The last time you flipped a switch to turn on a light, did you wonder how the switch made the light bulb glow? When you used a magnet to put a note on the fridge, did you wonder how it stayed there? If you did, you were acting like a scientist. Scientists observe the interactions in the world around them. Then they try to explain what they see, no matter how ordinary the interaction might be.

This course is called InterActions in Physical Science.
In this course, you will spend most of your time investigating a variety of interactions. How scientific your investigations are will depend on how well you:

These are basic scientific skills. Like all skills, they need to be practiced.

What will you learn about in Unit 1?

In Unit 1, you will learn about how to conduct experimental investigations. Then you will specifically investigate magnetic, electric- charge, and electric-circuit interactions. Finally, you will learn various ways of measuring the amount of substances.

What type of activities are in Unit 1?

Almost all activities in Unit 1 are Developing Our Ideas. In these activities, you do experiments to develop new science ideas. Doing the experiments will help you develop skills like “Follow Directions and Stay on Task.” You will also have many group and class discussions. Then you can work on skills like “Respect Your Team and Their Ideas.” There are, of course, other skills you will be developing. In Chapters 2 and 3, there are some activities called Learning About Other Ideas. These have less discussion.

What are the sections in each activity?

Each activity in Unit 1 is written in a similar way. The first activity in each chapter introduces the Chapter Purpose and Key Question. The activity then continues with an activity Purpose and a Key Question for the activity. These sections help you understand why you are doing the activity. Next is an I Think or We Think section. Here you will think about what you know before you do the experiments. You will begin by thinking about things on your own. Then you will learn skills to help you to share your first ideas with others. In the Explore Your Ideas section, you will do experiments and make observations. Then there is the Make Sense of Your Ideas section. This is when you work on making sense of what you observed. Finally, the activity ends with a section called My Ideas or Our Consensus Ideas. In this section, you answer the Key Question for the activity.