In this lesson, students will learn about how volcanoes and mountains affect weather. Includes video links, discussion, demonstration, and an additional activity.

NGSS: K-ESS3-2

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: umbrella and sponge.

In this unit, students will learn about the 4Cs (communication, collaboration, creation, and critical thinking) through literature-based engineering challenges. Each lesson focuses on one "C" and one read-aloud. This unit is geared for grades 2-3 but could be adapted to any elementary grade level.

COMMUNICATION - Click Clack Moo

COLLABORATION - Iggy Peck Architect

CRITICAL THINKING - Rosie Revere Engineer

CREATION - Galimoto

In this unit, students will learn about the 4Cs (communication, collaboration, creation, and critical thinking) through literature-based engineering challenges. Each lesson focuses on one "C" and one read-aloud. This unit is geared for grades 2-3 but could be adapted to any elementary grade level.

COMMUNICATION - Click Clack Moo

COLLABORATION - Iggy Peck Architect

CRITICAL THINKING - Rosie Revere Engineer

CREATION - Galimoto

This teaching unit was created to provide any classroom teacher with all the tools necessary to help her students learn and apply engineering and design skills and computer science concepts in the context of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) style investigation.

Students learn in the context of a story line that winds throughout each of the five workshops in the unit. Each workshop introduces a new phase of their ongoing “Mission to Mars.” Every workshop begins with a video that provides students an overview of the problem or situation encountered by the Mars Explorers (represented in the online modules by two Lego™ mini-figures and called Max and Mia to match the WeDo software). The curriculum then walks the students through a series of online learning modules that help them learn about a piece of technology or a new concept they’ll need to build a model from Lego WeDo™ kits and how they can solve real life problems using engineering practices.

Chemical kinetics and buffers are two topics that are extremely difficult for students to understand. Combining the two topics will allow for a staggered, repetitive approach to teaching students to understand of how these two topics in chemistry actually work. Students will both qualitatively and quantitatively track the effect and enzyme has on a reaction, calculate the reaction rate and buffer capacity. Students will use a variety of lab techniques including calculations using Beer’s Law and spectrophotometry.

Chemical kinetics and buffers are two topics that are extremely difficult for students to understand. Combining the two topics will allow for a staggered, repetitive approach to teaching students to understand of how these two topics in chemistry actually work. Students will both qualitatively and quantitatively track the effect and enzyme has on a reaction, calculate the reaction rate and buffer capacity. Students will use a variety of lab techniques including calculations using Beer’s Law and spectrophotometry.

Let's Learn about Chirality is a video-based module that introduces the concept of chirality and stereoisomers to students. The module is an Open Educational Resources #OER containing short videos and fun quizzes* that you can take to test your understanding. In this module, you will learn to use different terms for stereoisomers and chiral molecules, recognize characteristics of stereoisomers, construct a model of 2-chlorobutane, identify the chiral carbons in chemical structures and assign absolute configurations to a molecule. The concluding video will briefly explain how chirality affects the chemistry of substances & pharmaceuticals. Click on View Resources and let's learn about Chirality.*For teachers, the Genial.ly quizzes are re-useable for your classes.*

In this lesson, students will learn about the life cycle of an apple tree and sequence the stages of development. Includes activity instructions, extension activities, songs, and student worksheet.

NGSS: K-ESS3-1, 1-LS1-1

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: "Apples Grow on Trees" or other book about apples, apple life cycle student worksheet, glue sticks.

Literacy is an important aspect of science. To be literate in science means students are able to understand, read, and write in terms of science. This lesson is designed to get students to think critically about real world application. The lesson incorporates technology and Bloom’s highest level of thinking, creativity. Students will learn about writing scientific names of organisms and classifying organisms, how organisms interact with each other and their environment, and the impact of natural disasters.

Literature Based STEM - Book List & Corresponding Activities:

Looking for grab-and-go elementary STEM lessons? Looking for a read-aloud to hook an existing STEM lesson? Trying to build a STEM library? Search the spreadsheet by titles, authors, big ideas, themes, and lessons. Whether you are a STEM specialist or a classroom teacher, these lessons will work for you.

Nanotechnology is the next major scientific breakthrough. The development of nanotechnology is extremely promising, but there are unknown risks associated with utilizing nanotechnology. Nanoparticles occur naturally in our environment. Pollen, viruses, and ash are examples of nanoparticles that affect our environment and our health. Scientists have studied the behavior of these nanoparticles in an effort to develop nanotechnology to solve issues associated with our environment and our health. In this project, students will explore innovative science, technology, engineering, math techniques and equipment that demonstrated the multiple uses and importance of nanotechnology.

Date of this Version
Spring 2019

Document Type
Portfolio

Citation
Kenworthy, Celeste and Aurora Kenworthy. "Living World Club." After school club lesson plans. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2019.

Comments
Copyright 2019 by Celeste Kenworthy under Creative Commons Non-Commercial License. Individuals and organizations may copy, reproduce, distribute, and perform this work and alter or remix this work for non-commercial purposes only.

Abstract
An afterschool club that focuses on building understanding and enjoyment of nature and the environment through interactive and collaborative activities.

This template supports STEM teachers and librarians in working collaboratively to create lessons that build science practice and STEM inquiry skills in alignment with state and national science standards, and that address the Common Core literacy shifts around close reading and building textual evidence.

Fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) are utilized to materialize concepts. They can improve cognitive and creative abilities when used in a design-learning situation. Numerous studies have attempted to comprehend the relationship between makerspaces and creativity in a variety of disciplines, with the capacity to generate innovative consequences in makerspaces dependent on creativity. However, a comprehensive study that provides a holistic perspective on the contributions of labs as inclusive places that stimulate creativity for people with disabilities is absent. In order to address this study gap, the paper that follows provides an overview of FabLabs, makerspaces, and creativity and introduce the first of its kind MadaFabLab, as the first inclusive fablab in the world designed and tailored for innovators with disabilities “MadaFabLab”. The studies revealed that fablabs contribute to the development of creative person, product, physical, and social surroundings, as well as creative process. In addition, the MadaFabLab, a novel inclusive idea, fosters problem-solving, collaborative, and communication skills, and offers appealing locations and tools for the development of creative solutions to real-world challenges and needs identified by people with disabilities. We identified and analyzed five important themes pertaining to technical skills, technological and environmental factors, STEM learning, and skill development, and focused on their significance for fostering creativity in an inclusive FabLab.

Maker Clubs introduce students to the making movement, the idea that hands on learning and creating things from scratch lays the foundation for future success, especially in STEM fields.

The Mars Education lesson plans section is here to serve as a resource for educators, grades K-12 to download and utilize in formal classroom settings.
For questions on the Mars Education Lessons please contact us.
All of the Mars Education Program lesson plans include elements of inquiry-based learning that are aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as problem-based learning and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5-E instructional model.
The STEM lessons included in this section of the website are the very lessons that we apply throughout our educator conferences and professional development training sessions.
To get a more thorough understanding and deeper knowledge of these lessons as an in classroom instructional tool, educators may want to consider attending an ASU Mars Education Conference.

Through hands-on, inquiry-based labs, seventh and eighth grade students will explore the behavior and effects of fluid in and around objects and organisms. Students will investigate and create fluid transport systems and gather data to calculate natural frequencies. Using scale models to gain a better understanding, they will use data to predict real-life effects on trees and other structures.

This module provides a TABLE as a reference for each SUPERLesson, and aligns each unit to the specific NGSS it covers.

Featured here are all of the NGSS videos that Achieve has created or worked with others to create. Included in this list are videos about: introducing the NGSS, the three dimensions of the NGSS, and support for instruction and instructional planning.

This was a revised OER Fact Sheet from OER Commons targeting GED STEM instruction.