Topic 21 — Heating and cooling — blueprint (28 September 2026)
What I need from you: 5 decisions
Does Topic 21 stay one topic of seven lessons, or split into two?
the architecture row names the split candidate. Seven atoms is your size ceiling. The last atom, MAT3-046 "Same water, different state", needs melting, freezing AND evaporation, so it closes the whole set: it cannot sit in either half alone. A split would give 21A two lessons (melting, freezing) and 21B five (evaporation, where the water went, boiling, condensation, same water) — and 21B's last lesson would still have to restate "melted ice is water". Topic 20's author is putting the same question for its eight.
My recommendation: keep the seven together, with MAT3-046 as the capstone that closes one PP100. If you want it shorter, the honest cut is 21A = L01–L02 (with the 32 °F reading) and 21B = L03–L07, and L07 keeps a one-line retrieval of melting and freezing.
May L02 call melted butter turning hard in the fridge "freezing"?
freezing is a liquid turning solid, at whatever temperature that happens. The butter case is there so freezing does not settle as "being very cold" — the same reason L01's spoon shows that warming up is not always melting. It is scientifically right and children have not met the word that way.
My recommendation: keep it, with the line "it freezes, even in a fridge".
May L04 draw the water's tiny pieces in the AIR (blue dots above a plain-blue puddle)?
Topic 20 draws air's pieces as dots and says no LIQUID's pieces are drawn at grade 3 (Grade 5's MAT5-082 owns that drawing). L04 keeps the puddle a plain fill and draws only the pieces that have left it, in the water's own blue, with the chip IF YOU COULD SEE THEM. Without the drawing, "still there, in the air" is a sentence to believe rather than a picture to hold.
My recommendation: yes — the atom's whole point is that the water is in the air as pieces too small to see.
Is the longer-tube thermometer (0–220 °F) an acceptable second drawing of Topic 17's thermometer?
Topic 17's card runs 20–110 °F, so 212 °F is off it. L05 draws the same card with a longer tube (same look, same routine: a number every 10, a mark every 2; the Celsius side a number every 10 with a mark every 5, no Celsius reading counted). 32 °F stays on Topic 17's own card.
My recommendation: yes, named in the register as "Topic 17's thermometer with a longer tube".
Does L07 coin "state"?
the atom's title says "different state". Topic 20 sorts by "kind" (solid, liquid, gas); no earlier topic says "state". L07 coins it with the plain words first: "Solid, liquid or gas — which one a thing is, we call its state." One typed term item tests it.
My recommendation: coin it here.
Topic 21 at a glance — 7 lessons
| Lesson | Opens on | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | Melting | Here is Juniper with an ice pop on a hot day. | video + article |
| L02 | Freezing | Here is Tamar filling an ice-cube tray with water. | video + article |
| L03 | Evaporation | Here is a puddle on the playground after the rain. | video + article |
| L04 | Where the water went | Here is the playground puddle. | video + article |
| L05 | Boiling | Here is a pan of water on the stove. | video + article |
| L06 | Condensation | Here is Florrie with a cold can of orange soda from the fridge. | video + article |
| L07 | Same water, different state | Here is Zosia with an ice cube in a cup. | video + article |
What this topic is, in five lines
Seven short lessons, one per atom, in prerequisite order: melting → freezing (its minimal-difference flip) → evaporation → where the water went → boiling → condensation → same water, different state. Five are transformations taught as a run of cases in one frame with a boundary non-example where one exists (a spoon that warms but does not melt; water in a fridge that cools but does not freeze; a saucer with a lid; a can at room warmth); two are facts true of every case taught by examples only (the water is still there as water vapor; ice, water and water vapor are the same stuff).
Topic 20's words carry the sort (a solid keeps its shape; a liquid takes its container's shape; a gas spreads out; tiny pieces far too small to see); Topic 17's thermometer gives the two numbers a child meets (32 °F freezing, 212 °F boiling; 0 and 100 on the Celsius side); Topic 15's energy sentence says why things warm or cool ("The Sun's light carries energy to the ice pop"; "The water gives some of its energy to the cold air"); Topic 18's digital scale shows the same water has the same mass frozen or melted.
Applied without asking (rulings you have already given): hard PP100 items are typed (three of eleven exemplars: two text, one numeric); every attached question stands alone with its own drawing; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem a positive question; colour in figures; photos for real things, cartoons for hands and people, SVG for anything read exactly; scene changes spoken with "let's" in the intro and never as an imperative; the intro ends on a ready line and a poll and names no lesson; three questions on the summary; "heat" is never a noun; nothing "disappears" — every line says where the water went; "stuff" beside "matter"; no "density"; Fahrenheit first with Celsius as the other side; the misconception traps (steam, cold as a stuff, ice a different stuff, melting = dissolving, "soaked into the air") each met once in a lesson and once in a claim item.
Melting L01
Here is Juniper with an ice pop on a hot day.
She puts it down on the bench to tie her shoe.
The ice pop lies in the sun.
What will she find when she comes back?
An ice pop is a solid.
It keeps its shape.
The Sun's light carries energy to the ice pop, and the ice pop warms up.
When a solid warms up enough, it turns into a liquid.
That change is called melting.
A metal spoon in the same sun warms up too, but it is not hot enough to melt.
Video: the ice pop slumping into a puddle on the word "liquid"; the drips from Aled's hand — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-040 — Predict what a solid does as it warms up; coin melting
Part 1q — quiz, 12 items
Freezing L02
Here is Tamar filling an ice-cube tray with water.
She puts the tray in the freezer.
The freezer is very cold.
What will she find in the tray tomorrow morning?
Water is a liquid.
It takes the shape of the tray.
The water gives some of its energy to the cold air in the freezer, and the water cools down.
When a liquid cools down enough, it turns into a solid.
That change is called freezing.
Water freezes when the thermometer reads 32 °F.
A glass of water in the fridge cools down too, but not enough.
It stays a liquid.
Video: the tray's cells turning pale blue on "solid"; the thermometer's level line at 32 — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-041 — Predict what a liquid does as it cools down enough; coin freezing; give the number 32 °F (0 °C)
Part 1q — quiz, 11 items
Evaporation L03
Here is a puddle on the playground after the rain.
In the morning it is big.
By lunchtime it is smaller.
The next day the ground is dry.
Where did the water go?
The puddle is open to the air.
Bit by bit, the water goes from the top of the puddle into the air.
The puddle gets smaller until the ground is dry.
That change is called evaporation.
Water in a saucer with a lid on stays: the lid keeps the water in.
Warm water evaporates faster than cool water.
Video: the puddle shrinking slowly on "bit by bit"; the three-panel strip filling in — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-042 — Predict what water left open to the air does; coin evaporation
Part 1q — quiz, 11 items
Where the water went L04
Here is the playground puddle.
The ground is dry now.
The water went into the air.
Cosmo says the water is just gone, into nothing.
Is Cosmo right?
Where is the water now?
Air is made of tiny pieces far too small to see.
Water is too.
At the top of the puddle, tiny pieces of water go off into the air, one by one.
They spread out through the air, like any gas.
You cannot see them, but they are there.
Water in the air, as a gas you cannot see, is called water vapor.
The puddle's water is still there.
It is water vapor in the air above the playground.
Video: blue dots rising from the puddle's top and spreading through the whole air — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-043 — State that evaporated water still exists as invisible water vapor in the air; coin water vapor
Part 1q — quiz, 11 items
Boiling L05
Here is a pan of water on the stove.
Pippa's dad is making pasta.
He turns the stove on, then the phone rings.
The water gets hotter and hotter.
An hour later, what will be in the pan?
The stove heats the water, and the water gets hotter.
When the thermometer reads 212 °F, bubbles form all through the water: the water boils.
Boiling water turns into water vapor fast.
The water gets lower and lower.
Left long enough, the pan boils dry.
The white cloud above the pan is tiny drops of water you can see.
Water vapor itself cannot be seen.
Evaporating is slow, with no bubbles, at any warmth.
Boiling is fast, with bubbles all through, only at 212 °F.
Video: the red liquid climbing to 212 and the bubbles appearing on the word; the water level dropping to dry — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-044 — Predict what water heated until it bubbles hard does; coin boiling; give the number 212 °F (100 °C); the cloud-versus-vapor and evaporating-versus-boiling contrasts as byproducts
Part 1q — quiz, 12 items
Condensation L06
Here is Florrie with a cold can of orange soda from the fridge.
She takes it outside on a warm day.
Soon the outside of the can is wet, with drops running down.
Where did the water come from?
Did the soda leak through?
The air has water vapor in it.
Water vapor touches the cold can and cools down.
When water vapor cools down enough, it turns back into liquid water.
Drops form on the cold can.
That change is called condensation.
The drops are clear water, not orange soda.
Nothing came through the can.
A can at room warmth gets no drops: it is not cold.
Video: the blue dots drifting to the can and turning into drops on "liquid water" — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-045 — Predict what forms on a cold surface on a warm day; coin condensation
Part 1q — quiz, 12 items
Same water, different state L07
Here is Zosia with an ice cube in a cup.
The ice cube melts.
Now the cup holds a clear liquid.
Bertie says: that's not water.
That's melted ice, a different stuff.
Is Bertie right?
The ice cube was water, frozen.
The liquid in the cup is water.
Put it in the freezer and it is ice again.
Let it evaporate and it is water vapor.
Cool the water vapor and it is water again.
Ice, water and water vapor are the same stuff: water.
Solid, liquid or gas — which one something is, we call its state.
Heating and cooling change water's state.
They do not change the stuff.
Video: the three-state ring growing arrow by arrow; the bag's ice turning to water with the display unchanged — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-046 — State that water is still the same substance after it melts, freezes or evaporates; coin state
Part 1q — quiz, 12 items
Language decisions
- Coined here, in order: melting (L01), freezing (L02), evaporation (L03), water vapor (L04), boiling (L05), condensation (L06), state (L07). Topic 20's words reused, never re-coined: solid, liquid, gas, tiny pieces far too small to see. Topic 17's: temperature, °F, the Fahrenheit side, the Celsius side, digital scale, grams. Topic 18's: mass as how much stuff. Topics 11 / 15's: energy, "gives some of its energy", "light carries energy".
- "Heat" is never a noun: warms up / heats / hot / cools down / cold. "Steam" is not said: "the white cloud is tiny drops of water you can see; water vapor cannot be seen." Nothing "disappears", "escapes", "leaks" or "vanishes": every line says where the water went. "Cold" is never a stuff that moves: the water gives some of its energy to the colder air. "Stuff" beside "matter" (L07). "Density" absent.
- US spelling throughout (vapor, color, gray). Openers vary: "Here's Juniper…", "Here's Tamar…", "Here's a puddle…", "Here's the playground puddle…", "Here's a pan…", "Here's Florrie…", "Here's Zosia…"; scripts use contractions and open on the scene, no title slide.
PP100 type sheet (TYPE_SHEET_ONLY; James's 28 Sep night ruling: hard items are typed)
Ten types — the ceiling, because seven atoms each need a type alone and the pairs need three more — eleven exemplars (type 2, the word for the change, in two forms), at most two alone-types per atom; easy and medium are four-option MCQs, the hard types are typed (the word for the change, text; the thermometer reading, numeric). Coverage table in records/TYPES_G3T21.md.
Figures
87 figures; every drawing a verdict or a reading rests on is SVG (before/after strips, scene cards, thermometers, the pieces drawings, the ring, the table, the scale); ten photos (the ice pop, the tray, the puddle, the dry ground, the pan, the can with drops, the misted window, the mirror, the ice cube in the cup, the kettle's cloud); three cartoons (Aled's hand, Emrys's hair, Keir's glasses). Every figure has an IMAGE_BRIEFS entry and an IMAGE_KINDS entry; people and hands are never drawn as glyphs. Item figures are scene cards of the BEFORE moment only, so no prediction item's drawing shows its answer.
Deliberately not taught
Why a solid melts (the particle story is grade 6–8); dissolving as its own idea (MAT4's mixtures — it appears once, as Kester's claim, so melting is not confused with it); the word "steam"; any Fahrenheit-to-Celsius conversion (the Celsius numbers are read off the other side of the drawn card); the water cycle (EAR4 consumes these atoms); why water vapor condenses on cold things beyond "it cools down enough"; snow, frost and dew as their own cases (frost appears in two items as "water, frozen"); the mass line in L07 is one supporting example, not a taught routine — records/ATOM_PROPOSALS_G3T21.md asks whether it should be an atom.
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 | MAT3-063, 064, 065, 022, 023, 021, 020, 024 | 8 | Air first (Olivia's order): air is something you can feel; it is made of tiny pieces too small to see; so is every kind of matter; air takes up space; gases spread out to fill their space; liquids take their container's shape; solids keep theirs; then the sort with the awkward cases. MAT3-063, 064, 065 were added on 28 Sep 2026 (JM's rulings on Olivia's comments) before MAT3-022 in the chain; eight lessons is over JM's 3–6 size, so the Topic 20 build record (decision 1) proposes a split after MAT3-022 into "Air is something" (4) and "Solids, liquids and gases" (4), renumbering Matter to 16–22, Earth & Space 23–32, Life 33–43 — nothing after Topic 19 is authored, so the renumbering costs nothing now |
| 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.