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The Carbon We See Everyday – The Science of Trader Joe’s

Get ready to take your students on a carbon-powered shopping trip to Trader Joe’s! This lesson on the carbon cycle transforms an everyday grocery store visit into a science adventure, showing how carbon is everywhere—from the veggies in your cart (photosynthesis, anyone?) to the paper bags made from carbon-rich trees, and even in the breath of shoppers exhaling CO2. Through relatable examples, the lesson makes the carbon cycle come to life, linking natural processes like respiration and decomposition to the things we encounter daily. With a lesson plan, student handouts, and a slide deck, you’ll have everything you need to turn your classroom into a carbon-cycle hotspot!

Lesson Plans Biology 6-8th CA GA IN NGSS Aligned TN
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The Catapult Competition – Engineering

The Catapult Laboratory Handout provides detailed instructions for building a simple yet powerful catapult using 32 popsicle sticks, masking tape, and a rubber band. Emphasizing the strength of the triangle, it guides the creation of a stable structure capable of launching projectiles up to thirty feet. The handout encourages experimentation with different rubber bands and arm lengths, making it an educational and engaging project that demonstrates basic engineering principles.

Lesson Plans Engineering 6-8th
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AI Lamp Building Project

The discussion of AI and its implications for teaching and learning is pervasive. The future and present are intricately connected to how we leverage AI to enhance our daily interactions. AI involves teaching computers to gather information, analyze it, and make informed decisions. This lab introduces students to the fundamentals of AI, engineering design, and coding by guiding them through the process of building their own AI-powered lamp using an Arduino board.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Engineering 6-8th 9-12th
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Virtual Field Trip Lesson on The Carbon Cycle

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘It’s organic’? It’s a peculiar term in our world. For scientists, it means that the substance is composed of carbon. There’s something remarkable about carbon—it’s neither created nor destroyed. Instead, it’s recycled through our environment as we breathe, as plants conduct photosynthesis, and as bacteria decompose things. This lesson takes us to a local grocery store to teach us how carbon is cycled through the environment. The students will visit the grocery store and explore each stage of the carbon cycle through a 3D virtual world.

Lesson Plans Virtual Reality Biology Life 6-8th CA NGSS Aligned
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COVID 19 – Viruses, Antigens, & Antibodies

The 2020 school year was dramatically cut short due to the global virus pandemic. Viruses have always existed in a number of contexts, but few truly understand how viruses impact our lives. More importantly, our bodies have an embedded system for fighting viruses. This lesson, designed for middle school students, provides students an overview of the basics of viruses and explains how they impact the human body.

Lesson Plans Biology Life 6-8th CA
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Digital Diversity in Virtual Education: Making Sure Culturally Relevant Practices Make Their Way Home

Teaching from home has emerged as one of the biggest and more difficult challenges teachers have ever faced. In attempting to make instruction as equitable as possible, many questions have emerged around the possibilities of culturally relevant pedagogy in a distance learning format. Although technology issues have emerged, there are numerous ways to ensure the best practices in CRP teaching can thrive in a digital environment.

Presentations & Lectures Professional Development 6-8th 9-12th CA
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Engineering Basics with Tiny Bits

There is a lot of excitement about engineering. This can be something that is difficult to teach as teachers must learn how to give students access to circuit and programming activities. This lesson allows teachers to provide students with pre-made circuits, switches, and transformers. This is a fun activity that will lead to a lot of fun results. Try this easy to do science lesson.

Big Ideas Lesson Plans Engineering 6-8th K-6th CA
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Square Bubbles – Surface Tension

Who doesn’t love bubbles! The things with bubbles is that they offer a quick and easy way to view how electrostatic forces impact small interactions. In the bubbles we see, there is an interesting effect, where the maximum distance of the surface tension is a globe. However, have you ever seen bubbles in different shapes. This lesson explores how making square bubbles might be an option.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Biology Physical Science Physics 6-8th 9-12th CA
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Sling Shot Rockets

Slingshot physics involves the use of stored elastic energy to shoot a something at a high speed. This elastic energy comes from rubber bands which are specially made for slingshots. This energy is provided initially by the muscle energy of the slingshot operator. One of the goals of a slingshot is to fire the projectile at the greatest speed possible. To do this two basic physics conditions must be satisfied.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Physical Physical Science 6-8th 9-12th CA IN TN
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The Science of Making Slime

Admit it, slime is simply awesome! Kids will make slime at home in their spare time, but what it the science of this uber relaxing materials. This lesson prepares your students to understand how substances engage in the formation of Polymers. The discussions of polymers can start at slime and explore environmental justice. Enjoy this engaging interpretation of slime.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Biology Chemistry 6-8th 9-12th CA
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The Simplest Electric Motor

Flick a switch and get instant power—We loved to use electric motors even when we don’t know we are using them! You can find them in everything from electric lights to to remote-controlled cars—and you might be surprised how common they are. How many electric motors are there in the room with you right now? There are probably two in your computer for starters, one spinning your hard drive around and another one powering the cooling fan.

Lesson Plans Physical Science Physics 6-8th 9-12th K-6th CA GA IN TN
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Genetics Through Reebops

Genetics plays an important role in our life. How often have you wondered why someone’s brother or sister looks dramatically different from them? Our genes operate by a set of rules that we should talk about more often. Each parent has genes that split in half, scramble and then replicate. Even after that there are environmental factors that cause the genes to work. This lab uses simply marshmallows to teach this idea.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Biology 6-8th 9-12th CA GA IN TN
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Magical Milk Spectroscopy

Milk is mostly water, but it also contains vitamins, minerals, proteins, and tiny droplets of fat suspended in solution. Fats and proteins are sensitive to changes in the surrounding solution (the milk).

The secret of the bursting colors is the chemistry of that tiny drop of soap. Dish soap, because of its bipolar characteristics (nonpolar on one end and polar on the other), weakens the chemical bonds that hold the proteins and fats in solution. The soap’s polar, or hydrophilic (water-loving), end dissolves in water, and its hydrophobic (water-fearing) end attaches to a fat globule in the milk. This is when the fun begins.

Lesson Plans Biology 6-8th CA
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Bernoulli’s Principle

Gases and liquids have similar movement patterns. In chemistry classes students will learn about the Bernoulli’s principle. This concept of fluid movement can be difficult to understand. Years of teaching science taught me to use example like digging up sand and having new sand fill the void. This simple outdoor activity can serve as a simple introduction to understanding this key gas principle.

Lesson Plans Chemistry Physical Science 6-8th 9-12th CA
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Air Pressure Rockets

One of the challenges of teaching science involves getting students to see the value of micro level phenomenon. “Air” is among the things that is most challenging to teach. Air pressure impacts us everyday, but can be hard to understand because it is largely invisible. This lesson uses the building and launching of air pressure powered rockets as a means to give students an understanding of how air pressure impacts our world.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Physical Physical Science 6-8th CA
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The Flint Water Crisis – The Water Cycle

The basic concept of the water cycle can be one that is hard for students to connect to larger sociocultural issues. In helping students set a sense of how the water cycle matters to their lives, this lesson uses the issues of The Flint Water Cycle to help students understand how the water cycle is a vital component in providing clean water for everyone. This lesson includes slides, lesson plans, and handouts to be used for instruction. All of the lessons are available in downloadable and accessible in MS Word and Powerpoint formats that you can adjust.

Lab Examples Lesson Plans Biology 6-8th K-6th CA
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Culturally Relevant Computer Science & Engineering Curriculum

A Culturally Relevant CS/ Engineering Curriculum   Welcome to the CS/Engineering curriculum page. You may ask what is a hybrid CS/Engineering curriculum. This curriculum is a part of an ongoing project to build a free online resource for teachers to teach Computer Science and Engineering. Many of our current products, including phones, cars, drones, and…

Lesson Plans Computer Science Engineering 6-8th CA
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