Species extinction is happening at an alarming rate according to scientists. In this lesson, students are asked to consider why extinction is a problem that we should concern us. They are taught that destruction of habitat is the main reason many species are threatened. The lesson explores ways that engineers can help save endangered species.

After the Great Depression struck, Ford especially wanted to support ailing farmers. For two years, Ford and his team researched ways to use farmers’ crops in his Ford Motor Company. They discovered that the soybean was the perfect answer. Soon, Ford’s cars contained many soybean plastic parts, and Ford incorporated soybeans into every part of his life. He ate soybeans, he wore clothes made of soybean fabric, and he wanted to drive soybeans, too. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Think about the people in your community and the challenges they face. List three challenges that affect their daily life. Consider something you use every day and brainstorm how it could be repurposed or modified to address this problem.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

When you ask the question “What is geology?” most people will initially respond that it is the study of rocks. This is true, but geology is also so much more than that. The truth is that geology is an intricate part of your everyday life.

Students participate in a global campaign to observe and record the faintest visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location. By locating and observing the constellation Orion in the night sky and comparing it to stellar charts, students from around the world will learn how the artificial lighting in their community contribute to light pollution. Student contributions to the online database will document the visible night time sky.

Meet savvy scientist and inventor Hedy Lamarr, also known for her career as a glamorous international movie star. Dubbed "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World," Hedy actually preferred spending time creating inventions in her workshop to strutting down the red carpet. Hedy co-invented the technology known as frequency hopping, which turned out to be one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century! Today's cell phone, computers, and other electronic devices would be more vulnerable to hacking without the groundbreaking system discovered by a world-famous actress and gifted inventor. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Create small groups. Pass out one of the challenges listed in the lesson plan/book card to each group for them to come up with an invention that will solve the problem at hand.

Meg set out to climb up and investigate the rain forest tree canopies — and to be the first scientist to do so. But she encountered challenge after challenge. Male teachers would not let her into their classrooms, the high canopy was difficult to get to, and worst of all, people were logging and clearing the forests. Meg never gave up or gave in. She studied, invented, and persevered, not only creating a future for herself as a scientist, but making sure that the rainforests had a future as well. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Your community has many different areas to explore - it might be a park, a grocery store, a forest, or an alley. For some people, it might be difficult to explore these areas because they may have differing abilities. Select one area in your community, and come up with a plan to build a way for it to be more accessible to everyone.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

CK-12 Life Science Honors For Middle School covers seven units: Understanding Living Things; Cells: The Building Blocks of Life; Genetics and Evolution; Prokaryotes, Protists, Fungi, and Plants; The Animal Kingdom; The Human Body; and Ecology.

In these activities, students will evaluate data to provide evidence to support the claim that “Human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, are adding more CO2 to the atmosphere. This is enhancing the greenhouse effect, trapping more heat and causing global temperatures to rise.”

Increases in CO2 in the atmosphere and warming global temperatures are having a significant impact on the chemistry, temperature, volume, and circulation patterns in bodies of water. In this set of activities, students will investigate these changes and evaluate their potential impacts.

This lesson will discuss the details for a possible future manned mission to Mars. The human risks are discussed and evaluated to minimize danger to astronauts. A specialized launch schedule is provided and the different professions of the crew are discussed. Once on the surface, the crew's activities and living area will be covered, as well as how they will make enough fuel to make it off the Red Planet and return home.

Students are introduced to the concept of light pollution by investigating the nature, sources and levels of light in their classroom environment. They learn about the adverse effects of artificial light and the resulting consequences on humans, animals and plants: sky glow, direct glare, light trespass, animal disorientation and energy waste. Student teams build light meters using light sensors mounted to LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT intelligent bricks and then record and graph the light intensity emitted in various classroom lighting situations. They are introduced to the engineering concepts of sensors, lux or light meter, and lumen and lux (lx) illuminance units. Through this activity, students also learn how to better use light and save energy as well as some of the technologies designed by engineers to reduce light pollution and energy waste.

A young girl has a wonderful idea to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! But making her magnificent thing is anything but easy, and the girl repeatedly tries and fails. Eventually, she quits, but a walk with her dog and time to think, she comes back to her project with renewed enthusiasm and manages to get it just right. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Create small groups. Pass out one of the challenges listed in the lesson plan/book card to each group for them to come up with an invention that will solve the problem at hand.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

In this project, students will learn how to find the area that drains to a storm drain and the route that pollutants will take if they are dumped or washed into the drain. They will find the upstream drainage area, called a watershed, for a storm drain near Blackman Elementary School in Tennessee. Then they find the downstream flow path to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Knowing how to find these, students can experiment to find the watersheds and flow paths from other storm drain locations.

Isatou Ceesay observed a growing problem in her community where people increasingly disposed of unwanted plastic bags, which accumulated into ugly heaps of trash. She found a way to be the agent of change by recycling the bags and transforming her community. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Use plastic bags to develop a new product (i.e. jump rope).

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

OpenSciEd middle school is NGSS-aligned science curriculum. Designed for all students and teachers, OpenSciEd includes student-facing materials as well as teacher guides. As with most instructional materials, excellent professional learning for teachers should be provided. For more information in Michigan contact the Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network, starrm@mimathandscience.org

Students are introduced to the fabulous planet on which they live. Even though we spend our entire lives on Earth, we still do not always understand how it fits into the rest of the solar system. Students learn about the Earth's position in the solar system and what makes it unique. They learn how engineers study human interactions with the Earth and design technologies and systems to monitor, use and care for our planet's resources wisely to preserve life on Earth.

This lesson focuses on how we use water in our daily lives.Students calculate their weekly water use and predict howtheir use would change if water were less available or morecostly.

Students discover the direct link between land use andthe water quality of streams, rivers, and lakes whenthey observe how pollutants from various land uses canbe carried by runoff through the watershed, eventuallyreaching one of the Great Lakes.

Students identify common pollutants in storm water,compare the quantity of runoff from different land covers,and then apply this knowledge to their comparison oftwo aerial photos taken in 1975 and 2010, respectively, tohypothesize how land use and cover changes may affectthe quantity and quality of storm water runoff.