Does it have Potential?
Students will work with partners to investigate how mass, potential energy, and kinetic energy act on objects dropped from varying heights.
Students analyze an interactive map and discuss whether those that colonized Latin America made a positive or a negative impact.
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells
Students will categorize cells as prokaryotic or eukaryotic by identifying the presence or lack of a nucleus.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Students compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy by creating a real-world model through a movie.
This lesson was designed by Elicia Josselet and Nancy Reed at William J. Winkley Elementary in Leander Independent School District of ESC Region 13. The Lesson Observation (video) was taught by Elicia Josselet to 18 students in the 2020 spring semester.
Got Force?
Students use various surfaces and a weighted car to see how far the car will travel using balanced and unbalanced forces.
Students will work collaboratively in a variety of stations using maps of Europe and North America to practice their map skills. They will apply their knowledge about data to create graphs.
Motion Pictures
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
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to this unit.
Earth: A Tilted Affair
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
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to this unit.
Push Back, Pull Forward
Students will conduct an experiment to demonstrate force such as pushes and pulls.
Students will create a bar graph representing data about China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, India, and the United States using information from a data bank. The data bank includes information on population, population density, gross domestic product, literacy rates, annual salary, infant mortality, and land area. Then, students will examine a light pollution map to make connections between the data presented and the bar graphs.
Biotic and Abiotic Factors of an Ecosystem
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.
Students will compare East Germany’s government post World War II with the United States’ government.
Gravity in Space
Students will participate in stations that reinforce their understanding of gravity, especially gravity in space.
What's going on with our plates?
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.
Let's FIND Speed!
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.
10 OnTRACK Grade 8 Science: Force, Motion, and Energy
Students will explore the relationship between force, motion, and energy.
2 Instructional Support Ancillaries for TEA Physics
Ancillaries for TEA Physics