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 lesson will begin by students accessing their prior knowledge of fossils and the fossil record by creating a "chain letter" with their classmates. Next, students will participate in an introductory WebQuest which will explain how the anatomical structure of the whale has changed over time. With a collaborative group, students will create a timeline of the Eocene epoch that will depict the chronological order of whale fossil appearance in rock layers. Using the jigsaw strategy, students will read an informational text pertaining to the change in the anatomical structures of the whale over time and complete a data table. Lastly, students will complete an exit slip, which will serve as the summative assessment for the lesson's objectives.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This lesson plan includes several hands-on, inquiry-based lab activities exploring the concepts of osmosis and diffusion. The lesson plan is divided into three modules. First, the teacher will demonstrate osmosis and diffusion using gummy bears, salt, celery, food coloring, and hot and cold water. Next, students will participate in a hands-on lab activity that will demonstrate diffusion using various concentrations of corn starch and Lugol’s solution. Lastly, students will demonstrate the process of osmosis using dialysis tubing, sucrose solution, cornstarch, phenolphthalein, ammonia, vinegar, and universal indicator solution.
In terms of life science content, evolution is essentially where genetics meets ecology. In this introduction to evolution, students will take on the role of both research biologists and predators to simulate how environmental conditions affect and change a population of model frogs and traits. Students will encounter the impacts of mutations and changes to the environment affecting the survival as well.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This lesson is designed to develop knowledge about the angles of a triangle. This lesson will prove that the interior angles of a triangle will have a sum of 180 degrees. This lesson will prove that an exterior angle is the sum of the remote interior angles. This lesson will show the relationships of the angles of parallel lines and transversals.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
This lesson will allow students to become familiar with the concept of unit rate. Through an open investigation students will develop methods to find unit rate with a table, equivalent ratios, or an equation. This is a lesson to be used as part of a unit with "Painter Problems" and "How Big Should It Be?"
This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
In this lesson which emphasizes hands-on, inquiry-based activities, students will create two models of the digestive system and determine the correct placement of various organs of the digestive system. Students will use the model to compare mechanical and chemical digestion. Students will use information provided by the model to explain why food spends various amounts of time in a particular organ. To extend the learning of this module, students will design an experiment to determine the effect of introducing new foods to a baby’s diet. The module also includes a presentation, a word search puzzle, and a bingo game emphasizing vocabulary words related to the digestive tract.
At the beginning of the lesson, students will view an engaging video of time-lapse photographs of flowers blooming, and students will create a T-chart listing the similarities and differences among the appearances of each flower. To formatively assess students' current knowledge of specialized plant structures, the students will sort key vocabulary words related to plants' structures into categories. Then, students will read an informational article on flowering plants and re-sort the key vocabulary words into the correct categories to demonstrate their knowledge of plants' specialized reproductive structures. Next, students will complete a lab activity in which they will carefully dissect a flower and observe the various specialized structures, collect specimens to view under the microscope and create and label scientific sketches of the flower's specialized structures. Lastly, students will design a unique flower that will have a high probability of reproductive success and provide a written response in a claim-evidence-reasoning format.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The Barn Owl Pellet Lab includes hands-on, inquiry-based activities. During this lab activity, students will dissect two Barn Owl pellets. The dissection allows students to compare the data collected from the two pellets. The student worksheets that accompany this lesson require students to: make predictions, perform mathematical calculations, construct a graph, classify bones into types, separate bones by prey type, and draw conclusions about the owl’s environment based on the dissection findings.
Under the Unity and Diversity DCI, students are asked to evaluate data comparing similarities in developing embryos across different organisms. While this is a classic component of understanding evolution, the modern, real-world reason to learn it is to understand the why and how of using model organisms like zebrafish. Students will learn about how model organisms have been used to find treatments to medical problems in the past, how they are used and selected now, and will be able to draw their own conclusions about the similarities among vertebrates vs. other types of animals. This is a stand-alone lesson/investigation but it would be a great bridge between genetics and evolution and could connect to 7th-grade content.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This lesson will begin with students reviewing the steps of the scientific method, then applying the steps of the scientific method using an online interactive game. Next, students will utilize the steps of the scientific method to explore factors that caused the population of the peppered moth to change over time. The students will conduct an experiment to gather data regarding the factors that led to a population shift in the peppered moth species. Then, students will read an article about the history of the peppered moth and play an online interactive game to further explore the factors that led to a change in this species's population. Lastly, students will develop a writing piece that includes a claim related to the change in the peppered moth's population and evidence that was gathered from the experiment, reading, and online activity.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
Waste disposal is a problem for the entire Earth and must be dealt with in a responsible manner to maintain biodiversity in ecosystems. After investigating the amount of waste they produce as an individual, family, class, school, community, and society, students investigate how items decompose in a landfill and develop arguments to support a solution to the problem. Students engage in argument to defend the effectiveness of a design solution on a proposed method of disposing of waste in their school and community.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Humans heavily rely on a wide variety of living and non-living things. This 7th grade life science education module is designed to provide a unique approach to learning what is actually considered dead or alive, and how we interact differently with living and non-living things. This lesson plan is designed with the “student in mind”, and our goal is to reach all the various learning styles. It will meet the students where they are and assist them in understanding a new scientific concept. Alexandria Bufford-Tuskegee University, helped with the experiment write-up and testing. Gerald Griffin-Hope College, and De'Shayla Chappell, Adrinece Beard, Angela Player-Tuskegee University produced the "bacteria vs viruses" powerpoint.
Students will begin the lesson by viewing a video clip that will explain the difference between classical and transgenic breeding of plants. Next, students will work in groups to identify common foods that contain genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). Students will further explore this concept by gathering and synthesizing information regarding the impact of genetically modified organisms on the appearance of desired traits in organisms. Lastly, students will engage in the "RAFT" writing strategy, by taking on the role of a farmer persuading their employees to consider the positive or negative impacts of genetically-modified food crops.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This module provides three different methods for learning about mitosis and includes hands-on, inquiry-based activities. Students will prepare and examine slides of their cheek cells and compare them to those of other students. This will demonstrate the relationship between the structure and function of cells and the similarity of the same types of cells within the same species. Using yarn and popsicle sticks, students will model and explain each of the stages of mitosis. The students will observe prepared slides of onion root tips and whitefish blastula to discover the differences in mitosis in plant and animal cells.
This lesson uses hands-on activities to discuss water filtration. Students will have the opportunity to explore water filtration by filtering water through a variety of materials and using potatoes to grow and test the bacteria levels of the water.
With a focus on nanotechnology, this lesson discusses the benefits of embedding silver ions in filters to kill harmful bacteria. At the end of this lesson students will have the opportunity to put their knowledge to the test in a written discussion by designing a solution to a mock water crisis.
This module was authored by the Auburn University NanoBio MSP Fellows Will Haynes, Chelsea Lindskog, Hannah Taylor, and Catherine Wolfe under the supervision and guidance of Drs. Virginia Davis and Chris Schnittka.
Understanding the energy conversion capability of photosynthesis and the artificial nanostructured photocatalysts contrast biotic and abiotic systems, while demonstrating the efficiency of photosynthesis compared to titanium dioxide nanoparticles in generating gas production volumetrically. The experiment results transition to a discussion of photosynthesis and the organelles within the cell where it takes place. This lesson explores light energy capture and transformation into chemical energy during photosynthesis. The lesson can lead to discussion of renewable energy conversion methods and nanotechnology, to help advance nanoscience research to solve the challenging energy issues in the future.
This 7th grade life science educational module is designed to provide a hands-on approach to learning how genetics determine the fate of a cell. This is an interactive "student-centered" module that utilizes technology, manipulatives, and hands-on activities to provide exceptional resources for teachers and a dynamic learning experience for students with various learning styles.
Specifically, the lesson focuses on understanding how Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited genetic disorder, illustrates how the structure of the red blood cells affect blood flow, and explains how possible gene combinations can be passed from parents to offspring. This lesson serves as lesson 3 of a 3 lesson plan module.
This lesson was created under Tuskegee University Math and Science Partnership Grant (MSP), NSF Funded.
Students will begin by brainstorming a list of ways that organisms may interact within an ecosystem. Then students will have an opportunity to share their list with a peer and with the class. Next, students will create a jot chart that will detail the five relationships that may exist between organisms in an ecosystem: competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will examine food webs and predict the patterns of interactions that may exist between and among organisms in an ecosystem.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This module includes hands-on and inquiry-based activities related to the processes of meiosis and gamete formation. Using yarn and pop beads, students will simulate the changes in chromosome pairs during the various stages of meiosis. The students will use Playdough to model the formation of the sperm and egg cells. Students will denote the differences in cytokinesis and explain the reasoning for the differences.
Students will explore greenhouse gases, how they effect the carbon cycle and the human role in climate change.
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 lesson will begin by students accessing their prior knowledge of the anatomical similarities and differences among modern and fossil organisms by creating a Venn diagram with a partner, which will compare and contrast two organisms. Next, students will complete the online modules found at "What did T. rex Taste Like?" from the University of California Museum of Paleontology, which will explain how a cladogram diagram can be used to show lines of lineage and evolutionary relationships. Students will use a cladogram to infer how a T. rex is related to modern organisms. Lastly, students will construct a written explanation to describe the anatomical similarities and differences between the T. rex and modern organisms based on evidence from the cladograms in a claim-evidence-reasoning format.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
In this lesson, students will watch a video on Miranda rights and the Bill of Rights. Students will discuss rights they think should have been included in the Miranda. Then students will rewrite the Miranda and create a presentation with VoiceThread.
This lesson will require students to research the three tenets of cell theory and describe the scientific evidence that supports this theory. After students complete their research, they will engage in all steps of the writing process, including prewriting, outlining, revising, and editing. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will create a three-paragraph argumentative essay to examine the cell theory and the scientific evidence that supports this theory.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This lesson will enhance mathematical vocabulary knowledge and reinforce basic skills for solving equations. Mathematical vocabulary is a vital part of this lesson. The lesson will challenge the minds of seventh-grade students with the theory of angles. The student will use the information in the diagram to write an equation and solve for the variable. Terms that will be identified in the lesson are as follows: supplementary, complementary, adjacent, parallel lines and transversal, and vertical angles.
This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
This lesson will allow students to become familiar with the concept of equivalent ratios and similar objects. Through an open investigation, students will develop methods to find equivalent ratios. This is a lesson to be used as part of a unit with Painter Problems and How Far Can You Leap found in ALEX.
This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
