The true tale of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, an orchestra made up of children playing instruments built from recycled trash. The resources 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: Students will create their own musical instruments with recyclable materials.

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

Tony Sarg was a puppeteer and marionette master who invented the first, larger than life, helium balloons for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 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 Challenges include: (1) Dash/Sphero: Develop a Macy’s Day Parade route using tape on the ground with a partner. Then, switch routes with another group and program the robot of your choice to navigate the parade route using code. (2) Ozobot: Develop a synchronized dance routine for both Ozobots for the stage of the Macy’s day parade using https://ozoblockly.com/editor (3) Create a moveable puppet that will be featured in the Macy’s Day Parade.

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

Ralph Baer’s family fled Nazi Germany for the US when he was a child. Using wartime technology, Baer thought outside the box and transformed the television into a vehicle for gaming. His invention was the birth of the first home console, the Odyssey, a precursor to the Atari gaming system. 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 Challenges: (1) Think outside the box. What’s something you use everyday, but not for its “intended” purpose? Examples: A broom to clean the snow off your car windshield, a trash bag as a sled. Now, think of a problem you might have at school, home, et al. Invent an item that would solve this problem. (2) Let’s think outside the box! Design the latest and greatest technology for kids to hit the market! Make it the *most* fun anyone has ever had. You may NOT use anything on the market - any technology currently on the market is off limits. Use your imagination, do not put limitations on it, and be as creative as you can. (3) Use household items to create a prototype of your new invention.

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

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 is the story of how Les Paul created the world's first solid-body electric guitar, countless other inventions that changed modern music, and one truly epic career in rock and roll. How to make a microphone? A broomstick, a cinderblock, a telephone, a radio. How to make an electric guitar? A record player's arm, a speaker, some tape. How to make a legendary inventor? A few tools, a lot of curiosity, and an endless faith in what is possible, this unforgettable biography will resonate with inventive readers young and old.

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.

This lesson is an extension of Mystery Science Force Olympics Mystery 3. In this extension, students will create a wrecking ball using the Lego WeDo 2.0 kit and program it to knock down a wall. Students will experiment with different variables (like speed, distance and string length) to answer the question: "How can you knock down a wall?" (credit Mystery Science Mystery 3 guiding question). This activity should be done over multiple days (viewing mystery, building the robot and programing and experimenting). Building instructions for the wrecking ball arm are attached as picture steps.

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.

With encouragement and ideas from his family, Papa, based on the real-life inventor Lodner Phillips, builds a working submarine that takes his family on a ride to the bottom of Lake Michigan. 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: Students will use materials on hand to design a solution to a problem they see in their school or at home. The invention should meet the needs of fellow students, teachers, bus drivers, principals, siblings, friends, or even parents.

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

Throughout this module, students study the anchor phenomenon—tugboats moving cargo ships—and build an answer to the Essential Question: How do tugboats move cargo ships through a harbor? As students focus on two concepts, they build a model that represents the movement of tugboats and cargo ships through New York Harbor. Students develop an understanding of what makes objects start to move, how pushes and pulls can change the way objects move, and what happens when two objects bump into each other. By the end of the module, students use their knowledge of pushes and pulls to explain the anchor phenomenon, and they apply learned concepts to a new context in an End-of-Module Assessment. As a result of these experiences, students begin to develop an enduring understanding that pushes and pulls can start, stop, and redirect an object’s movement.

With PhD Science®, students explore science concepts through authentic phenomena and events—not fabricated versions—so students build concrete knowledge and solve real-world problems. Students drive the learning by asking questions, gathering evidence, developing models, and constructing explanations to demonstrate the new knowledge they’ve acquired. The coherent design of the curriculum across lessons, modules, and grade levels helps students use the concepts they’ve learned to build a deep understanding of science and set a firm foundation they’ll build on for years to come.

Cross-curricular connections are a core component within PhD Science. As an example, every module incorporates authentic texts and fine art to build knowledge and create additional accessible entry points to the topic of study.

Three-dimensional teaching and learning are at the heart of the curriculum. As students uncover Disciplinary Core Ideas by engaging in Science and Engineering Practices and applying the lens of Cross-Cutting Concepts, they move from reading about science to doing science.

© 2020–2022 Great Minds PBC. Except where otherwise noted, this content is published under Great Minds OER License 1 (greatminds.org/gm_oer_1). Use limited to noncommercial educational purposes. COMMERCIAL REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED.

This is a supplement to the activity outlined in Lesson 4 of Mystery Science's Force Olympics. In this activity, students will be bowling with a sphero ball to see how speed impacts force. This activity can be done over multiple days or could be done all in the same day. It could also be used as a supplement to the bumper bowling activity or a replacement activity.

The SOLID Start project (Science, Oral Language, and Literacy Development from the Start of School) develops professional development opportunities for K-2 teachers that integrates science and literacy. The project also develops standards-based, integrated science and disciplinary language and literacy curriculum materials designed for K-2 children.
***MUST CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT TO USE MATERIALS.***

New York City in the 1860s was a mess: crowded, disgusting, filled with garbage. You see, way back in 1860, there were no subways, just cobblestone streets. That is, until Alfred Ely Beach had the idea for a fan-powered train that would travel underground. On February 26, 1870, after fifty-eight days of drilling and painting and plastering, Beach unveiled his masterpiece—and throngs of visitors took turns swooshing down the track. 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 way most people in your community travel. Invent a new way of traveling around your community that takes into account the following: helpful to the community, economical to those who use it, convenient for users. What would your new travel system look like? Sketch a new design, and then create a physical prototype of the new design to scale. Keep in mind: Where the system travels, how it is powered, why it is helpful to the community, and any features that make it special.

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

In order to show the world that the completed Brooklyn Bridge was strong enough, P.T. Barnum and his twenty-one elephants parade across to prove to everyone that the bridge is safe. 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: Build a bridge between two tables or chairs that will hold one elephant per student in the class. Each student designs their own “elephant” using materials in the classroom.

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

Area: Force and Motion

This Kindergarten unit is the SECOND in the curriculum of three (3) units developed to address the Kindergarten science standards of the Michigan Science Standards related to Force and Motion.

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A force must act upon an object in order for motion to occur. The movement of objects is determined by a push or a pull. Pushing moves something in the direction of the push. When more force is applied to a stationary object, more movement will be observed. When less force is applied to the same object, less movement will be observed. The harder the push on a stationary object, the further the item goes. Pulling something has a similar action. The harder you pull on a stationary object, the faster something moves along.  Anything with mass slows down because of that weight. This is inertia. The larger something's mass is, the more inertia it has and the more force you need to make it move. (A beach ball might be larger than a bowling ball but the bowling ball has more mass.)

Students will explore what they know about position, by asking and answering questions about their own position in relation to other people and objects.  Students observe how things move around the school €“ how they move, and how fast they move.  Students will consider their daily activities and the motions that accompany them.  Students begin to describe motion by collaborating with peers to conduct investigations that explore moving objects and acting out different motions.  Students understand that they, too, are in motion and exert forces.  Students analyze and interpret information while observing objects in motion, classify them by speed, and recognize that speed can change, in order to answer the question, how fast does it go? Their knowledge of speed expands as they plan and conduct investigations with several objects moving at different speeds. They begin thinking about the concept of speed changing, such as slowing down and speeding up.  Students use ramps and objects such as toy cars, marbles, etc. to understand that objects move at different speeds and change speed, while exploring cause and effect.  Students are introduced to the concept of force as a push or pull.  They work cooperatively to make a variety of objects move and begin to recognize that it takes a push or a pull to make an object move.  Students will classify forces they use every day as pushes or pulls.  Students then begin modeling cause and effect by showing how changing the force exerted on an object can change its speed.  Students plan and conduct investigations using ramps resting on stacks of one, two, and three books.  They predict and measure the effects of changing the height of the book stacks.  They also push the cars with their hands on a flat surface to achieve different speeds.  Once they understand the cause and effect of force on speed, students work collaboratively to explore how they can use forces to change the speed of and stop moving objects.  Students expand on the concept that forces have strength and direction.

Lonnie Johnson tried to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, but instead created the mechanics for one of the top twenty toys of all time, the Super Soaker. From childhood to adulthood, Lonnie had a love for rockets, robots, inventions, and a mind for creativity. He was driven toward innovation through his persistence and passion for problem solving, tinkering, and building. These traits served him well as we went on to work for NASA as an engineer. 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: Students will use materials on hand to invent and design a new toy or game.

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

Emma Lilian Todd was a self-taught engineer who tackled one of the greatest challenges of the early 1900s: designing an airplane. As an adult, typing up patents at the U.S. Patent Office, Lilian built inventions in her mind, including many designs for flying machines. However, they all seemed too impractical. Lilian knew she could design one that worked. She took inspiration from both nature and her many failures, driving herself to perfect the design that would eventually successfully fly. 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 new mode of transportation (air, sea, or ground) or select a current mode of transportation and improve it then use household items to create a prototype of your new or updated invention.

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