Students will work in cooperative groups to create an accurate arrangement of mirrors that work together to relay a laser beam from a Mars space station to Earth’s Mission Control, which will model utilizing satellites in space for communication, an accommodation necessary for manned space exploration.

Students will categorize cells as prokaryotic or eukaryotic by identifying the presence or lack of a nucleus.

Students compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy by creating a real-world model through a movie.

Students will work with partners to investigate how mass, potential energy, and kinetic energy act on objects dropped from varying heights.

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Students use various surfaces and a weighted car to see how far the car will travel using balanced and unbalanced forces.

Students will model the effects of human activity on watersheds.

Students will collaborate on a electronic slideshow presentation and observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession including both primary and secondary succession.

The students will review related vocabulary, watch the teacher model a dihybrid cross, and then perform a dihybrid cross and answer questions about the outcomes with a partner.

The students will work collaboratively in small, ability-based groups in stations that will require them to use their academic vocabulary, academic language, and self-assessment to generate a product showing what they have learned.

This research lesson requires students to distinguish between speed, distance, and time. Students will use formulas to calculate the three using a checklist. Students will also create their own speed, distance, or  time word problem using the knowledge gained in this lesson.

Students will work in groups to complete an escape room challenge that replicates the process of gene expression.

Students will explore biodiversity concepts through several activities including a video, a card sort, think-pair-shares, food webs, and four corners.

Students will explore abiotic and biotic factors in various ecosystems by working through stations. Students will be able to identify and describe abiotic and biotic factors within an ecosystem.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of motion representation using distance vs. time graphs. Students will recognize labeling of axes, steepness related to speed, horizontal lines as non-motion, and downward slope as return to origin.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Related to the Unit

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After a brief review of direct and indirect sunlight, students will arrange heat maps and globes around a drawing of the Sun based on the tilt of Earth and how it affects Earth’s temperature.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Related to the Unit

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Students model the path of digestion using household items.

Students will conduct an experiment to demonstrate force such as pushes and pulls.

Students will participate in stations that reinforce their understanding of gravity, especially gravity in space.

Students will model real-world formulas and chemical reactions to investigate the meaning of limiting reactants.