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Liquids are everywhere, but at the same time, they possess some incredibly unique qualities when compared to the rest of the matter in the universe. In this episode of Crash Course Chemistry, Hank gives you information on things like London dispersion forces, hydrogen bonds, cohesion, adhesion, viscosity, capillary action, surface tension, and why liquids are just weird.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Ready, set, soar! Soar high in the clouds with a sleepy condor who wants to help you learn in this interactive lesson about the water cycle, how it works, and how clouds are formed. In this lesson, students will learn to find and describe the connections between scientific concepts.

Grade(s)

5, 6

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this lesson, students explore the particle nature of matter by first dissolving salt in water, then allowing the water to evaporate, and finally observing the solid salt left behind. After viewing a model of salt, students help develop models for the processes of salt dissolving, water evaporating to form a gas, and salt re-forming as a crystal. The focus is that matter, whether solid, liquid, or gas, is made up of particles; that dissolving and evaporation happen at the particle level; and that models can help explain these processes that we cannot see.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will construct a model of a dragon based on traits inherited from the parent dragons. This activity demonstrates the inheritance of dominant and recessive traits, codominance, and incomplete dominance. Students will use Punnett Squares to predict genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the dragon population in the class. This project could serve as a culminating activity for Genetics and the Inheritance of traits.  

This activity was adapted from Alabama Science in Motion.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Students will create a "mind map" or a concept map using an online concept mapping software to outline the four main types of biological molecules - carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. The students' mind map will compare and contrast the four main divisions of biological molecules.

This resource is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will begin by describing how humans change their environment in order to provide for their needs. Students will watch a video clip that explains how several forest animals alter their habitats, and then explain how other animals might change their environment in order to survive. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will create a drawing that illustrates how an animal may alter their environment to provide for its needs.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Arts Education
Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Activate Creature Powers! Inspired by the WILD KRATTS, in this activity children will be challenged to create PBS KIDS ScratchJr projects that explore different animals and their unique behaviors and traits.

Children will learn how to create projects, add characters, and how to use the programming blocks to make their characters animate and move on the screen. They will explore coding and computational thinking practices as they utilize technology as a tool for creativity, expression, and learning with the PBS KIDS ScratchJr app.

Grade(s)

1, 2, 3

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Hank takes today's Crash Course video to discuss some confusing ideas about hydrocarbon derivatives but then makes it all make more sense. He discusses alcohols, hydroxyl groups, aldehydes, carboxylic acid, acetones, amines, and ethers and esters.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Magnetism is a force that causes objects to attract or repel each other. An object's magnetic force is how strong that attraction is. Magnetic fields are the areas where the magnetic force will work. Magnets also have opposite poles, negative and positive. Remember, opposites attract!

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will introduce magnets, magnetic fields, and magnetic forces. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models and conduct their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

Grade(s)

3, 6

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this lesson, students will look closely at the parts of a thermometer. After placing a thermometer in hot and cold water, students will look at molecular model animations of the liquid in a thermometer. Students will then draw a model of the molecules of a thermometer after it has been placed in hot and then cold water.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

The students will create a landform using modeling clay in a small group setting.  

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.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Steve Trash teaches kids about science with fun and magic. The show is filmed in Alabama.

Steve explores the variety of biomes that exist on the planet Earth. Each biome is a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment in which they exist. Then, Steve teaches us how to make less waste and pollution through the magic words – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

In the first half of the video, students will learn about the different biomes on Earth and how the resources available in each biome support living things. In the second half of the video, Steve Trash will explain how we can decrease the waste and pollution we produce by reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Grade(s)

2, 3, 5

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

A brainstorming activity and class discussion will begin the lesson and provide the background knowledge students have regarding zoos and how the animals in zoos impact our environment. Students will select an animal for further research using an online survey created by the teacher to determine their research group. Afterward, students will view an informational video about the origin and purpose of zoos, and complete an exit slip stating new learning that has been added to their background knowledge.

This lesson was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast characteristics of living and nonliving things via pictures, class projects, videos, and whole-group discourse. Students will record their findings in Science journals.

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.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Steve Trash teaches kids about science with fun and magic. The show is filmed in Alabama.

You find water in oceans, rivers, lakes and ponds, in clouds and rain and snow. Explore how all of these are connected through a continuous cycle in the natural world. Then, Steve suggests ways to prevent litter and other destructive types of pollution. After all, it's no fun to play in the water if its full of garbage.

Grade(s)

K, 5, 6

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

This is a third-grade math lesson on the topic of tornadoes and natural disasters. Students will enter data from an internet search on the number of tornadoes occurring in each state into a spreadsheet. Students will analyze and determine which states are the most active in tornado occurrences and create bar graphs and a scaled picture graph from the data collected. 

This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Mathematics
Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

This guide was developed to support teachers in teaching topics with real-world context and provide them with the background to feel competent and comfortable when teaching about the ocean. It provides a solid introduction to the ocean and the ocean literacy principles in an accessible and reader-friendly manner. In addition to general information about the ocean, the guide includes numerous education features, such as teaching tips and student thinking, that help to connect the content to classroom practice.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Plants produce seeds in order to reproduce. Gymnosperm seeds develop in cones, and angiosperm seeds develop in fruit. When a seed is fertilized, in the right conditions, it will germinate, starting the life of a new plant!

The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the process of reproduction in plants with seeds. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.

Grade(s)

4, 7

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Players are challenged to investigate a city neighborhood and explore relationships among living and non-living things in this interactive game from PLUM LANDING. Plum provides short prompts that encourage students to find animals and plants, consider how they meet their needs in a city environment, and discover connections among living and non-living things.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this lesson, students will make a 2-D model of a salt crystal and use water molecule cut-outs to show how water dissolves salt. After seeing an animation of water dissolving salt, students will compare how well water and alcohol dissolve the salt. They will relate their observations to the structure of salt, water, and alcohol on the molecular level.

Students will be able to explain, on the molecular level, why water can dissolve the salt. Students will be able to identify the variables in their experiment. Students will also be able to explain why a less polar liquid, such as alcohol, is not good at dissolving salt.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

The student engineers will design and build a new water filtration system for an overpopulated, poverty-stricken community that is drinking contaminated water from wells, rivers or springs not treated by municipal water systems. 

Students will be involved in planning, designing, building, collaborating, calculating, budgeting, analyzing, and reflecting on a real-world design challenge. 

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.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

The students will analyze the heart rate data they recorded during exercises to compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They will create a double bar graph to visually represent the data. The students will reflect on their performance of the exercises. Finally, they will develop an appropriate workout plan with balanced aerobic and anaerobic exercises.

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.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Mathematics
Physical Education
Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

In this lesson, students will investigate objects’ appearances in varying levels of light to help them construct an explanation that objects can only be seen when light is available to illuminate them. Students will discuss why objects look different in a dark room and graph their preferences for sleeping with a light on or off. Then, they will investigate how an object’s appearance changes in different lighting conditions in small group centers. Finally, they will model the moon’s path around the sun to see how light from the sun causes the moon’s appearance to change as it orbits Earth. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will use their experiences as evidence to explain that light is essential for sight.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Grade(s)

1

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Mathematics
Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Students build a stronger understanding of how the human body is organized and interacts with microbes through a series of articles and videos and by creating a human body microbial map. Then they create a public service announcement on a specific microbe.

Grade(s)

7

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

A wave is energy in motion or energy moving from point to point. To describe the traits of a wave, there are a few terms you need to know.

Students will choose a term in the activity to display its description in the diagram.

Grade(s)

4, 8

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Enjoy this colorful self-paced lesson to practice leveled reading. Use question words like “Who? What? When? Where? Why? & How?” Watch a real hot air balloon launch and meet a crazy ostrich who knows she can run but thinks she can fly. Students learn about how matter, mass, volume, and weight are connected to air. 

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

This lesson begins with a story about rescuing reptile eggs from a new construction site. Using the story as motivation, students are presented with an engineering design challenge: Build a portable device that can warm, support, and protect one reptile egg as it is moved from a construction site to a nearby reptile conservation center. After observing different heat packs, students discuss the criteria and constraints related to designing a heat pack as the basis for their device. Students investigate calcium chloride as an exothermic dissolver and then move on to calcium chloride and baking soda as the exothermic chemical reaction which will serve as the heat source for their device.

Students adjust the amounts of the reactants (water, calcium chloride, and baking soda) to achieve the right temperature range and then test a prototype in a sealed zip-closing plastic bag. Students use their findings and ideas about insulation and heat transfer to draw an optimized design that 1) Keeps an egg at the ideal temperature, 2) Holds an egg in the proper orientation, and 3) Protects the egg from impact. Each student or student group draws this device and explains how the device meets each of the three criteria.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will be conducting a series of investigations in order to compare and contrast the various intermolecular forces that exist between compounds. First, students will rank 4 substances according to their melting points. Second, students will work together using the jigsaw research approach to understand the 4 types of intermolecular forces. And lastly, students will use the information gained to go back to their data collected and compare their original compounds and type of intermolecular bond they exhibit.

This lesson plan results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

In this learning experience, students will describe the characteristics and structures unique to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Students will utilize their learning from the associated during activity to explain the visual representations of different cells and determine whether they are prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Students will record their findings on a Venn diagram.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

7

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Students will discover how plants, animals, and fungi are all interconnected in a giant web.  They will construct a model of a food chain to explain that energy in animals' food is used to sustain life.  They will also acknowledge that all food chains start with energy from the sun.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

In this activity, students brainstorm how people living along coasts harm ocean animals and plants. Then they analyze specific examples.

Grade(s)

K

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Observe how objects in a dark space can only be seen when light enters the space in this interactive game from PEEP and the Big Wide World. The interactive game offers opportunities for students to find objects in a very dark space by shining a beam of light around the area.

Support materials include: Background Reading, Teaching Tips, and Discussion Questions. This resource was developed through WGBH’s Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms project, in collaboration with NASA.

Grade(s)

1

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this Martha Speaks interactive story, students explore the benefits of sorting waste in order to help the environment. Students learn about how recycling and composting work. When used as a part of Martha’s True Stories Buddies Program, buddy pairs engage with the interactive story, then talk and write as they create their own Earth Pledge about how they will help protect the earth. To familiarize yourself with the program, begin by reading the Martha's True Stories Buddies Program: Overview.

Grade(s)

K, 5

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

This activity is an excellent video for introducing a unit on waves. This is a video of a rubber duck being placed in a container of water. The question, "Why doesn't the duck move across the container?" is posed at the start and end of the video. The purpose of this activity is to get the students excited about waves and thinking about the movement of waves.  This activity can be used whole group or small group as a center activity.

This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science University, GEMS-U Project.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

In this lesson, students will explore a consequence of burning fossil fuels: the greenhouse effect. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to interpret data to explain the greenhouse effect on temperature and how various human activities could cause changes in local and global temperature over time. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Lesson modified from Global Climate Change and Sea Level Rise plan from the California Academy of Science http://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/global-climate-change-and-sea-level-rise.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan
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