INTRODUCTION to Gateways
A Word
to the Teacher
Areas of Study
Each grade level of Gateways
is divided into four major units of study—
Matter and Energy
Force, Motion, and Energy
Earth and Space
Organisms and Environments
These four units of Gateways
are based on the specific reporting categories for
the Middle School Science ST AAR.
Instructional time in Gateways
is directly
proportional to the number of items per ST AAR objective as displayed in the table
below.
Middle School
Science STAAR
Reporting Category
Number of
Items on
STAAR
Gateways
Unit
Weeks of
Instruction
(1) Matter and Energy
14
Existence
of Life and
Environments
9
(2) Force, Motion, and
Energy
12
Impacting
Earth’s
Systems
6
(3) Earth and Space 14
Structure and
Function of
Organisms,
Part
1
7
(4) Organisms and
Environments
14
Structure and
Function of
Organisms,
Part
2
9
Scientific Investigation and
Reasoning
Embedded
within the
categories.
Embedded throughout every
5 E lesson of every unit.
