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Book Chapter
Lab 13: Characteristics of Minerals
In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core idea of Earth Materials and Systems as they identify a set of unknown minerals. Included are the Teacher Notes, Lab Handout, and Checkout Questions for the lab, in addition to the book�...
Book Chapter
Lab 14: Distribution of Natural Resources
In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems, (b) Natural Resources, and (c) Human Impacts on Earth Systems as they evaluate competing plans for a new copper mine. Included are the Teacher N...
Book Chapter
Lab 15: Air Masses and Weather Conditions
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Weather and Climate as they determine how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions. Included are the Teacher Notes, ...
Book Chapter
Lab 16: Surface Materials and Temperature Change
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems and (b) Weather and Climate as they determine the relationship between the materials covering an area and the rate at which the tempe...
Book Chapter
Lab 17: Factors That Affect Global Temperature
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Weather and Climate as they determine how the temperature of Earth responds to changes in the amount of cloud cover and the concentration of various greenhouse gases ...
Book Chapter
Lab 20: Predicting Hurricane Strength
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Natural Hazards as they develop a conceptual model that can be used to predict changes in wind speed inside a hurricane over time. Included are the Teacher Notes, Lab...
Book Chapter
Lab 21: Forecasting Extreme Weather
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Weather and Climate and (b) Natural Hazards as they determine when and under what conditions tornadoes tend to form in the Oklahoma City area. Included are the T...
Book Chapter
Lab 22: Minimizing Carbon Emissions
In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Natural Resources, (b) Human Impacts on Earth Systems, and (c) Global Climate Change as they develop a plan to minimize human impact on climate. Included are the...
Book Chapter
Lab 23: Human Use of Natural Resources
In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Natural Resources and (b) Human Impacts on Earth Systems as they develop a plan to ensure that there is enough water available to meet the current and near-future needs of t...
Book Chapter
This problem addresses students to develop ways to use direction and distance to describe position and motion. Students are members of a fire department rescue team who practice giving each other directions to get out of a smoke-filled room in a burn...
Book Chapter
This problem addresses direction, distance, and speed by having students develop ways to use time and distance to describe speed. Students determine the winner of a race between a beetle that moves fast with intermittent pauses and a beetle that move...
Book Chapter
In this problem, direction, distance, and speed are addressed by having students develop ways to use time and distance to describe instantaneous and average speed. This problem can be adjusted for students of different ages and math skills. Students ...
Book Chapter
This problem addresses direction, distance, and speed by having students develop ways to use speed, time, and distance to describe a motion. Students determine whether self-propelled toy cars are moving at a constant velocity and focus on measuring t...
Book Chapter
This problem addresses direction, distance, speed, and acceleration by having students develop ways to use speed, time, direction, and acceleration to describe a motion. Students use acceleration data from an insurance car monitoring system to recons...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students explore how forces change the direction of motion of a spaceship moving between asteroids. They simulate the scenarios by using puffs of air delivered through straws to move balls through a maze made up of an “asteroid fie...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students compare the end velocities of cartoon characters that jumped up from, jumped down from, or fell from a cliff and landed in a river. Students are asked to design experiments to test the impact velocities of falling objects. T...
Book Chapter
This problem focuses on force, acceleration, direction, and mass, and is set in the context of a rescue team. Students figure out how to balance three forces to suspend a person in a particular position. They balance three forces of different strengt...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students work in teams to design a new type of roller coaster ride. Students act as engineers to design a model roller coaster with “cars” (marbles) that are launched using elastic potential energy. The problem specifies that the...
Book Chapter
Rube Goldberg machines are comical machines with many parts. This problem focuses on engineering energy transformations to make a functioning Rube Goldberg machine. The function of the machine, the materials used, and the number or type of energy tra...
Book Chapter
During a long trip in the car, a student wonders whether the expensive travel mug used for iced tea keeps drinks hot or cold better than the foam cup holding coffee. In this problem, students explore the insulating ability of several kinds of cups wi...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students investigate how to construct a simple circuit from a battery, flashlight bulb, and items that might be found in someone’s pocket. Teams of students engineer a simple flashlight using a flashlight bulb, two AA batteries, an...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students wire the lighting in a miniature house to meet preset specifications. These specifications can be altered to make the problem more or less complex. Students wire circuits with batteries, bulbs, and different numbers of switc...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students are asked to build a battery-operated, personal fan from household materials. This entails building a small electric motor. It is not expected that students will figure out how to make a motor without guidance. Electric moto...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will use observation skills to describe the physical features of roly-polies. They will make comparisons with other animals to identify similarities and differences to infer which animal roly-polies are most like. Assessment ...
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In this lesson, children will use vocabulary and drawings to represent detailed observations of crickets and use these observations as a basis for making inferences about the function of crickets’ external parts. Assessment criteria and connections...
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In this lesson, children will observe and describe characteristics of earthworms and compare them to other animals. Students will investigate how various conditions affect the earthworms. Assessment criteria and connections to standards are provided....
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In this lesson, children use observation skills to describe the characteristics of snails. Students will infer the role of the mucus or slime in snail movement and compare the amounts produced on different surfaces. Assessment criteria and connection...
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In this lesson, children will use vocabulary and drawings to represent detailed observations of goldfish and will use their observations as a basis for making inferences about the functions of different body parts. Assessment criteria and connections...
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In this lesson, children will observe and compare how different animals can be camouflaged on different surfaces and in different environments. They will discuss why animals camouflage themselves and communicate their learning through speaking, writi...
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In this lesson, children will observe spiderwebs to discover that spiders come in different sizes, patterns, and shapes. Children will discuss the fact that some spiders use webs to capture prey, and children will simulate the process. Assessment cri...
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In this lesson, children will experiment with different foods to determine bird preferences. Students will record and analyze data, and use the data to inform choices as they create their own bird feeders. Assessment criteria and connections to stand...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will observe similarities and differences among a group of seeds or beans. Students will sort the seeds or beans based on their observations. Assessment criteria and connections to standards are provided. In addition to the c...
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In this lesson, children will use their observation skills to describe the characteristics of different types of seeds that each fruit has. Children will classify fruits and seeds in different ways. Assessment criteria and connections to standards ar...
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In this lesson, children will make observations and comparisons of vegetables to understand that each comes from a part of a plant. Assessment criteria and connections to standards are provided. In addition to the complete lesson, this selection cont...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will observe and describe the physical properties of lima bean seeds and observe how the characteristics change when the seeds are soaked in water. They will observe and compare the germination of soaked and unsoaked seeds. A...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will discuss the needs of plants and use this information to design and construct a terrarium. Children will observe the terrarium over time to identify plant growth and other changes happening inside their terrarium. Assessm...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will understand that plants have distinct odors by observing different plant scents and characterizing these different types of scents (sweet smells, fruity smells, etc.). Assessment criteria and connections to standards are ...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will observe, describe, and compare pumpkins and generate a list of ways individual pumpkins are similar and different. In addition to the complete lesson, this selection contains the following book parts: Chapter 1, “Scien...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will observe, describe, and compare the different parts found inside a pumpkin. Assessment criteria and connections to standards are provided. In addition to the complete lesson, this selection contains the following book par...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will go on a nature walk to a local park (or around the school grounds) to observe and count the types of animals that live there and to learn about animals’ basic needs. In addition to the complete lesson, this selection c...