Engineering and Computer Science Essentials™ Grade 4

Engineering Unit: Designing Solar Ovens

IIn Botswana, where firewood for cooking fuel is in short supply, people are turning to a renewable energy source—the Sun! The storybook Lerato Cooks Up a Plan sets this real-world context for the unit’s activities and introduces the field of green engineering. Students explore the science concepts of thermal insulators and thermal conductors, then test different materials to find the best insulators for their own solar ovens. They analyze the product life cycle and environmental impacts of each insulator, then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve their solar ovens and do some solar cooking!

Computer Science Unit: Designing Computer Games

Interactive computer games are powerful tools for learning. In the story Lerato’s Playful Program, Lerato designs a computer game to help her neighbors recognize the positive environmental impact of choosing to cook with solar ovens. Students explore the programming language Scratch, and then use it to design a practice computer game. For their final design project, students choose an environmental issue and then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve a game that helps players learn about the environmental consequences of their choices. Students extend their computational thinking skills to mathematical concepts as they practice multiplying fractions.

Core Program Unit Components

We recommend one Educator Guide per teacher, one Storybook per student (engineering units), and one Materials Kit per 30 learners. Together, these components create a high-quality, hands-on STEM learning experience. 

Educator Guide Print + Digital

Storybook

Materials Kit

In stock

SKU

Essentials Grade 4

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Grouped product items
Product Name	Qty
Essentials Solar Ovens Kit $339.00
Essentials Solar Ovens Guide Print $69.00
Essentials Computer Games Materials Kit $69.00
Essentials Computer Games Guide Print $69.00
Extra Print Solar/Comp Games (1 per guide) $0.00

Resources

Program Components

Print + Digital:

Printed copy of the Educator Guide containing instructions to facilitate the unit
One (1) copy of the printed accompanying Storybook (Engineering units)
Digital access to the Educator Guide via yes.mos.org/curricula

Additional Program Components

Storybook
- Available in print and digital for individual purchase to accommodate any class size (for engineering units)
Materials Kit
- Includes materials to support 30 learners

Engineering Essentials Resources for Diverse Learners

As a set of high-impact resources, the Resources for Diverse Learners are designed to help remove distractions and decrease literacy demands so that all students can succeed in engineering and problem solving. They contain built-in vocabulary support, suggestions for objects to create context and background, multiple points of entry for different learning styles, and multiple ways for learners to express understanding meet the needs of today’s diverse classroom.

Resource for Diverse Learners	Included in Educator Guide Book	Included in Classroom Resources Book	Included in Resource Package	Included in Digital Unit
English Learner Strategies	*			*
Differentiated Classroom Resources, English and Spanish¹		*		*
Differentiated Instruction Notes at point of use	*			*
Teacher Discussion Support	*			*
Student Discussion Support, English and Spanish¹		*		*
Alternative Lesson Progressions	*			*
Flip book Storybook, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Character Cards, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Visual Vocabulary Cards, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Materials Sheet, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Illustrated Engineering Design Process Poster, English and Spanish			*	*

¹ Spanish version available in the Digital Unit only.

Computer Science Essentials Resources for Diverse Learners

Resource for Diverse Learners	Included in Educator Guide Book	Included in Classroom Resources Book	Included in Resource Package	Included in Digital Unit
English Learner Strategies	*			*
Differentiated Instruction Notes at point of use	*			*
Teacher Discussion Support	*			*
Student Discussion Support, English and Spanish¹		*		*
Flip book Storybook, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Computer Science Storybook Epilogue, English and Spanish¹		*
Character Cards, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Visual Vocabulary Cards, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Materials Sheet, English and Spanish¹			*	*
Illustrated Engineering Design Process Poster, English and Spanish			*	*
Illustrated What is a Computer? Poster, English and Spanish			*	*

¹Spanish version available in the Digital Unit only.

Professional Development

Create a STEM mindset. Implement engineering and computer science with fidelity. Partner with us to create a culture of STEM as you learn best practices for teaching through full day or multi-day workshops; teacher educator institutes, and multi-year implementation planning and strategy development. Explore our professional development programs and empower STEM.

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