This unit of investigation is introduced using the anchoring phenomenon of a rocket launch. Students investigate the concepts of what is fuel, why some materials react and others do not, the role energy plays in the rearrangement of atoms, and where does the energy to do this come from and finally what makes the rocket lift off if fire itself is not causing this.

This lesson will tie into the Nebraska science standards below. Students will learn how to search Worldbook KIDS online to study different animals and plants, as a class and independently. With a teacher’s help, students will then learn about animal and plant adaptations that help them survive in their habitats in order to come up with a solution to a human problem. The standards in bold print are the ones that will be the classroom teacher’s focus, but the librarian’s goal will be to introduce students to Worldbook KIDS as a reference source.It can easily be adapted to be a whole unit. Please let me know if you would like to help/edit this lesson to enhance it!

Students define and classify alloys as mixtures, while comparing and contrasting the properties of alloys to those of pure substances. Students learn that engineers investigate the structures and properties of alloys for biomedical and transportation applications. Pre- and post-assessment handouts are provided.

How do you know if a chemical equation is balanced? What can you change to balance an equation? Play a game to test your ideas!

In this activity, students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces. Also, they will have plenty of opportunity to learn how to calculate momentum and understand the principle of conservation of momentum.

In this unit, students look at the components of cells and their functions and discover the controversy behind stem cell research. The first lesson focuses on the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In the second lesson, students learn about the basics of cellular respiration. They also learn about the application of cellular respiration to engineering and bioremediation. The third lesson continues students' education on cells in the human body and how (and why) engineers are involved in the research of stem cell behavior.

This module introduces Darwin's Galapagos travels and an introduction to the theory of evolution as a force for biological change and diversification. This is the first in a series of modules which detail the research of Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory.

This resource is for teachers to develop their knowledge around climate science along with NGSS-aligned teaching strategies . Teachers can learn more about the following climate change impacts: coastal hazards, fire, human health, floods & droughts, agriculture and species & ecosystems. Users should reference the "STEM Seminar Slides_Template" as a guide for a daylong training and use the other materials as supplemental information and resources.

Earth Systems and Changes from Educational Service District 123, provides professional learning resources for K-5 teachers around elementary Earth Science and Climate Science related standards content.

It also provides learning to assist in the development of classroom tasks: Claims, Evidence Reasoning, and Models and Explanations, that can be used formatively to elicit student ideas and to support changes in student thinking over time.

License: License: Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY)
Except where otherwise noted, this template by Educational Service District 123 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Content within template is the copyright of the creator.

This classroom activity for high school students uses a collection of Hubble Space Telescope images of galaxies in the Coma Cluster. Students study galaxy classification and the evolution of galaxies in dense clustered environments.

In this video segment from Nature, learn about six different breeds of cattle.

This Super Lesson utilizes Project Based Learning to assist learners with designing, building, and testing flying contraptions as an introduction to Engineering. The goal of this project is to engage students in collaborative team work and to introduce students to the Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.

We have offered this Super Lesson as an 8-week elective course, developing and strengthening student interest in applied Math and Science topics. It could also be offered within upper elementary or middle school Science and Math courses. In addition, each week’s topic could be used as a stand alone mini-lesson if time is limited. We have worked to include multiple options within this unit to make it accessible to both general education and special education programs, including recommendations for modifications and extensions.

This is a unit plan where students will understand how Earth is systems of interacting components (spheres) and how changing one sphere will affect another. The carbon cycle is studied in quantity of carbon in each reservoir and how human and natural processes move carbon from one reservoir to another in two different time scales. The carbon cycle is studied qualitatively through demonstrations or labs with students developing models of the from of carbon in each reservoir.

In this activity, students will learn about and apply the Laws of Physics to successfully launch and land a raw egg. The activity frames the problem around designing and building a bottle rocket that will protect a raw egg being launched into the air at least seven meters. Resources included in this lesson are found at the bottom of this document and include:

-Teacher guide
-Physics note sheets on motion, speed, velocity, acceleration, momentum, force, friction, Newton’s Laws of Motion, potential and kinetic energy and gravity.
-Egg Launch Instructions
-Link to Bottle Rocket Launching Instructions
-Links to videos
-Post Assessment

Learn about conservation of energy with a skater dude! Build tracks, ramps and jumps for the skater and view the kinetic energy, potential energy and friction as he moves. You can also take the skater to different planets or even space!

Students will: Predict the kinetic and potential energy of objects Design a skate park Examine how kinetic and potential energy interact with each other

This unit covers the broad spectrum of topics that make-up our very amazing human body. Students are introduced to the space environment and learn the major differences between the environment on Earth and that of outer space. The engineering challenges that arise because of these discrepancies are also discussed. Then, students dive into the different components that make up the human body: muscles, bones and joints, the digestive and circulatory systems, the nervous and endocrine systems, the urinary system, the respiratory system, and finally the immune system. Students learn about the different types of muscles in the human body and the effects of microgravity on muscles. Also, they learn about the skeleton, the number of and types of bones in the body, and how outer space affects astronauts' bones. In the lessons on the digestive, circulatory, nervous and endocrine systems, students learn how these vital system work and the challenges faced by astronauts whose systems are impacted by spaceflight. And lastly, advances in engineering technology are discussed through the lessons on the urinary, respiratory and immune systems while students learn how these systems work with all the other body components to help keep the human body healthy.

Exploring Climate Science With Virtual Reality, a Teacher/Scientist Partnership experience. High school teachers engage with working scientists and engineers to for content learning for climate science and virtual reality and engage in follow-up sessions with professional development facilitators to develop pedagogical expertise for use in creating formative classroom tasks that are formative and productive. It is a three day initial workshop with four follow-up days to
1) deepen teacher understanding by learning with climate scientists to understand climate science standards content knowledge
2) increase awareness and knowledge of the use of virtual reality devices in climate science learning
30 to co-develop a climate science simulation game for use on Oculus Go devices with teachers, their students and a virtual reality scientist/engineer team
4) to develop and implement embedded formative classroom tasks that
complement climate science learning by using a relevant, place based phenomena, and provide insights into student thinking and productive next steps in learning.

Creative Commons License CC BY
Exploring Climate Science With Virtual Reality Professional Learning Module by Georgia Boatman, ESD 123 and Peggy Willcuts PNNL is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This Immersion Unit provides a coherent series of lessons designed to guide students in developing deep conceptual understanding that is aligned with the standards, key science concepts, and essential features of classroom inquiry (as defined by the National Science Education Standards). Unit Overarching Concepts-Populations of living organisms change or stay the same over time as a result of the interactions between the genetic variations that are expressed by the individuals in the populations and the environment in which the population lives.-Science knowledge advances through inquiry.Unit Supporting Concepts-Individual organisms with certain variations of traits (adaptations) are more likely than others to survive and reproduce successfully.-When environmental conditions change it can affect the survival of both individual organisms and entire species.-Natural selection determines the differential survival of groups of organisms.-A small advantage in escaping a predator, resisting a drug, etc. can lead to the spread of a trait in a modest number of generations.-Mutations are a source of variation in an individualĺŐs genotype, and it can result in a change in phenotypeĺĐĺĐgood or bad.-Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations, using appropriate tools and technology to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data.-No matter how well one scientific explanation fits observations, a new explanation might fit them just as well or better, or might fit a wider range of observations. In science, thetesting, revising, and occasional discarding of explanations, new and old, never ends.This unit was developed through the large Math and Science Partnership project called System-wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE), involving a collaboration among Los Angeles School District educators, California State University science and education faculty, and UW-Madison SCALE staff.

This Immersion Unit provides a coherent series of lessons designed to guide students in developing deep conceptual understanding that is aligned with the standards, key science concepts, and essential features of classroom inquiry (as defined by the National Science Education Standards). The Unit's overarching concepts are:- Naturally occurring variations of traits in a population are influenced by genetic and environmental factors and evolve over generations by selective processes.- Science knowledge advances through inquiry.Unit Supporting Concepts:- The variation of organisms within a species increases the likelihood that at least some members of the species will survive under changed environmental conditions.- Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely than others to survive and have offspring. Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms and entire species.- Some variation in heritable characteristics exists within every species. One of these characteristics gives individuals an advantage over others in surviving and reproducing, and the advantaged offspring, in turn,are more likely than others to survive and reproduce.- New varieties of cultivated plants and domestic animals have resulted from selective breeding for particular traits.- Scientists differ greatly in whatphenomena they study and how they go about their work. Although there is nofixed set of steps that all scientists follow, scientific investigations usually involve the collection of relevant evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and the application of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations to make sense of the collected evidence.- Important contributions to the advancement of science, mathematics, and technology have been made by different kinds of people, in different cultures, at different times.In Immersion Units, students learn academic content by working like scientists: making observations, asking questions, doing further investigations to explore and explain natural phenomena, and communicating results based on evidence. Immersion Units are intended to support teachers in building a learning culture in their classrooms to sustain studentsĺŐ enthusiasm for engaging in scientific habits of thinking while learning rigorous science content.The first step of this unit engages students in developing a class criteria for effective record-keeping in science by guiding an inquiry into scientists' notebooks.The unit includes very complete implementation instructions (Teacher's Guide pages), student pages, and formative and summative assessments.Students investigate:- how variation within a population is influenced by environmental factors- how environmental factors influence reproductive success in a populationThis unit was developed through the large Math and Science Partnership project called System-wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE), involving a collaboration among Los Angeles School District educators, California State University science and education faculty, and UW-Madison SCALE staff.