This lesson is the first part of a series of lessons based on Newton's Three Laws of Motion. This lesson introduces the laws and specifically centers on developing a video as a model for students to demonstrate and explain Newton's First Law of Motion. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
As the second installment of a series of lessons on Newton's 3 Laws of Motion, this lesson focuses on Newton's Third Law. Students will take part in an activity exploring the motion of colliding objects. Students will photograph these collisions as a demonstration and explain how Newton's 3rd Law and balanced & unbalanced forces relate to their collision. This lesson results from a collaboration of the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The third installment of a three-part lesson on Newton's Laws of Motion, this lesson focuses on Newton's 2nd Law and offers review of all three laws. Students will complete graphic organizers to demonstrate their understanding of the three laws of motion. Students will work in tiered groups to prepare a brief presentation to share with the class on a real-life scenario demonstrating Newton's 2nd Law. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
In this lesson, students will be examining primary sources pertaining to differing viewpoints of America's involvement in World War I. The students will annotate the documents, looking for main ideas and supporting details. The students will then form graphic organizers separating two opposing viewpoints. Finally, students will write a group expository essay using the data from the graphic organizer. This lesson was created as part of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission's Curriculum Development Project.
During this activity, the students will use drag and drop computer code to create an interactive ecological energy pyramid model that shows how the 10% law applies to the energy available at each trophic level. As part of the hour of code, students can use this activity to participate in the Hour of Code week during their biology class. This lesson plan results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Matter is made of particles too small to be seen. But if we can't see these particles, how do we know they exist? In this lesson, students will plan and carry out investigations with air and simple solutions to provide evidence that all types of matter are made of tiny particles that are invisible to the human eye. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Students will determine the difference between balanced and unbalanced forces through an experiment. The experiment consists of a student-created scaled snow sled model going down a teacher-created ramp. Students will plan to change one variable, collect data, and chart the data graphically. Students will change a variable such as: number of students riding the snow sled, size of the child (children) riding the snow sled, direction, position on the hill the snow sled is released, position of children on the sled (sitting, standing, laying), friction caused by materials that makes up the sled, and air resistance caused by an object such as a parachute. Students will collect and chart data of each experiment graphically in order to determine the longest snow sled ride. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
In this interdisciplinary lesson, students will apply the Engineer Design Process to design a structure to remove waste from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The lesson involves components of STEM and English Language Arts. This lesson results from collaboration between the Alabama Department of Education and ASTA.
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.
Students will use transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective items that they find around the classroom or school to investigate how light passes through an object. This activity will demonstrate how light behaves around objects. The first investigation will take students on a scavenger hunt to find objects that fit each type. Students will classify each object using a flashlight and analyzing how light passes through the object. Then the final investigation will allow students to experiment with how the amount of light that each type allow effects the rate at which ice will melt. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
This lesson will begin with students brainstorming methods of communication using a web graphic organizer. Next, students will collaborate with a partner to create a basic cup phone set. Then, the teacher will lead students to develop a revised cup phone set using a variety of different materials. Lastly, the students will design and construct a revised version of the cup phone and test its effectiveness as compared to the first cup phone set. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
In this activity, students try to work their way out of a circular maze, thereby modeling the movement of a photon as it travels through the radiative zone of the sun. Classroom discussion after they complete the activity is focused on the Standard Solar Model and its importance in further scientific studies of the sun. 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.
This lesson will utilize the talking drawings strategy, in which students will begin the lesson by drawing a picture of a plant to illustrate how they think plants make their own food. Then, the teacher will introduce the process of photosynthesis using an interactive presentation to explain photosynthesis in a pictorial format. As the teacher describes the process, the students will create a scientifically accurate drawing of a plant engaging in photosynthesis. Lastly, students will create a writing piece that will describe the process of photosynthesis and construct a scientifically accurate illustration of the process of photosynthesis. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
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 lesson will allow students to gather evidence to better understand how plants and animals provide for themselves by altering the environment. Students will observe plants and animals. Students will discuss their findings with group members. The students will write or draw about their findings. After writing with their group members, students will produce and present their knowledge to the class via Chatterpix. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
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.
In this lesson, students will gather quantitative information to construct a graph to show the period trends in electronegativity, electron affinity, and ionization energy. Once, the trends are recognized they will construct a model of these periodic trends using the Alabama Science in Motion Lab (Periodic Trends: Graphs and Straws). This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
The lesson will begin by students performing a think-aloud as they consider the similarities of five words: tornado, shelter, basement, underground, and safe room. Students will use a pros and cons graphic organizer as they read articles on three different types of tornado shelters: underground shelters, part of the house shelters, and prebuilt shelters. The students will find the advantages and disadvantages of each type of structure. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will create a table that lists all the shelters and the pros and cons of each. Students will then determine which shelter they feel is most efficient in an "exit slip" response. This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.
This lesson introduces students to the world of primary sources. Students will analyze two photographs concerning Alabama's second governor, Thomas Bibb, in order to construct meaning. Students will analyze a primary source from their past and present it to the class. This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
Pictures of Alabama State Capitols are provided in this lesson to give students the opportunity to research information that could help them to give their point of view. It will be up to the students to provide further information about the pictures. This will start a conversation about the best location for a capital city and its capitol building. This lesson was created as part of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission's Curriculum Development Project.