How Can Science Help Build a Better Ice Pack? An Integrated 3D Storyline Unit for Middle School Science using Instant Ice Packs

In this unit designed for an integrated middle school science classroom, students investigate why athletes ice injuries. This leads students to wonder why actual bags of ice are used instead of the instant ice packs found in first aid kits. Students then investigate the chemical reaction occurring within an instant ice pack and work to develop a better design. Anchoring Phenomenon: First aid care for musculoskeletal injuries using bags of ice instead of instant ice packs containing an endothermic chemical reaction. NGSS PEs Addressed: MS-PS1-1; MS-PS1-2; MS-PS1-5; MS-PS1-6; MS-PS3-3; MS-LS1-8; MS-ETS1-1 Cover Image Source: https://www.stack.com/a/cryotherapy

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan, Reading, Student Guide, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Authors: Arlene Friend, Kathryn Fleegal, NextGenerationTeachers, Stephanie Bank

Acids and Bases: Testing Rocket Cars

A car propelled by the reaction between lemon juice and baking soda has more in common with rockets and jet aircraft than one might think. In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two cast members demonstrate the power of rocket-propelled vehicles and how to exploit the force produced by the carbon dioxide gas. Grades 3-8.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

The 3-D Universe

A 2-D map is a great guide here on Earth—and virtually worthless for finding your way around in outer space. Take a 3-D look at mapping our solar system and universe. This Moveable Museum article, available as a printable PDF file, looks at how astronomers use data to create 3-D models of the universe. Explore these concepts further using the recommended resources mentioned in this reading selection.

Material Type: Data Set

1964 Alaska Earthquake

This video adapted from the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, explores what happened during the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 through original footage, first-person accounts, and animations illustrating plate tectonics.

Material Type: Lecture

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

Shake Alert!: Making every second count.

The high school earth and physical science unit moves through an exploration of tectonic plates, why and how they move, and the earthquakes that they cause. As the final project, teams learn about Early Warning Systems for earthquakes and how they have saved millions of lives in other countries. Teams take on a population in Oregon and design a ShakeAlert system to give them the seconds required to prepare for a mega earthquake.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Case Study, Lesson Plan, Reading, Unit of Study

Authors: Holly Lynn, Joe Emery, Lisa Livelybrooks

Biological Processes: Putting Microbes to Work

Students learn the fundamentals of using microbes to treat wastewater. They discover how wastewater is generated and its primary constituents. Microbial metabolism, enzymes and bioreactors are explored to fully understand the primary processes occurring within organisms.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Dayna Lee Martinez, Tapas K. Das

Becoming a Fossil

This video segment describes how the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy could have been fossilized. Footage courtesy of NOVA: "In Search of Human Origins."

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration

Authors: Clear Blue Sky Productions, National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

Amusement Park Ride: Ups and Downs in Design

Students design, build and test model roller coasters using foam tubing. The design process integrates energy concepts as they test and evaluate designs that address the task as an engineer would. The goal is for students to understand the basics of engineering design associated with kinetic and potential energy to build an optimal roller coaster. The marble starts with potential energy that is converted to kinetic energy as it moves along the track. The diameter of the loops that the marble traverses without falling out depends on the kinetic energy obtained by the marble.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: C. Shade, Marthy Cyr

3 - Energy & Engineering

In order to contextualize the Energy unit, students are tasked to engineer a bungee cord that will optimize the enjoyment of a doll’s bungee jump. To do this, students first develop the mathematical patterns through inquiry on gravitational energy, kinetic energy, and elastic energy. Once the patterns have been established, students further build on their spreadsheet coding skills, in order to use computational thinking to create a program that will help predict the length of bungee cord necessary for a variety of situations.

Material Type: Unit of Study

2 - Texting & Driving

Students are confronted with a scenario of a student who is texting and driving in the school parking lot and they are tasked to determine the effect of various parameters to see if a student will collide with a pedestrian. Students must begin by breaking the scenario down into more manageable parts to determine what must be studied about the situation. Through a series of labs and activities, students learn how to model and predict situations with constant velocity and acceleration. Then, coding a spreadsheet, students model the complex situation of a texting driver, reacting, and braking during a potentially hazardous situation to create an evidence-based argument.

Material Type: Unit of Study

MISA HS Sample Item Set - Wind Turbines (PS/ESS)

Sample high school MISA test item set which uses a physics and earth space science performance expectations.  The Item set focuses on wind turbines and their environmental impacts. It contains 5 questions and one constructed response for a total of 9 points. (Image source: “Wind Turbine” by Painter06 at Pixabay.com.)  

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Melissa Kaye-Kamauff, Jeremy Haack, MSDE Admin, Laura Garfinkel

Bacteria Transformation

Students construct paper recombinant plasmids to simulate the methods genetic engineers use to create modified bacteria. They learn what role enzymes, DNA and genes play in the modification of organisms. For the particular model they work on, they isolate a mammal insulin gene and combine it with a bacteria's gene sequence (plasmid DNA) for production of the protein insulin.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Kimberly Anderson, Matthew Zelisko

Blood Clots, Polymers and Strokes

Students are introduced to the circulatory system with an emphasis on the blood clotting process, including coagulation and the formation and degradation of polymers through their underlying atomic properties. They learn about the medical emergency of strokes the loss of brain function commonly due to blood clots including various causes and the different effects depending on the brain location, as well as blood clot removal devices designed by biomedical engineers.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Ann McCabe, Azim Laiwalla, Carleigh Samson, Victoria Lanaghan

Bone Crusher

Students use a tension-compression machine (or an alternative bone-breaking setup) to see how different bones fracture differently and with different amounts of force, depending on their body locations. Teams determine bone mass and volume, calculate bone density, and predict fracture force. Then they each test a small animal bone (chicken, turkey, cat) to failure, examining the break to analyze the fracture type. Groups conduct research about biomedical challenges, materials and repair methods, and design repair treatment plans specific to their bones and fracture types, presenting their design recommendations to the class.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Andrea Lee, Megan Ketchum

Applying Hooke's Law to Cancer Detection

Students explore Hooke's law while working in small groups at their lab benches. They collect displacement data for springs with unknown spring constants, k, by adding various masses of known weight. After exploring Hooke's law and answering a series of application questions, students apply their new understanding to explore a tissue of known surface area. Students then use the necessary relationships to depict a cancerous tumor amidst normal tissue by creating a graph in Microsoft Excel.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Luke Diamond

Body Full of Crystals

Students learn about various crystals, such as kidney stones, within the human body. They also learn about how crystals grow and ways to inhibit their growth. They also learn how researchers such as chemical engineers design drugs with the intent to inhibit crystal growth for medical treatment purposes and the factors they face when attempting to implement their designs. A day before presenting this lesson to students, conduct the associated activity, Rock Candy Your Body.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Andrea Lee, Megan Ketchum

Atoms and Conservation of Energy

In this activity, students will explore how the Law of Conservation of Energy (the First Law of Thermodynamics) applies to atoms, as well as the implications of heating or cooling a system. This activity focuses on potential energy and kinetic energy as well as energy conservation. The goal is to apply what is learned to both our human scale world and the world of atoms and molecules.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Interactive

Author: The Concord Consortium

Baggie Chemistry

In this experiment, two chemicals that can be found around the house will be mixed within a plastic baggie, and several chemical changes will be observed.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Lecture Notes

Author: The Concord Consortium

Caves and Karst

This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service presents the key concepts of cave and karst systems, including how and where they form, different types, and various cave environments.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Interactive

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

Build and Test a Model Solar House

Construct and measure the energy efficiency and solar heat gain of a cardboard model house. Use a light bulb heater to imitate a real furnace and a temperature sensor to monitor and regulate the internal temperature of the house. Use a bright bulb in a gooseneck lamp to model sunlight at different times of the year, and test the effectiveness of windows for passive solar heating.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Diagram/Illustration, Lecture Notes, Student Guide

Author: The Concord Consortium