think it matters hugely … Happy to go with 1 Physics 2 Matter 3 Earth and space 4 Life. That works well." Strands may be intermingled later if a reason appears; none does yet.
- Grade 3 is one course. "We're not going to allow students to pick any strand … we need to structure Grade 3 as we think Grade 3 should be structured best." v1's line about students choosing strands was wrong and is gone.
- Topic 1 is the pilot. "That topic 1, I think, works as a good pilot."
- Small topics. "3 atoms is fine for testing. PP100s on quite granular stuff is absolutely fine … A 4-atom topic and a 5-atom topic is great. 9 is too many, really … if something's got 9 atoms, we should be considering splitting it." So sound, soil, fossils and natural resources each stand alone, and every v1 topic of nine or more was split (Card 2). Topics 1 and 2 keep 8 and 7 lessons because James approved Topic 1 as it stands and Topic 2 is one chain about speed; both are flagged as split candidates once their PP100 data arrives.
- Forces opens with Earth's pull and magnets, before the word "force" (Olivia Mullins call, 25 September; James: "I think I'll follow that"). Topics 3 and 4 teach the two non-touching pulls with no talk of forces; Topic 5 coins "force" on both of them and on the hand push together, so the hand push never becomes the whole category. Her two classroom misconceptions (Earth pulls only on your feet; "balanced" is a kind of force) are in the register and the lessons.
- States of matter start with air (Olivia): air takes up space → gases spread → liquids → solids → the sort.
Applied from the earlier rulings: four strands; Motion before Forces before Energy; Scientific Reasoning atoms taught inside the topics that use them; one intro video per strand and per topic, each teaching nothing; one atom, one lesson, both video and article; a summary video before every PP100; PP100 banks of at least fifty items tagged by depth of reasoning; the Forces topics reuse the golden pack; the language rules (Earth's pull, carriers not forms, no "leak" or "lift").
Card 1 — The strands and their order
The call: Physics → Matter → Earth & Space → Life, each with its own intro video and its own end-of-strand test.
| Strand | Topics | Atoms | Why it sits here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physics | 1-15 | 64 | Motion first: what you can see, before the invisible cause. Energy last: "faster means more energy" needs speed. |
| Matter | 16-21 | 22 (+7 Scientific Reasoning) | Uses the measuring tools and feeds Earth's water cycle in Grade 4. |
| Earth & Space | 22-31 | 41 (+4 Scientific Reasoning) | Weather uses tables and graphs; "the Sun powers Earth" must precede food chains. |
| Life | 32-42 | 43 | Ends the year; leans on Space (the Sun), Forces (Earth's pull) and Matter (properties). |
Scientific Reasoning's 13 atoms are spread through Topics 1, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 25 (Card 4). Total 183 lessons.
Card 2 — The topics
The call: forty-two topics, most of three to six lessons; a mixed mastery practice set, a summary video and a PP100 at the end of every one.
| # | Topic (student-facing title) | Atoms (in teaching order) | Lessons | The big idea it serves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physics | ||||
| 1 | Where is it? Did it move? | MOT3-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008 (+ SR3-020, 021 inside L07/L08) | 8 | You say where something is with a landmark; moving means its position changed; motions can repeat |
| 2 | Fast and slow | MOT3-020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026 | 7 | Faster means farther in the same time, or the same distance in less time |
| 3 | Earth pulls things down | FOR3-021, 029, 030, 028, 022 (+ a closing lesson naming gravity) | 6 | Earth pulls every object, all the time, straight down, on every part of it, without touching; a strong enough pull can beat it; the pull's name is gravity (JM 28 Sep 2026; no word "force" yet) |
| 4 | Magnets | FOR3-023, 024, 025 | 3 | A magnet pulls steel without touching; two magnets pull or push; use a magnet to solve a problem (no word "force" yet) |
| 5 | What a force is | FOR3-012, 001, 008, 006 | 4 | Earth's pull, a magnet's pull and your push are all forces; push or pull; on one object; in one direction |
| 6 | Forces that touch, and forces that don't | FOR3-020, 027, 026 | 3 | Some forces act without touching: Earth, magnets, a rubbed balloon; most pushes touch |
| 7 | Pushes and pulls change things | FOR3-002, 003, 004, 005, 007 | 5 | A push or pull starts, stops, turns or squashes; you can test it |
| 8 | Strong or weak: drawing a force | FOR3-009, 010, 011 | 3 | A stronger push makes a bigger change; an arrow shows a force's direction and strength |
| 9 | Balanced forces | FOR3-040, 041, 042, 043, 045 | 5 | Several forces act at once; balanced forces leave motion as it is, still or steady |
| 10 | Unbalanced forces | FOR3-044, 046, 047 | 3 | Unbalanced forces speed up, slow down or turn |
| 11 | Energy: what has it, how it travels | ENE3-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 034 | 6 | Energy makes things happen; light, sound and electricity carry it; faster means more |
| 12 | Sound | ENE3-030, 031, 032 | 3 | Sound comes from vibration and travels to your ear |
| 13 | Light: sources, straight lines, shadows | ENE3-010, 011, 012, 017 | 4 | Light comes from a source, travels straight, makes shadows, must reach the eye |
| 14 | Light bounces, bends or soaks in | ENE3-013, 014, 015, 016 | 4 | Reflection, refraction, absorption, sorted |
| 15 | Light and heat | ENE3-020, 021, 033 | 3 | Light-givers give heat; rubbing makes heat; light carries energy |
| Matter | ||||
| 16 | Describe it, sort it | SR3-001, 002, MAT3-001, 002, 003 | 5 | Observe with more than your eyes; describe an object by its properties; sort and order |
| 17 | Measuring tools | SR3-003, 004, 005, 006, 007 | 5 | Thermometer, scale, measuring jug; pick the right one; two groups can disagree |
| 18 | Which has more? | MAT3-004, 062, 005, 006 | 4 | More mass, more space, warmer, decided by a measurement; MAT3-062 "everything takes up space" (JM ruling on Olivia's comment, 28 Sep 2026) sits before the space comparison |
| 19 | Sinks, floats, sticks to a magnet: choosing materials | MAT3-007, 008, 060, 061 | 4 | Test a property, then pick the material for the job |
| 20 | Solids, liquids and gases | MAT3-022, 023, 021, 020, 024 | 5 | Air first: it takes up space; gases spread; liquids take their container's shape; solids keep theirs; then the sort (Olivia's order) |
| 21 | Heating and cooling | MAT3-040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046 | 7 | Heating and cooling change the state but it is the same water (split candidate: melting/freezing vs evaporating/condensing) |
| Earth & Space | ||||
| 22 | Measuring the weather | EAR3-017, 018, 019, SR3-010, EAR3-020, SR3-011 | 6 | Three instruments, a weather diary, reading it back |
| 23 | Weather over a season, and far away | SR3-012, EAR3-022, 023, 021, 024 | 5 | A season's records make a chart; the chart predicts; other places differ |
| 24 | Volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides | EAR3-007, 010, 008, 011, 009, 012 | 6 | What each one is, then how it changes the land fast |
| 25 | Dangerous weather | EAR3-013, 014, SR3-022 | 3 | Weather can do damage; a defence holds it back; pick the sensible cause |
| 26 | Soil | EAR3-001, 002, 003, 004 | 4 | Soil is broken rock plus dead things |
| 27 | Fossils | EAR3-029, 030, 031, 032, 033 | 5 | A few dead things last as fossils and tell of the past |
| 28 | Using and conserving natural resources | EAR3-040, 041, 042, 043 | 4 | Everything you own started as a natural resource; some run short |
| 29 | The Sun | SPA3-001, 007, 002 | 3 | A huge glowing ball of gas; a star; the source of Earth's energy |
| 30 | The stars | SPA3-003, 004, 005, 006 | 4 | Stars differ; they look like dots because they are far; telescopes show more |
| 31 | The solar system | SPA3-010, 011, 012, 013, 014 | 5 | Earth orbits the Sun with seven other planets; the Moon orbits Earth |
| Life | ||||
| 32 | Alive or not | LIF3-001, 007, 008, 009, 002 | 5 | Living things grow, feed, move and make more; sort living from non-living |
| 33 | What living things need | LIF3-003, 004, 005, 006 | 4 | Food, water, air and a place that suits them |
| 34 | Backbone or no backbone | LIF3-010, 011, 070 | 3 | Grouping by shared features; vertebrates, invertebrates, arthropods |
| 35 | The five vertebrate groups | LIF3-015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 012 | 6 | Mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, then the sort |
| 36 | Eggs, body parts and senses | LIF3-013, 020, 027 | 3 | Egg-layers or live birth; body parts do survival jobs; animals sense, then respond |
| 37 | How plants make new plants | LIF3-071, 072, 014, 024 | 4 | Seeds, spores, the sort, the flower's job |
| 38 | Plant parts and their jobs | LIF3-021, 022, 023 | 3 | Roots, stem, leaves |
| 39 | Plants respond | LIF3-025, 026, 028 | 3 | Stems grow to the light, roots grow down; plants respond by growing, animals by moving |
| 40 | Life cycles and family likeness | LIF3-030, 031, 040, 041, 042 | 5 | Every life runs in a cycle; offspring take after their parents but differ |
| 41 | Food chains | LIF3-050, 051, 052 | 3 | Every food chain starts with the Sun; remove a link and the rest changes |
| 42 | Living together and coping with change | LIF3-060, 061, 062, 063 | 4 | Groups, places and seasons decide who survives |
Totals: 183 lessons, 42 practice sets, 42 PP100s (banks of at least 50 items each), 4 strand tests (after Topics 15, 21, 31, 42), 1 end-of-grade test.
Why this grouping
- Every prerequisite edge points backwards in this order. Checked atom by atom in the assembled files; no forward reference.
- Animal topics (33-35) and plant topics (36-38) are separate, as James asked; the plant-versus-animal response contrast (LIF3-028) closes Topic 38 because it needs both sides taught.
- Topics 3 and 4 teach Earth's pull and magnets without the word force; Topic 5 coins it on all three kinds (Olivia's sequence). Topic 8 carries the two force-arrow atoms so Topics 9 and 10 can draw balanced and unbalanced forces.
- Topic 24 puts "what a volcano is" straight before "volcanoes change the land fast", and the same for earthquakes and landslides: what it is, then what it does.
What changes: the folder gets grade3/topicNN_build/ per topic; Topic 1's blueprint is approved; Topic 1 is built first.
Card 3 — Topic 1 is the pilot (approved)
The call: pilot "Where is it? Did it move?" end to end — 8 lessons, an attached question per video, a ten-item quiz after each, mixed practice, summary video, PP100 — before any other topic starts.
- It is the first thing a Grade 3 student meets, so the whole format ladder gets tried where the stakes are lowest.
- It holds a fact, four sorts, two routines and a prediction. Every check type the course needs appears once.
- Its quiz items are drawings of everyday scenes, so the figure pipeline for young grades gets tested too.
- Topics 3 to 10 follow, reusing the golden Forces pack where its lessons match (push or pull, force on one object, strength, direction, more than one force, the balanced and unbalanced lessons).
Card 4 — Scientific Reasoning is taught where it is used
The call: each of the 13 Scientific Reasoning atoms is a lesson inside the topic that first needs it, with its check there; no separate strand, no separate test.
| SR atom | Host topic | Why there |
|---|---|---|
| SR3-001 Observe with more than your eyes; SR3-002 Observation or idea about it? | 16 Describe it, sort it | describing an object's properties is observing |
| SR3-003 Read a thermometer; SR3-004 Measure mass with a scale; SR3-005 Measure the volume of a liquid; SR3-006 Pick the right measuring tool; SR3-007 Two groups, two different answers | 17 Measuring tools | the tools before "which has more?" uses them |
| SR3-010 Record results in a table; SR3-011 Find a value in a table | 22 Measuring the weather | the weather diary is the first table students fill and read back |
| SR3-012 Read a pictograph or bar graph | 23 Weather over a season | the graph before the graphing routine |
| SR3-020 Spot the pattern; SR3-021 Use the pattern to predict | 1 Where is it? Did it move? (inside L07 and L08) | the swing's repeat is the pattern |
| SR3-022 Choose the sensible cause | 25 Dangerous weather | first place students pick a cause for an event |
Card 5 — Tests and benchmarks
The call: a PP100 per topic; a static end-of-strand test per strand (some free response); one static end-of-grade test; all Grade 3 tests are our own banks, seeded from released grade-5 items filtered to Grade 3 atoms.
- No state tests science before grade 5 (D1 ruling). The released STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI grade-5 forms give the style and difficulty; items tagged to Grade 3 atoms seed the banks.
- The strand tests fall after Topics 15, 21, 31 and 42.
- The end-of-grade test samples all four strands with free-response items.
What happens next
Topic 1 is built as the first interactive version for James: the topic intro (video script and article), eight lessons each as a video script with animation guidance and an article with figures, one attached question per video, a ten-item quiz per lesson, mixed practice, the summary video script and the PP100 bank. Topic 3 follows, reusing the golden pack.