Through the two lessons and five activities in this unit, students' knowledge of sensors and motors is integrated with programming logic as they perform complex tasks using LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots and software. First, students are introduced to the discipline of engineering and "design" in general terms. Then in five challenge activities, student teams program LEGO robots to travel a maze, go as fast/slow as possible, push another robot, follow a line, and play soccer with other robots. This fifth unit in the series builds on the previous units and reinforces the theme of the human body as a system with sensors performing useful functions, not unlike robots. Through these design challenges, students become familiar with the steps of the engineering design process and come to understand how science, math and engineering including computer programming are used to tackle design challenges and help people solve real problems. PowerPoint® presentations, quizzes and worksheets are provided throughout the unit.

Through five lessons, students are introduced to all facets of the rock cycle. Topics include rock and mineral types, material stresses and weathering, geologic time and fossil formation, the Earth's crust and tectonic plates, and soil formation and composition. Lessons are presented in the context of the related impact on humans in the form of roadway and tunnel design and construction, natural disasters, environmental site assessment for building structures, and measurement instrumentation and tools. Hands-on activities include experiencing tensional, compressional and shear material stress by using only hand force to break bars of soap; preparing Jeopardy-type trivia questions/answers for a class game that reinforces students' understanding of rocks and the rock cycle; creating "fossils" using melted chocolate; working within design constraints to design and build a model tunnel through a clay mountain; and soil sampling by creating tools, obtaining soil cores, documenting a soil profile log, and analyzing the findings to make engineering predictions.

This calculus course covers differentiation and integration of functions of one variable, and concludes with a brief discussion of infinite series. Calculus is fundamental to many scientific disciplines including physics, engineering, and economics.

Welcome to “SQL and Database Management Using Pop Culture,” a GitHub repository that leads a double life as an interactive Database and SQL textbook. Through this innovative approach, we blend the technical world of SQL and database management with the relatable and often thrilling realm of pop culture. This book is designed to make the complex concepts of databases not just understandable but genuinely enjoyable to learn.

Why This Book? Databases are the backbone of the modern data-driven world, yet their intricacies can often seem labyrinthine to learners. This book demystifies these complexities by drawing parallels with popular culture, weaving a narrative that is both informative and relatable. Whether you are a student stepping into the world of databases or a professional seeking to deepen your understanding, this book provides a fresh perspective that is both comprehensive and accessible. The book starts with basic queries in SQLite, and move on to introduce both PostgreSQL and MySQL in later chapters. The content is aligned with the content of the CompTia Data Sys+ and Oracle Database Foundations exams.

The Structure of the Book. Each chapter of this book is crafted like an episode of a TV series, where learning SQL and database management becomes an adventure rather than a routine academic endeavor. Here’s what awaits you in this journey:

Chapter 0: Get started with an interactive introduction to SQL and Python in Colab notebooks.
Chapters 1 to 12: From the deck of the Star Trek Enterprise to the magical corridors of Hogwarts, dive into every aspect of SQL and database management. Each chapter unfolds a new scenario, tying complex database concepts to familiar stories and characters from pop culture.
This repository houses twelve Jupyter notebooks, making the learning experience highly interactive and hands-on. You’ll not just read about SQL queries and database theories but also get to experiment and see the results in real-time.

SWIMM is a high school curricular program created by EarthGen. For this unit, we offer professional development training and assistance with implementation. If you are interested in implementing this program at your school or district, please let us know! Please contact info@earthgenwa.org for more information. 

Sacred Breath is a Middle School curricular program created by EarthGen. For this unit, we offer professional development training and assistance with implementation. If you are interested in implementing this program at your school or district, please let us know! Please contact info@earthgenwa.org for more information. 

This resource is a collection that helps with learning the scientific method using multiple learning styles. 

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the Materials
Module 1: Sequences
Module 2: Linear & Exponential Functions
Module 3: Features of Functions
Module 4: Equations & Inequalities
Module 5: Systems of Equations & Inequalities
Module 6: Transformations & Symmetry
Module 7: Congruence, Construction & Proof
Module 8: Connecting Algebra & Geometry
Module 9: Modeling Data
Core Correlation

The Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) curriculum has been developed to realize the vision and goals of the New Core Standards of Mathematics. The Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) framework is an integral part of the materials. You can read more about the CMI framework in the Utah Mathematics Teacher Journal. (UCTM, 2009)

Through a five-lesson series with five activities, students are introduced to six simple machines inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle as well as compound machines, which are combinations of two or more simple machines. Once students understand about work (work = force x distance), they become familiar with the machines' mechanical advantages, and see how they make work easier. Through an introduction to compound machines, students begin to think critically about machine inventions and their pervasive roles in our lives. After learning about Rube Goldberg contraptions absurd inventions that complete simple tasks in complicated ways they evaluate the importance and usefulness of the many machines around them. Through the hands-on activities, students draw designs for contraptions that could move a circus elephant into a rail car, create a construction site ramp design by measuring different inclined planes and calculating the ideal vs. actual mechanical advantage of each, compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems conceived to save a whale, build and test grape catapults made with popsicle sticks and rubber bands, and follow the steps of the engineering design process to design and build Rube Goldberg machines.

Follow the Resource Link to read about “Our School District” (non-fictional), a small district that wanted to adopt NGSS-designed Science materials.

I was contacted in Spring 2018 to consult with Our School District. The district’s Science Specialist and I were both members of a regional science leadership network (LASER), and so we had previously shared with each other a number of science education interests, experiences, and problems-of-practice.

Vignette Presentation: two representations

The vignette's Outline Representation is a breakdown of how this PD program was engineered to provide an NGSS-designed science program and also transform several characteristics of Our School District’s science systems.

The vignette's Website Representation, Small SD Science PD, presents a chronological and organizational view of this vignette.

A few nuggets from this vignette:

bit.ly/OurSDSciCurrPrinc
The "Our SD Science Curriculum Principles" were co-developed with teachers to provide long/short-term guidance in developing science programs and systems.

bit.ly/OurSDsciencePD
The website platform supports science program continuity by archiving PD events, tools, and resources, making it easy to stay connected to where they’ve been, what they’re using, where they’re going.

The Software Engineering Program (SEP) is a multi-year, comprehensive, standards-aligned computer science education program for grades 6 to 12. The goals of the program are:

-Increase the number of high school graduates, particularly from traditionally underrepresented groups, that are ready to pursue new and emerging technology-driven roles across industries.

-Develop student computational thinking and problem-solving skills in real-world contexts.

The SEP curriculum gives students instruction and experience in the following areas: computer programming, robotics, web design, physical computing, and game design. SEP students participate in local and central hackathons, and in work-based experiences with major industry leaders and partners.

Are you interested in Solar Energy? Solar Resource Assessment and Economics explores the methods, economic criteria, and meteorological background for assessing the solar resource with respect to project development of solar energy conversion systems for stakeholders in a given locale. It provides students with an in-depth exploration of the physical qualities of the solar resource, estimation of the fractional contributions of irradiance to total demand, and economic assessment of the solar resource. The course utilizes real data sets and resources to provide students context for the drivers, frameworks, and requirements of solar energy evaluation.

Geospatial perspectives and technologies play a major role in planning for and responding to emergencies. Geospatial tools - from aerial mapping techniques to data acquisition, are changing rapidly as is emergency management as the frequency and magnitude of crises and disasters are increasing.

A spatial database is the backbone of a successful organization or website that depends upon maintaining and using data pertinent to locations on Earth. In GEOG 868, Spatial Database Management, capabilities specific to Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are combined to teach students to create, maintain, and query spatial databases in both desktop and enterprise environments. Learn the basics of Standard Query Language (SQL) and database design/normalization, the specifics of managing spatial data in an open-source technologies context (Postgres/PostGIS) and in the context of the Esri geodatabase. Along the way, you will become familiar with spatial functions and versioning, the latter in a server environment hosted by Amazon Web Services.

Students learn how using spectrographs helps people understand the composition of light sources. Using simple materials including holographic diffraction gratings, students create and customize their own spectrographs just like engineers. They gather data about different light sources, make comparisons between sources and theorize about their compositions. Before building spectrographs, students learn and apply several methods to identify and interpret patterns, specifically different ways of displaying visual spectra. They also use spectral data from the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moon, Titan, to determine the chemical composition of the planet's rings and its moon's atmosphere.

Title image "S. Milledge Greenhouse" by UGA CAES/Extension is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0  Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Title image "20120414-DM-LSC-3040" by USDAgov is licensed under CC PDM 1.0  Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Title image CropKing, Inc., Lodi, OH, used with permission from "Greenhouse Structures for Vegetable Production " by N. Bumgarner, University of Tennessee Extension. Copyright © UT Extension.  Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Title image "Agriculture Secretary Perdue tours the Lēf Hydroponic Farm, in Lēf Farm, Loudon, NH, on Sep 1, 2017. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung." by USDAgov is licensed under CC PDM 1.0  Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.