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 in partners to investigate Newton’s second law by testing a series of experiments with varying conditions.

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

​

​

Students participate in a hands-on lab in which glacier (ice) effects on the Earth’s surface is demonstrated.

Students collaboratively determine how the characteristics of a real-world job correlate with each of Newton’s Laws and why that is relevant to their own lives.

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

Students will design and test models that will identify crustal features formed by convergent plate boundaries.

Students will use hover pucks to measure speed over a distance of six meters. Once speed has been calculated, students will determine velocity using the same data. Finally, students will be able to label all points of acceleration.

Students will model the effects of human activity on watersheds.

Students will design an experiment to test the outcome of friction in force and motion. The students will create an inclined plane demonstrating their knowledge of mechanical energy and the effects of gravity on an object. Students will use previous knowledge of friction to complete their task of stopping their object. Critical thinking skills will be the focus of the lesson as students will have to utilize their scientific problem-solving skills to make decisions regarding their experiment.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment

Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson.  The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
 

Students model the path of digestion using household items.

Students will review the steps of the scientific method and conduct an investigation that involves sorting magnetic and nonmagnetic objects.

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.

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.

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 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.