This cluster includes the following access points.
Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Ultimate Building Miami: | Students will explore how climate change impacts Miami by examining issues such as sea level rise, intensified hurricanes, and extreme heat. Students will be given a scenario directing them to design a building in Miami that can withstand an issue exacerbated by climate change. They will then work together as a class to create the ultimate building in Miami, one that can withstand multiple impacts of climate change. |
| Drifting Science: | Students will explore global ocean surface currents by completing an investigation using real-world ocean drifter data. Students will analyze maps of ocean drifters to make observations about why they appear in some places more than others. Using the resources provided, they will then select a specific ocean drifter from an interactive map and predict where it may drift to, what currents it might be carried by, and where it might end up in a specific amount of time. |
| “Houston, we have a problem.” Wait…we have a solution!: | Students will use a model to propose a solution to a problem that scientists grappled with when planning to launch the James Webb Space Telescope. Groups will select a problem/solution or sequence text structure and include multimedia elements to complete a writing task explaining their group’s solution. |
| Using Machine Learning and Computational Thinking to Train an AI Model: | Students will explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) and use computational thinking and Machine Learning (ML) to pretrain a model to recognize and identify objects, including geometric shapes and aircraft. They will used unplugged activities to mimic sorting and classification of the objects using their prior knowledge and then make connections to human learning and Machine Learning. Students will then problem solve and propose solutions using computational thinking to improve the ML model to better recognize the objects. This lesson is an integrated Computer Science, Science and Math lesson designed for students in grades 3-5 to apply math and science content knowledge while exploring and using computational thinking as they think like Computer Engineers and reflect on potential career paths. |
| Motion for Speed: | Students will investigate the relationships between the initial speed of a car and the distance required for it to stop. Students will record their results onto a student guide to determine how a car moving faster or slower affects its ability to stop. Finally, students will investigate why we have different speed limits on different roads in this integrated lesson plan. |
| A Whale's Tale: |
This lesson covers:
- The natural history, biology, and ecology of humpback whales
- The internal and external anatomy of humpback whales
- Threats to humpback whales and how scientists work to protect them
|
| Just Right Goldilocks’ Café: Temperature & Turbidity: | This is lesson 3 of 3 in the Goldilocks’ Café Just Right unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” temperature and turbidity level. Students will use both the temperature probe and turbidity sensor and code using ScratchX during their investigation. |
| Just Right Goldilocks’ Café: Turbidity: | This is lesson 2 of 3 in the Just Right Goldilocks’ Café unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” level of turbidity. Students will use turbidity sensors and code using ScratchX during their investigation. |
| Just Right Goldilocks’ Café: Temperature: | This is lesson 1 of 3 in the Just Right Goldilocks’ Café unit. This lesson focuses on systematic investigation on getting a cup of coffee to be the “just right” temperature. Students will use temperature probes and code using ScratchX during their investigation.
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| Rocks: | Students will use their knowledge of minerals and the rock cycle to analyze the rocks on three available sites for a new skate park. After analyzing each rock site, they will write a one page recommendation that will explain the classification of the rock and why it is the best for option for building. In addition, they will create a product plan that contains information on the rocks, their history and their uses. Student groups will present to fellow group members then each student will evaluate the products. |
| The Fast and the Curious: | In this lesson the students learn about wind energy and how it transforms through kinetic energy by designing a wind-powered model car. |
| Dune or Doom: The Effects of Wind Erosion on Sand Dunes: | In this lesson, students will address the following real-world problem of sand dune erosion while integrating Engineering Design concepts:
Florida’s coastline has been ravaged by winds from hurricanes, resulting in damage to sand dunes and oceanfront properties. Your mission is to design the most effective barrier that would limit the amount of sand displaced from our tall sand dunes and prevent further damage to oceanfront buildings. Your designs can help us save the sand dunes before they are blown away! |
| Building up Beaches: | In this STEM build, students will use problem solving skills and teamwork to model an effective way of slowing down beach erosion caused by the ocean. Students also will practice sharing their results through PowerPoint presentations. |
| Friction: Friend or Foe?: | In this lesson, students will learn how different variables (mass, friction, and force) affect the motion of an object. |
| Washed Away: | In this Engineering Design Challenge lesson, students will create a model beach and use different materials to find a solution to slow down the erosion process. |
| "Life's a Breeze!": | In this Engineering Design Challenge, students must design a vessel that will carry passengers safely and quickly across a body of water by harnessing the power of the wind. Students will be given the opportunity to test and improve their vessels as they apply various math and science skills. |
| Heating Up the Neighborhood: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of heat insulators as they build a model house and test different materials to use as insulators, stopping the warm air from escaping and keeping the cool air out. Students will also have an opportunity to use technology in their exploration of heat energy. |
| Sound Vibrations Using the Engineering Design Process: | This lesson uses the engineering design process to guide students through the exploration of sound energy and pitch. The design challenge is to produce a low-pitch tone by using different containers and liquids. Students must also create a budget to purchase supplies. |
| Set Sail with STEM: Exploring Wind and Water Movement as Energy with Sailboats: | Come sail away with this STEM activity! Students will use hands-on inquiry to find out more about wind and its effect on sails. Through trial and error and based on data collected, students will design, build, and race their own vessel or "sailboat" across the boundless waters of a kiddie pool. Students should gain a better understanding of how moving water and air are sources of energy and can propel objects forward at varying rates of speed. |
| Planet Hoppers, Inc: A Space Suit Design Company: | Students are asked to evaluate several space suit designs and select the best design based on given data. Students work in collaborative groups to develop a procedure for selecting the best design and share their ideas with the rest of the class. A twist is introduced and the groups are challenged to test the validity of their procedure.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Dance by the Light of the Moon: | Professional Partiers, Inc. is having a difficult time setting a date for a client's Halloween party. The client has specific criteria they like would to have included in deciding on a good date. This project will familiarize students with the phases of the moon. It allows students an opportunity to interpret data from charts and collaborate with one another to provide a thoughtful written response for the company.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx |
| Creating an Original Experiment!: | This lesson should take place once a student is familiar with the scientific method and has previously participated in various science experiments. In this lesson, the students will work in small groups to design and carry out an experiment using common classroom materials. |
| Protecting the Dream: | In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will work together in teams to determine a procedure for selecting a company from which to purchase a set of protective gear for skating. Students will make using their problem solving skills to make decisions based on a table that includes companies, price per set, durability, comfort.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx |
| Wind at Work: Wind as a Renewable Resource: | This is an Engineering Design Project that builds upon the understanding of wind as a natural resource. It is applying content knowledge and is not intended as an initial introduction to the benchmarks. |
| Glow Kitty, Glow!: | This lesson studies the emerging science of using glow technology (phosphorescence and fluorescence) to improve the well-being of living things. Students will be introduced to the Glow Kitten and other animals that are naturally bioluminescent or have been modified by human impact. Then students will take part in their own investigation and create a glowing carnation while considering ways this technology can be used in their own lives. Along the way, students will research books, articles, and websites and use journal entries to record their learning. Finally, students will create their own advertisement highlighting their glowing carnation and its amazing uses! |
| Holey Rusted Metal!: | Students will conduct a guided inquiry lab involving the chemical change that creates rust. This lab is meant to be set up in one day and then observed over the course of 3 weeks. |
| Dissect It!: | After dissecting a flower(s), the students will be able to identify the parts necessary for pollination, or reproduction of flowering plants. They will also make comparisons and find patterns in nature, leading them to the understanding of the processes of sexual reproduction in flowering plants, including pollination and fertilization (seed production). |
| Did It Change?: | Through demonstrations and lab/investigate rotations, students will explore physical and chemical changes. |
| Rollercoaster Investigations: | This activity will allow students to explore the motion and speed of an object. While constructing a rollercoaster and using the Scientific Method, students will create their own question and then investigate it, finding out whether the speed of an object is affected by the track it follows. |
| Save Our Sand--An Engineer/Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of weathering and erosion as they build devices to stop beach erosion. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Wind Sculptures - An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concept of how moving air is a source of energy and can be used to move things. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Cube Cooler—An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of heat insulators as they build cube-coolers to slow the melting rate of ice. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Florida's First Engineers-An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to introduce students to Native Floridians, their basic needs, and the challenges they faced in Florida's environment. Students will be designing and constructing a tool out of Florida native materials (items found in Florida's environment) that could meet one of the basic needs of humans. They will be discussing whether Native Floridians were engineers based on their ability to construct tools and shelters out of native materials in order to solve problems. |
| Cemented Together: | In this activity the students will create their own sedimentary rock using glue and various pieces of sediments found throughout the school yard. The students will create a model of a sedimentary rock and describe how they would identify a sedimentary rock in the real world. |
| Honey Bee Human--an Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of pollination as they design an apparatus that will pollinate a field. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.
In this Engineering Design Challenge, students will make a 2-dimensional model (a graphic illustration) rather than build a prototype. |
| Observing a Physical Change: | In this lesson, students are shown the difference between physical and chemical changes by dissolving and crushing seltzer tablets. Students learn to recognize that physical changes involved changes in size, shape, or texture, while chemical changes involve the formation of a new substance. |
| Exploring Water: | In this lesson, students record their observations of water in all of its phases. |
| Designing Windmills: | In this lesson, students engage in an engineering design contest to design and create a windmill that will lift a load. |
| Exploring Magnets: | In this lesson, students observe and record their observations of magnets attracting and repelling each other and other objects.. |
| Predator and Prey: | In this lesson the students will learn about a predator/prey relationship. They will learn about the role that plants and animals play in their ecosystem and what each role is called. The students will also learn about the limiting factors each ecosystem possesses that prevent any species population from becoming too large. |
| The Lunar Cycle: | In this lesson, students learn about the Moon's changing appearance and
its pattern of movement. Through class discussion, activities, and
multimedia resources, students explore the phases of the Moon and are
introduced to the concept of orbital motion. The Moon, Earth's only natural satellite, is easily observed with the
naked eye. Over the course of one month, students observe and investigate its full range
of appearances and its pattern of movement in the sky. Students then model the sun, earth and moon system in the classroom. |
| Discovering Dinosaurs: | Students will examine evidence of dinosaurs, from which students will write a theory. Their theory must be supported by evidence. Students will then present their theory for a class discussion.
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| Caution! School's a Zoo!: | This is a fun science lesson that teaches children about inherited animal behaviors through observation and direct instruction. Students then use their new skills to write a news article explaining what school might be like if teachers or students had different inherited and learned behaviors. This lesson can be integrated into reading and includes an opportunity for writing across the curriculum. |
| Follow the Water Lesson 1: Filtration Station: | Water is essential for human health, but it can sometimes be contaminated. Water filtration can filter out contaminants and impurities making water much safer to consume. But what is the best way to filter water? Students will participate in a water filtration engineering challenge to try out different combinations of materials to find which works best. This lesson was developed by the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science with support from the Weo Foundation. |
| Follow the Water Lesson 2: Mission: Lunar Water: | The search is on to locate water on the Moon! Modeled after NASA’s PRIME-1 mission to drill for water ice on the moon, students will create a simulated lunar crust that they will take cores from to search for water ice below the surface. They will then create a map to show others where their discoveries lie. This lesson was developed by the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science with support from the Weo Foundation. |
| Introduction To The Nature Journal: | In the lessons here, students exercise the observation skills that are essential to writing, visual art, and science. First, they try to use evocative language in describing pictures of birds from the Smithsonian's National Zoo. They go on to record observations and to make hypotheses as they follow the behavior of animals on the National Zoo's live webcams. They can watch the giant pandas, the tigers, the cheetahs, the gorillas, or any of a dozen other species. |
| It's Too Hot In Here: | Students explore and investigate the theory that heat flow and movement within Earth causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as well as contributes to mountains and ocean basins. Students will examine: surface structures, tectonic plate maps, volcanic and earthquake historical data and video evidence. Students use their acquired knowledge to organize a PowerPoint or video presentation that illustrates their comprehension of of benchmark SC.7.E.6.7. |
| Keep it Cool –an Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help fourth grade students apply the concepts of the flow of heat from a hot object to a cold object and that heat flow may cause objects to change temperature. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Made To Sail: | Students use simple materials to design and make model sailboats that must stay upright and sail straight in a testing tank. |
| Magnetic Personality: | Through teacher demonstrations and lab type investigations done in rotations, students will explore magnets, magnetic materials, magnetic fields, and electromagnets. |
| Physical Properties of Matter: | Students will participate in a hands-on lab activity in which they will measure and compare apples based on many of their physical properties. |
| Stop Heat From Escaping: | In this activity, students act as engineers to determine which type of insulation would conserve the most energy. |
| Thumb Wrestling: | Activity: You will measure thumb length, wrist circumference, and thumb circumference to determine which factor plays a bigger part in determining our class thumb-wrestling champion. You will develop a hypothesis based on physical data collected from classmates. You will then test your hypothesis by conducting a thumb wrestling championship. After making observations and analyzing the results, you will form a conclusion to answer the challenge question. |
| To Flow or Blow: Which One is Best for Here?: | In this lesson, 4th grade students will use web-based articles and maps to look at current and potential air (wind) and water (hydro)power plants for their, or a teacher-given, local area. Students will present an argument for which type of renewable energy plant they believe would be best citing evidence from text(s) and/or map(s). Students may work and/or write in groups or individually. Access points are included for this lesson. |
| Use Those Tools!: | In this lesson, students will explore with scientific tools often used by scientists to provide them experience with the tools they will be using throughout the year on labs and investigations. They will compare the methods, observations, and results made by different groups using multiple tools and seek reasons to explain the differences across groups. The students will keep records that describe observations made, carefully distinguishing actual observations from ideas and inferences about the observations. |
| Name |
Description |
| An Apple a Day: | Students are presented with an apple and are asked to draw it. In each subsequent class period they are asked to draw the same apple again. In this way, they watch and record the changes the apple goes through as it decays. |
| Design a Sea Lion-A SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students investigate sea lion adaptations and create a sketch that illustrates a sea lion's body parts and adaptations. |
| Catch of the Day-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students conduct experiments that simulate fishing techniques and explore processes that result in bycatch. |
| Ball Bounce Experiment: | Students investigate different balls' abilities to bounce and represent the data they collect graphically. |
| Biomusic: | Students have an opportunity to identify a variety of sounds in the environment, discuss the sounds using appropriate terminology and identify whether they are a product of human production or the natural environment. |
| Bycatch Game-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students will explore the advantages and disadvantages of different fishing techniques. |
| Compost Growth Challenge-A SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | Students will compare and contrast the growth rate of plants grown in different soils. |
| Engineers Speak For The Trees: | Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" as an example of how overdevelopment can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. |
| Exploring A Decomposition Community: | In this classroom lab setting, students will construct Decomposition Columns from two-liter plastic bottles. Students will gather organic material and observe activity in the column. Students will record observations and construction steps in their science notebook. |
| Exploring Sound Length Makes A Difference: | In this elementary physics lab, students will begin to explore the relationship between the length of an object and the sound it produces as it vibrates, by using a wood or plastic ruler and the edge of a desk or table. |
| Heat Transfer: | Students will explore how different colors absorb or reflect heat using a black can of water, a white can of water, and a plain can of water. |
| Invertebrate "Heads Up 7 Up"-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | In this activity, the student will identify biographical information about various tidepool animals. |
| Investigating Changes In Matter: | In this chemistry lab, students will observe a variety of physical and chemical changes in matter. |
| Investigating Magnetic Force Fields: | In this classroom activity, the students will investigate the magnetic pull of a bar magnet at varying distances with the use of paper clips. Students will hypothesize, conduct the experiment, collect the data, and draw conclusions that support their data. Each student will record the experiment and their findings in their science journals. As a class, students will compare each groups' data and their interpretation of the results. |
| Looking at Weathering and Erosion: | Students will be divided into small groups to do simple science experiments that illustrate a type of weathering or erosion. |
| Sound All Around: | Students will have an opportunity to work with sounds and learn about pitch, volume and how sound travels. |
| Teaching The Scientific Method Through Thumb Wars: | Students will have an opportunity to go through the entire process of the scientific method using the game "Thumb Wars". |
| Webcams: Animal Inquiry and Observation: | Observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world in this inquiry-based activity that focuses on observation logs, class discussion, questioning, and research. |
| Wildlife Reserve-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: | In this activity, the students will design a protected environment for an endangered animal that encourages the animal's natural behaviors and meets its physical requirements. Students will explain to their classmates why the protected environment is essential for the endangered animal. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
