Students will work in small groups of two to three on a structured challenge around circuits which includes requirements such as including using a switch or a conductor. They will then use that knowledge to work on a collaborative challenge to solve a relevant problem related to elephant poaching. Students will create a containment system that will have an alarm system, a lighting system, and a way to pass through. Finally, they will review the other projects and discuss similarities and differences in the design.

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

Students will work collaboratively through a fictitious, real-world scenario to determine the probability of each breeding pair of dogs producing offspring with the desired trait for a fictitious client.

Students engage in viewing day three of ecosystem changes in lab groups to determine if the ecosystem is healthy or unhealthy based on scientific data and factors.

Students will explore the Earth's rotation and its relation to the Sun and the Moon. Then, students will create a visual representation of this relationship and present it to the rest of the class.

In this lesson, students will investigate how gene expression is a regulated process controlled by DNA and the interpretations of codons through translation.

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 rotate through lab stations equipped with objects and videos as they explore the uses and conversion of five different types of energy.

Students observe how dunes and canyons are created through agents of erosion by weathering and erosion.

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.

In collaborative groups, the students investigate the transport of water within potato cells placed in various tonicity solutions.

All matter contains energy. Energy can be transferred from one object to another. Energy transformation can occur through the conversion of energy from one form to another. Energy is never created nor destroyed; it is always transferred and/or transformed. Students will demonstrate how energy is transformed and transferred in an ecosystem. To do this, students will create energy pyramids by stacking cups that represent organisms and available amounts of energy. Students will graph and analyze the data.

Students will design a foil boat and add mass to test relative density.

Students use prior knowledge of body systems as they make connections to systems in plants. Students learn that some plant systems have similar functions as the respective animal systems. The lesson highlights the following systems in plants: root system, shoot system, vascular system, and reproductive system.

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 will investigate the possible effects of herbicide drift on grape production by making inferences from an article about a local vineyard and using various experimental materials.

Students will investigate balanced and unbalanced forces through a series of lab stations.