This unit on metabolic reactions in the human body starts out with students exploring a real case study of a middle-school girl named M’Kenna, who reported some alarming symptoms to her doctor. Her symptoms included an inability to concentrate, headaches, stomach issues when she eats, and a lack of energy for everyday activities and sports that she used to play regularly. She also reported noticeable weight loss over the past few months, in spite of consuming what appeared to be a healthy diet. Her case sparks questions and ideas for investigations around trying to figure out which pathways and processes in M’Kenna’s body might be functioning differently than a healthy system and why.

Students investigate data specific to M’Kenna’s case in the form of doctor’s notes, endoscopy images and reports, growth charts, and micrographs. They also draw from their results from laboratory experiments on the chemical changes involving the processing of food and from digital interactives to explore how food is transported, transformed, stored, and used across different body systems in all people. Through this work of figuring out what is causing M’Kenna’s symptoms, the class discovers what happens to the food we eat after it enters our bodies and how M’Kenna’s different symptoms are connected.

In this unit, students develop ideas related to how sounds are produced, how they travel through media, and how they affect objects at a distance. Their investigations are motivated by trying to account for a perplexing anchoring phenomenon — a truck is playing loud music in a parking lot and the windows of a building across the parking lot visibly shake in response to the music.

They make observations of sound sources to revisit the K–5 idea that objects vibrate when they make sounds. They figure out that patterns of differences in those vibrations are tied to differences in characteristics of the sounds being made. They gather data on how objects vibrate when making different sounds to characterize how a vibrating object’s motion is tied to the loudness and pitch of the sounds they make. Students also conduct experiments to support the idea that sound needs matter to travel through, and they will use models and simulations to explain how sound travels through matter at the particle level.

This lesson has students create, compare, and solve linear, quadratic, exponential, and cubic functions based on a primary source from Weather Underground about the melting of the polar ice caps. If the formatting is an issue, contact me at rob.leichner@gmail.com for a Google drive link to the lesson plan.

Our team of experts is excited to share with you their favorite tips and tricks about how to access and use Census Bureau Data.

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These posters are reminders of the importance of history. There are 10 quotes from historical figures, including, George Orwell, Marcus Garvey, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Howard Zinn, Martin Luther King Jr., Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Cesar Chavez, and John F. Kennedy.

LabXchange is an online community for learning, sharing, and collaboration.

Labs are places of exploration and discovery for every field imaginable. In this spirit, you can discover, engage, and share what you learn on LabXchange. We curate and create world-class digital content, delivered on a free, online platform that lets you integrate your learning and research experiences. Here, you take control of your learning and solve real-world problems as a community. Participation will always be free.

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The unit is focused on the examination of geography in terms of “place.” Students dive into inquiry to answer the compelling question, What is unique about living in Washington? Through this question students will understand where and why people live in Washington State. Students will dive into the regions of Washington State and define it through many characteristics. Students will ultimately choose a region to become an expert on and communicate what makes that region unique. Each student’s performance task product will reflect choice and build upon student strengths according to their skill set.

This resource gives information about our solar system which is made up of the sun, planets and all the amazing objects that travel around it. Information about the plant sizes, distances in the solar system and the size and shape of orbits is also explained. The universe is filled with billions of star systems. And the star system we are most familiar with is our own.

A 2nd grade STEM unit on biodiversity. Students will learn about habitats and their biotic and abiotic components and needs to create and implement a plan/device to increase the biodiversity of the urban school garden.

Integrated, NGSS-designed, project-based curriculum for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.

Funded by S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and SilverGiving Foundation, this 6th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum aligns to the California Integrated model in which earth and space science, life science, physical science and/or engineering are integrated within each curriculum unit.

All the units:
are project-based
include Instructionally embedded assessments align to the 5E instructional model (i.e., engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate)
are phenomena-based
provide students with opportunities to generate their own questions to motivate sense-making and/or problem solving
incorporate language development strategies
provide an additional pop-out lesson that allows students to apply what they've learned to delve deeper into the intersection of social justice, science, and the "greater good" (see "Pop-Outs" tabs)

In addition to our four instructional units, there is a unit devoted to groupwork to help teachers establish classroom norms and expectations around effective collaborative work.

Investigate the effect of gravity on objects of various mass during free fall. Predict what the position-time and velocity-time graphs will look like. Compare graphs for light and heavy objects. Was Galileo Right is the last of five SmartGraphs activities designed for a typical physical science unit of study on the motion of objects.

G1.1.1 - Use maps at global and regional scales
G1.1.2 - Add information to a map of the world or world region
G1.2.3 - Interpret graphs about population
G1.2.6 - Interpret a map about population distribution and generalize about factors
influencing distribution
G1.3.1 - Use themes of geography (e.g., region) to describe places
G1.3.2 - Use maps of physical features to generalize about reasons for population
distribution
G2.2.2 - Explain positive or negative effects of changes in technology
G2.2.4 - Create and interpret population pyramids; discuss birth and death rate, growth
rate, age structure
G4.3.2 - Describe patterns of settlement