In the EL Education model, teachers prioritize students’ understanding of enduring science concepts so that they can apply that understanding to the modern world. Teachers view science as a way to develop students’ capacity to interpret the natural world critically and to engage productively in it. Teachers support students to read, write, think, and work as scientists do. They use learning expeditions, case studies, projects, problem-based content, collaboration with professional scientists and engineers, and interactive instructional practices to foster inquiry and enable authentic student research. When possible, student research contributes to the school or broader community.

CREATE for STEM is a Michigan State University-sponsored research institute with a broad mandate for Collaborative Research in Education, Assessment and Teaching Environments for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
CREATE has five major focus areas for its work: Creating and Investigating Change in K-16 STEM Education, Educational Policy in STEM fields, Discipline-Based Undergraduate STEM Education, Developing Innovative and Digital Materials, and International Engagement with the Global STEM Education Community.

Within each of these areas, we build interdisciplinary and intergenerational research groups, foster new talent, provide seed money for initial work and support the grant writing process. CREATE is also a hub for the exchange of information and ideas, sponsoring conferences, workshops, seminars, and visiting scholars to enhance the interest in STEM Education and develop capacity in these fields here at MSU.

Using third grade Michigan Science Standards students will learn about force and motion then design, describe, and create an arcade game for others to play.  Since this is a PBL, many ELA content standards are also included.

In Unit 3, students use the research they have gathered throughout Units 1-2 about three water issues--access to water, demands on water, and water pollution--to create a video public service announcement (PSA). In the first half of the unit, they analyze an authentic model PSA to generate criteria for an effective PSA before choosing one of the water issues as their PSA topic. In pairs, they then write a script and create a storyboard outlining their PSA.
Students launch their PSAs for a live audience for the performance task in Lesson 13, so they write an invitational letter to a potential guest for the mid-unit assessment. Students pay particular attention to using capital letters and commas appropriately in the letter's mailing address. In the second half of the unit, students plan and create their video PSAs using technology tools for the end of unit assessment. They then prepare presentations to precede their PSAs for the PSA live launch during Lesson 13.
RI.3.1, W.3.2, W.3.4, SL.3.4, SL.3.6, L.3.1c, and L.3.2b.

This course serves as an introduction to the structure and function of the nervous system. Emphasis is placed on the cellular properties of neurons and other excitable cells. Topics covered include the structure and biophysical properties of excitable cells, synaptic transmission, neurochemistry, neurodevelopment, and the integration of information in simple systems and the visual system.

This course is an intensive introduction to the techniques of experimental chemistry and gives first year students an opportunity to learn and master the basic chemistry lab techniques for carrying out experiments. Students who successfully complete the course and obtain a "Competent Chemist" (CC) or "Expert Experimentalist" (EE) rating are likely to secure opportunities for research work in a chemistry lab at MIT. Acknowledgements The laboratory manual and materials for this course were prepared by Dr. Katherine J. Franz and Dr. Kevin M. Shea with the assistance of Professors Rick L. Danheiser and Timothy M. Swager. Materials have been revised by Dr. J. Haseltine, Dr. Kevin M. Shea, Dr. Sarah A. Tabacco, Dr. Kimberly L. Berkowski, Anne M. (Gorham) Rachupka, and Dr. John J. Dolhun. WARNING NOTICE The experiments described in these materials are potentially hazardous and require a high level of safety training, special facilities and equipment, and supervision by appropriate individuals. You bear the sole responsibility, liability, and risk for the implementation of such safety procedures and measures. MIT shall have no responsibility, liability, or risk for the content or implementation of any of the material presented. Legal Notice 

This new version of the CCK adds capacitors, inductors and AC voltage sources to your toolbox! Now you can graph the current and voltage as a function of time.

Anti-slavery and the intensification of sectionalism in the 1850s; the secession crisis; political and military developments in the Civil War years; why the North won; and the political, economic, and social legacies of the conflict. Although attention will be devoted to the causes and long-term consequences of the Civil War, this class will focus primarily on the war years (1861-1865) with special emphasis on the military and technological aspects of the conflict. Four questions, long debated by historians, will receive close scrutiny: 1. What caused the war? 2. Why did the North win the war? 3. Could the South have won? 4. To what extent is the Civil War America's "defining moment"?

This video shows primary students using a Science Talk protocol as way to collectively theorize, build on each others' ideas, work out thoughts, build literacy, and think, wonder, and talk about how things work. First, the teacher revisits the guiding question ("How does a spider's body help it survive?") and has students review information. She then reviews the Science Talk norms and has a small group of students model. She reviews sentence frames (e.g., "I agree with... because...") that will help students speak like scientists. Students then participate in Science Talks in small groups; the teacher circulates to listen, probe, and coach. We see students building on each others' ideas in a format that promotes equitable conversation. Finally, students reflect on their learning, revisiting the guiding question and the big idea (every part of a spider has an important function that helps it survive).

Two blobs of clay go on an enjoyable adventure as they transform themselves into fun shapes and new things throughout their escapade. What will they be by the end of the book? 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: Design a stop-motion video that morphs an item of your choice into another item. Before you begin, sketch out the process you’ll take to transform your item.

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

This simulation shows conduction of thermal energy within and between solids, based on the kinetic energy of particles, and collisions between neighboring particles. It is used in Lesson 13 of Unit 6.2 of the OpenSciEd curriculum. This simulation differs from the “reduced” version in that it has expanded controls over the variables.

Experiment with conductivity in metals, plastics and photoconductors. See why metals conduct and plastics don't, and why some materials conduct only when you shine a flashlight on them.

It’s easy to take today’s ubiquitous colored crayons for granted, but they were the result of one individual’s innovation. Biebow introduces Edwin Binney—a mustachioed man and head of a carbon black factory—who wished to make color-pigmented wax crayons that reflected the world outside. 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 school/community/world in which you live and identify a problem that could be solved with a new invention.

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

This course enhances cross-cultural understanding through the discussion of practical, ethical, and epistemological issues in conducting social science and applied research in foreign countries or unfamiliar communities. It includes a research practicum to help students develop interviewing, participant-observation, and other qualitative research skills, as well as critical discussion of case studies. The course is open to all interested students, but intended particularly for those planning to undertake exploratory research or applied work abroad. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

The subject of this course is the historical process by which the meaning of "technology" has been constructed. Although the word itself is traceable to the ancient Greek root teckhne (meaning art), it did not enter the English language until the 17th century, and did not acquire its current meaning until after World War I. The aim of the course, then, is to explore various sectors of industrializing 19th and 20th century Western society and culture with a view to explaining and assessing the emergence of technology as a pivotal word (and concept) in contemporary (especially Anglo-American) thought and expression.

Data Nuggets have FREE classroom activities that bring research and authentic data into the classroom. Each “nugget” contains “messy data” at different levels. The student follows the scientific process as they go through the nugget of research. The nugget includes information about the scientist. Students can also create their own nuggets.

Week 6, Day 3---Day 5
You will need access to the Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace (DK Readers L1) or something similar.
A. Introduction to Descriptive Writing
Utilize memberships to news articles that you have available to you at your school, use free news sites online, or gather informative texts from your classroom library.
Students will work in partners or small groups around the room with small sets of text. There can be pre-selected groupings of texts or students may be permitted to work with one book at a time, coming up to get a new one once they have finished. Students should have sticky notes or some kind of note-taking document to write down the similarities among the descriptions.
Text features to notice are headings, subheadings, photographs, table of contents and glossaries.
B. Learning About Descriptions
Practice putting sentences from a text in order, using the descriptive elements list: introduce the topic, definition or facts about the topic, linking words, conclusion.
C. Evaluating for Descriptive Writing:
Chart: Descriptive Checklist Sample
Read different texts to decide whether the text is a descriptive piece or if it is some other type of writing.

In Unit 2, students build on their knowledge of the three water issues begun in Unit 1--access to water, demands on water, and water pollution--to develop an opinion on the importance of conserving water. In the first half of the unit, they read new texts and compare the point of view of the authors to their own point of view about water. In the second half of the unit, students research actions to help solve the water issues and consider the importance of solving these issues. Then, with teacher guidance, students write an opinion essay using the Painted Essay(r) structure about the importance of conserving water through the lens of water pollution, drawing from their research throughout the module so far. For the End of Unit 2 Assessment, students plan and write a new opinion essay about the importance of conserving water through the lens of demand for water.
RI.3.1, RI.3.6, W.3.1, W.3.4, L.3.1b, L.3.5a

Role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. Rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. Various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other US electronics and biotech industries and their different types of institutions. American systems of incentive to creativity apart from the patent laws in the atomic energy and space fields. For graduate students only; others see 6.901.

e-Learning for Kids is an educational website for kids grades K-5. Lessons are organized by grade level as well as skill topics. Students can easily sort the lessons and then select the lesson they want to work on.