Creating Mini Wastewater Treatment Plants

Student teams design and then create small-size models of working filter systems to simulate multi-stage wastewater treatment plants. Drawing from assorted provided materials (gravel, pebbles, sand, activated charcoal, algae, coffee filters, cloth) and staying within a (hypothetical) budget, teams create filter systems within 2-liter plastic bottles to clean the teacher-made simulated wastewater (soap, oil, sand, fertilizer, coffee grounds, beads). They aim to remove the water contaminants while reclaiming the waste material as valuable resources. They design and build the filtering systems, redesigning for improvement, and then measuring and comparing results (across teams): reclaimed quantities, water quality tests, costs, experiences and best practices. They conduct common water quality tests (such as turbidity, pH, etc., as determined by the teacher) to check the water quality before and after treatment.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: David Bennett, Sara Hettenbach, William Welch

Design and Test a Ping-Pong Paddle

Emphasizing the design, build, and test steps of the engineering design process, groups create a ping-pong paddle. After building their paddle, students conduct tests and compare their design to a store-bought paddle and use a Venn diagram to organize their information. Based on their results, students write product reviews for their paddle. This project allows students to build and test a design, iterate upon that design as well as explore how data analysis of a product works.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Kelsey Mongeon, Michelle Kuhlman

Dream It, Build It, Launch It!

This Super Lesson utilizes Project Based Learning to assist learners with designing, building, and testing flying contraptions as an introduction to Engineering. The goal of this project is to engage students in collaborative team work and to introduce students to the Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. We have offered this Super Lesson as an 8-week elective course, developing and strengthening student interest in applied Math and Science topics. It could also be offered within upper elementary or middle school Science and Math courses. In addition, each week’s topic could be used as a stand alone mini-lesson if time is limited. We have worked to include multiple options within this unit to make it accessible to both general education and special education programs, including recommendations for modifications and extensions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Exploring Nondestructive Evaluation Methods

Through this lesson and its series of hands-on mini-activities, students answer the question: How can we investigate and measure the inside of an object or its structure if we cannot take it apart? Unlike the destructive nuclear weapon test (!), nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods are able to accomplish this. After an introductory slide presentation, small groups rotate through five mini-activity stations: 1) applying Maxwell’s equations, 2) generating currents, 3) creating magnetic fields, 4) solving a system of equations, and 5) understanding why the finite element method (FEM) is important. Through the short experiments, students become familiar with the science and physics being used and make the mathematical connections. They explore components of NDE and see how engineers find unseen flaws and cracks in materials that make aircraft. A pre/post quiz, slide presentation and worksheet are included.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Anton Efremov, Marianne Livezey, Oleksii Karpenko

How can we help save the Pika who live in the Columbia River Gorge? (4th grade Life Science Unit)

This integrated OER unit focuses on the 4th grade NGSS bundle addressing Structure, Function, and Information Processing (Performance expectations 4-PS4-2, 4-LS1-1, and 4-LS1-2). Students are engaged in a storyline which presents them with the problem of preserving the pika population who live in the Columbia River Gorge, a species which has recently been threatened in this region due to climate change. Through a series of activities, labs, and field STEM experiences, students engage in scientific modeling and investigation, while building their understanding of how an organism’s internal and external structures enable survival, growth and reproduction. The unit culminates with the development of a product that can be shared with a public audience to instigate positive change in the community and help protect the pika.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Pranjali Upadhyay

Is my Local Stream a Healthy Habitat? (Middle School NGSS Unit)

This unit explores Performance Expectations MS- LS2-4, LS2-5 by having students collect local ecosystems data with a variety of computational tools: pH sensors, turbidity, oxygen levels and temperature – and to develop a presentation to communicate how and why their stream is a healthy habitat, or not!

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Pranjali Upadhyay

Pa'lante: Onward With Art

Students begin this unit by discussing their relationship with art, and the extent to which they believe art drives resistance movements. Students then participate in a Gallery Walk that highlights how members of the Puerto Rico community in the Young Lords used art to advance their ideas and preserve their culture. Students center the activism of Indigenous peoples in Puerto Rico by studying bomba music and murals. This helps them understand the roots of art—both visual and performance—as activism, and respond to the question: How can understanding Latinidad through art help us confront social and political injustices? Throughout this unit, students work in teams to create a poster series that inspires civic engagement and action on issues of social and political injustice.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Author: Educurious .

RealWorldMath

Real World Math is a collection of free math activities for Google Earth designed for students and educators. Mathematics is much more than a set of problems in a textbook. In the virtual world of Google Earth, concepts and challenges can be presented in a meaningful way that portray the usefulness of the ideas.

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Interactive, Lesson Plan, Simulation, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Thomas Petra

Study Design for Air Quality Research

Students take an in-depth look at what goes into planning a research project, which prepares them to take the lead on their own projects. Examining a case study, students first practice planning a research project that compares traditional cook stoves to improved cook stoves for use in the developing world. Then they compare their plans to one used in the real-world by professional researchers, gaining perspective and details on the thought and planning that goes into good research work. Then students are provided with example materials, a blank template and support to take them from brainstorming to completing a detailed research plan for their own air quality research projects. Conducting students’ AQ-IQ research studies requires additional time and equipment beyond this planning activity. Then after the data is collected and analyzed, teams interpret the data and present summary research posters by conducting the next associated activity Numerous student handouts and a PowerPoint® presentation are provided.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Ashley Collier, Ben Graves, Daniel Knight, Drew Meyers, Eric Ambos, Eric Lee, Erik Hotaling, Evan Coffey, Hanadi Adel Salamah, Joanna Gordon, Katya Hafich, Michael Hannigan, Nicholas VanderKolk, Olivia Cecil, Victoria Danner

Learner Variability Project: Project-based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products that answer a given question or solve a problem. When educators act as facilitators and promote projects that are relevant to students as a part of the curriculum, students have agency over their learning, promoting self-efficacy and Motivation through this experiential learning. Working collaboratively on multimodal or cross-disciplinary projects as leaders and team-members can provide opportunities to build on individuals' experiences and strengths. It also can develop learners' collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills while fostering a Sense of Belonging. Educators should recognize that not all students have had previous experience with student-driven learning and may need additional support, including opportunities to participate successfully, and ample time to review materials and make decisions.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Digital Promise

English Learner Scaffolds for PBL

The English Learner Scaffolds for PBL document provides strategies and recommendations to support English Learners during each phase of a project. It includes guidance on scaffolding the project process, content learning, and language development. The recommendations here align with the planned scaffolding strategies from the Theoretical Foundations and Research Base for California’s English Language Development Standards, provided at the end of this document.Use this to help plan scaffolding for a project to meet the needs of your EL students.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Aujalee Moore

Project Design Rubric - PBLWorks

The Project Design Rubric uses the Essential Project Design Elements as criteria to evaluate projects. The rubric aligns with PBLWorks' Gold Standard PBL model. Definitions and practical examples are used to clarify the meaning of each dimension.The rubric helps educators understand the difference between a simple "project" and rigorous Gold Standard PBL. Teachers who are new to PBL can see how to move from beginner to expert.You and your colleagues can use the rubric to guide the design of projects, give formative feedback, and reflect and revise.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Aujalee Moore

Essential Project Design Elements Checklist - PBL Works

The Essential Project Design Elements Checklist can be used for a quick evaluation of a project's design, to see if it includes all the essential elements of rigorous, effective PBL.This checklist is a user-friendly tool, and based on our Project Design Rubric.Use this tool before, during, and after designing projects to check on their quality. Also helpful for communicating the meaning of PBL to various audiences.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Aujalee Moore

Problem-Based Units for Advanced Students of Spanish

The purpose of these PBL units is to provide advanced students of Spanish (generally 3rd and 4th year college students) a series of compelling problems from Spanish culture and society. Each unit introduces a problem that students must solve collaboratively in small teams (4-6) over the course of approximately four weeks, assuming 2-3 class meetings per week. The instructor coaches the teams as they seek to fill gaps in understanding, revise hypotheses to incorporate new knowledge, and craft solutions that recognize various perspectives on the problem. Each unit is based on particular objectives, but the skills and processes students will exercise are the same across all units: collaborative problem solving, self-directed research and synthesis of information, argumentation based on sound evidence, and communication in Spanish. 

Material Type: Lesson, Unit of Study

Author: Janet Eckerson