In this audio clip, students ask the question: Does air have weight? This is a great clip to engage students in a discussion on mass and density.
In this lesson, students will observe several phenomena related to the polarity of water molecules. They will observe a demonstration of a paper clip being placed on the surface of the water. Students will place drops of water in an already-filled test tube and on the surface of a penny. They will compare the way water behaves with the less polar liquid isopropyl alcohol and will see how detergent affects water’s surface tension. Students will relate these observations to an explanation of surface tension at the molecular level.
Students will be able to explain, on the molecular level, the effects of polarity on water’s surface tension.
Students will participate in a discussion of the Moon´s habitability. The students will create a plan for the design and creation of a self-sustaining ecosystem within a lunar station.
This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
The students will participate in aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They will record their heart rates before and after the exercises and record the data. They will evaluate their body’s responses to the exercises and analyze the differences in how they feel in each round. The students will be able to easily explain why they would categorize the exercises into aerobic or anaerobic types and explain how the exercise affected their cardiovascular system.
This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) Resource Development Project, in partnership with Dothan City Schools.
Students will observe how potential and kinetic energy relate to the transfer of energy from one marble to another when they collide. Students will introduce different variables (mass and height) and investigate the transfer of potential and kinetic energy in a sled collision online simulation. Students will build a ramp, test it, and measure the distance their cars travel caused by the collision. Students will create a presentation to share their findings with the class.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project
India is home to endangered wildlife like the Asian elephant, tiger, and leopard and approximately 1.3 billion people. Use this set of ideas to engage your classroom in learning about biodiversity and conservation challenges and efforts in India.
Animal cells have many functions that support the life of the animal. Animal cells also have lots of different parts, including the cell body, cytoplasm, mitochondria, nucleus, vacuole, and cell membrane.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe the structures of an animal cell. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
In this interactive lesson, students enjoy zaps, flashes, and bad hair days as they read together with a Gray Crowned Crane about static electricity. Learn to use images when reading to help clarify meaning and improve understanding of an informational text.
In this lesson, the teacher models and describes the kinds of information students will be looking for in their research project on a synthetic product. This is done by using an example of a synthetic product that students make in the classroom: a gel worm (not for eating.) Students make it by combining a sodium alginate solution with a calcium chloride solution. The teacher uses this product to model answers to the three questions students need to answer in their research:
Students choose or are assigned a synthetic product to research. They investigate the product to answer the three questions. Students apply their learning to make an advertisement, poster, short video, or article about their synthetic product.
Students will be able to find and analyze information to describe that chemical processes are used to convert natural resources into synthetic materials and products. They will also be able to give examples of how the production of synthetic products has impacts, both positive and negative, on society.
Students will develop a scale model of the sun, Earth, and moon system based on a one-meter sun. Students will first interact with a technology-based scaled model and view a video clip on scaling the solar system. Students will then scale the diameter of the Earth and moon, as well as the distance from the Earth to the sun, and from the Earth to moon. Students will be required to utilize mathematical skills, such as division, rounding, and metric system conversions. After scaling the diameters and distances, students will create the scaled model.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
In this learning experience, students will gather information on an index card during a gallery walk to distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Students will describe the characteristics and structures unique to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Additionally, students will explain the visual representations of different cells and determine whether they are prokaryotic or eukaryotic.
This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.
This is an inquiry-based lesson that allows students to investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it. Students will place earthworms in a lighted area and see if they move toward a dark environment or stay in the lighted environment. Students will observe the behavior of the earthworms and use data from the investigation to conclude how an earthworm uses its senses to affect its behavior.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
In this activity, students make a meerkat model while identifying unique body characteristics. Students learn how adaptations are crucial to a meerkat's survival.
Humans and animals share some common features. We use our eyes to see, our nose to smell, and our ears to hear. Animals use those same features to help them survive by finding food and sense danger. A Tail Like This will help children learn more about the features of a few common animals they may see every day.
In this Martha Speaks interactive story students discover how plants and animals depend on each other in an ecosystem. Fallen leaves decay; earthworms eat the leaves and fertilize the dirt. Then trees use the fertilized soil to grow. When used as a part of Martha’s True Stories Buddies Program, buddy pairs engage with the interactive story and then talk and write as they draw a habitat they have seen that includes an ecosystem. To familiarize yourself with the program, begin by reading the Martha's True Stories Buddies Program: Overview.
ReadWorks Digital provides free reading resources on many different topics. In this learning activity, students will read about different bridges around the world to compare and contrast materials used. Students will then use one material to create three different bridges based off of the bridges they read about in the text.
This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science University, GEMS-U Project.
In the urban dictionary, “on fleek” is currently a popular slang term that describes something that is “flawlessly styled or groomed.” In this lesson, the students will explore the concept of evolution by using their engineering skills to “build” various bird beaks that are “flawlessly styled,” or “on fleek,” for capturing different types of food. Finally, the students will use argument-driven inquiry to design an experiment and use claim, evidence, and reasoning to justify which “bird” is best adapted to survive during conditions of limited resources.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Students may observe and describe the phases of the moon using this online tool. Furthermore, they may select their ZIP code and month to see the phases of the moon in their own location. By returning to the site’s homepage, students may learn more about these predicted moon phases.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of constructive and destructive forces on Earth's surface, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.
In this video, Dr. Shini discusses centripetal force, centrifugal force, and a few other bits of physics to help us understand uniform circular motion.
Ecosystems are constantly going through gradual changes. Sometimes those changes are natural, and sometimes they are caused by humans.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe how ecosystems can change over time due to natural and human activity. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
In this lesson, students learn about the life cycle of plants by watching a time-lapse video. This activity provides students with further evidence that all living things grow and change as they progress through their life cycle. Two optional video segments show students how to set up a germination experiment and how to grow seeds they collect on their socks.
Students and teacher collaboratively collect and organize data on the length of days throughout the year and analyze patterns that they see. Students and teacher will create a digital spreadsheet and a connected chart in order to reflect and make observations while analyzing the data represented in chart format.
This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.
This lesson is the first part of a series of lessons based on Newton's Three Laws of Motion. This lesson introduces the laws and specifically centers on developing a video as a model for students to demonstrate and explain Newton's First Law of Motion.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used as an introduction to transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective materials, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned these concepts, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. This informational text could provide background knowledge before students investigate materials that are transparent, translucent, opaque, or reflective.
One of the greatest inventions is the steam engine. But why? What makes it so useful? And how does it work? In this episode of Crash Course Physics, Dr. Shini talks to us about how engines work, what makes them efficient, and why they're pretty cool.
Metamorphic rocks can be formed from igneous, sedimentary, and even other metamorphic rocks.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe how metamorphic rocks are formed during the rock cycle. There is a karaoke song that students can learn to help them remember the steps in the rock cycle process. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding. Students can use the information presented in this slide show to plan their own investigations.
In these Hero Elementary activities, children learn that animals have offspring that are very much—but not exactly—like their parents. This includes humans too! Children observe and describe how animal parents and babies are alike and not alike, and they look for patterns.
Students will create a classroom terrarium. Everything the plant needs (food, soil, and water) will be placed inside a plastic bottle and the bottle will be sealed. The students will place the bottle in the sunlight and watch the plants grow.
This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
This is one of three lessons that can be taught alone, or as the first part of a series, "Solutions from Nature." In this lesson, students explore characteristics of animals that provide insulation. They experiment with different materials to build a "glove" that can protect their hands from a cold ice bath. A YouTube link to a similar demonstration is provided below.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to provide information regarding geologic events that happen over short and long periods of time, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.
Light is everywhere, but it’s not as predictable as you might think. It’s a wave that travels in straight lines, yet it also reflects off of surfaces, refracts through various materials, and generally changes direction all the time. We know we can bend light to our will, with lenses and mirrors, but in this video, we will explore what we can learn from light.
Meet a clingy red-eyed tree frog with a magnetic personality as you learn about magnets, magnetic forces, and how magnets make things move. Use main ideas and key phrases to help you read. Then, invent your own amazing magnet technology for the future.
Students experiment with density by changing the density of water, in this activity from Zoom. Students will discover that the more salt there is in the water, the denser the water is. Density is one thing that makes things float.
This activity is designed to be an introductory activity to generate student thought and interest in energy transfers and identification of potential and kinetic energy transfers in a system.
This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.
