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Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Eroding the Future - Lesson 3: | Using knowledge from the previous lessons, students will write a letter to a state senator or representative explaining the process of coastal erosion, the impacts of coastal erosion on the citizens of the State of Florida and requesting their support for a recommendation of how to address the problems created by coastal erosion.
This is lesson 3 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and science. |
| Eroding the Future - Lesson 2: | In this lesson, students will evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of erosion on citizens. Additionally, they will describe how citizens can help solve community problems and identify their state elected officials.
This is lesson 2 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and science. |
| Eroding the Future - Lesson 1: | In this lesson, students will complete an inquiry activity on erosion in order to be able to describe the process of erosion and differentiate it from weathering. Through the inquiry activity, students will recognize how models can be used to demonstrate processes and test solutions. Additionally, students will evaluate how citizens can work with their state government to solve the problems created by erosion, as a public issue.
This is lesson 1 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and science. |
| Protecting Florida's Resources: Water: Part 1: | Students will deepen their knowledge on Florida’s renewable resource of water. They will learn about why it is an important resource to our state, consider problems the resource may face and ways they can work with state and local government to address issues involving Florida’s waters. |
| Ocean Heroes: | Students will learn ways to help keep the ocean clean by recycling and write letters to lobby government officials to support recycling programs. They will decide which materials are most important to recycle by looking at several characteristics of the materials including whether they are renewable or nonrenewable, if the material will decompose, and the amount of the materials currently being recycled in this MEA.
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. |
| 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
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| 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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| Preventing Soil Erosion Lesson: | Students will investigate the factors that contribute to soil erosion. Students will then design and model a berm that will resist soil erosion. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Physical Properties of Minerals Lab: | The 5E Learning Cycle lesson introduces students to the concept of minerals and their physical properties of hardness, color, streak color, luster, and cleavage. Students will explore the properties of minerals and learn about and practice determining the specific properties of a mineral sample. |
| Going Green - Renewable and Non-Renewable Florida Resources: | Students will use their knowledge of renewable and non-renewable resources to create a green community in Florida. The students will be given a map of a plot of land in Florida on which to develop a green community. They will need to use renewable resources while protecting the non-renewable resources on the plot of land. |
| Physical Properties of Minerals Student Activity Lab: | During this lab activity students will use their knowledge of the physical properties of minerals to investigate and describe seven common minerals including quartz, feldspar, biotite mica, calcite, pyrite, graphite, and talc. Students will determine hardness, color, luster, streak color, and cleavage using various hands-on testing methods. |
| Resources Bulletin Board Challenge: | In this lesson, students will work to research and compare renewable and non-renewable resources. Students will then design and/or create bulletin boards to share their findings and teach others. |
| 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. |
| Design a Dune: | Students work in teams to rank and determine which vegetation is best for a coastal dune restoration project. 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. |
| It's in the Bag!: | This is a 4th grade MEA. This MEA will ask students to work in teams to help Greens R Us, a fruit and vegetables business, decide which type of shopping bag to give their customers. Students will consider factors such as renewable and nonrenewable resources, environmental impact, and sustainability. This MEA allows students to use high-level problem solving skills in a real-world application involving Earth's natural resources. 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. |
| An Energetic Place to Live: | Sunny Land Developing is about to develop a new community in Florida. Students are needed to make suggestions for the company's choice of energy to integrate into the new homes. In this activity, students will review how people use electricity in their daily lives and learn about the differences between renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. Students will also be introduced to sound energy and how it is measured. 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. |
| Mastering Minerals!: | This MEA requires Students to review data and rank minerals from best to worst in terms of mineral properties, to help a mineral jeweler decide on the best mineral to use to make a necklace. Students will consider hardness, luster, color, cleavage and safety by analyzing the given charts which include these data by mineral. Students will work as a group and create a model for ranking the minerals. 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. |
| Florida's Natural Resources Quandry: | This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 4th grade level. In this open-ended problem, students are presented with a variety of natural resources found in Florida, a description of the resources, and the advantages/disadvantages of each. Students must consider which resources are both environmentally friendly and beneficial to our society. Students will describe their procedures for reasoning, and defend their decisions by providing proper validation. 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. |
| Fertilizers in Florida: | Growing Green, Inc. is planning to expand their business into Florida. The client has specific criteria for selecting a good location to set up their new fertilizer manufacturing plant. This project will familiarize students with some of Florida's natural resources (with a great emphasis on phosphate) and will present students with opportunities to interpret different types of maps. 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. |
| Weathering and Erosion Video Project: | Using a digital video recorder, 6th grade students will create an informational video that teaches 4th grade (or 5th as an FCAT review) students about weathering and erosion using images from around the school and local areas. This will most likely be a long-term project, depending on how many digital video recorders and computers are available. |
| Greener School Cafeteria: | In this MEA students help their cafeteria manager make greener choices in selecting utensils. 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. |
| Wind at Work: Wind as a Renewable Resource: | This is an Engineering Design Project that follows the CIS: Wind at Work Lesson. This is lesson two of two in the Unit and 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. |
| Town of Newberry: Alternative Energies MEA: | This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 5th grade level. In this open-ended problem, students are presented with a variety of energy resources, a description of the source, and the advantages/disadvantages of each. Students must consider which resource energy is the best to implement, describe their procedures for reasoning, and defend their decisions by providing proper validation.
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 process. 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 MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx |
| Shady Day MEA: | This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 5th grade level. The Shady Day MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they must work as a team to design a procedure to select the best beach umbrella for certain situations.
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 process. 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 MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
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| Save Our Sand--An Engineer/Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of weathering and erosion from SC.4.E.6.4 as they build devices to stop beach erosion. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| 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. |
| Rocks, Rocks, Everywhere: | The students will be able to sort rocks based upon color, hardness, texture, layering and particle size. |
| Power Up!: | This lesson is designed to compare and contrast renewable energy sources, such as the sun, wind, and geothermal, as well as nonrenewable energy sources, such as fossil fuels. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Recycling and Composting: | This lesson shows students how important renewable resources are for our society & the world of living things. Trees, fresh water, and clean air support the majority of life on Earth; because of this, we must protect these and other critical natural resources from exploitation and pollution. One approach to this is conservation, the practice of ensuring that our natural resources will always be available to future generations. Class discussion and activities will help broaden students' understanding about some important conservation activities: recycling and composting. |
| Find WHAT in Florida?: | This lesson addresses the topic of resources found in Florida. As 4th grade students learn about Florida, they should also be able to identify natural resources that are found and used within the state. Students have the opportunity to access and use their prior knowledge as they discover what a natural resource is and what resources can be found in Florida. Students will explore some of these resources in a hands on activity. Additional components include a non-fiction article and cooperative learning |
| Recycle This!: | Students will learn about recycling renewable and nonrenewable resources while completing a model eliciting activity in which they help Sunshine School District to decide which material to start their recycling program with. 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. |
| What's your Resource: Renewable or Nonrenewable?: | Students will learn about renewable and nonrenewable resources and share their ideas by writing an expository paragraph. |
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.
