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Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Weather: How Does Temperature Affect Air?: | In this lesson students will perform experiments and collect data to gather empirical evidence about how air molecules behave when heated and cooled. This is the 4th lesson in the 5th grade unit and uses sensors and computer science skills to learn about weather. |
| Electric Energy & Temperature: | This lesson introduces how electrical devices transform electrical energy to thermal energy to alter the temperature of a substance resulting in the freezing, melting, or boiling of the substance. Each electrical device produces thermal energy as a byproduct that is conducted from a source like an electrical socket or battery; this lesson discusses how that energy is transferred while also comparing and contrasting the states of matter of different substances.
This is lesson 1 in a Unit on Detecting Thermal & Electrical Energy. |
| Weather: How Does Air Warm Up?: | This experiment will model how sunlight striking the Earth’s surface warms the air around us. Students will investigate how surfaces of differing reflectivity determine how much sunlight is absorbed and converted to heat which in turn serves to warm the adjacent air.
This is lesson 3 in the fifth grade unit on weather. The lesson uses weather sensors and connects computer science concepts within the lesson. |
| Electricity--Energy Lighting the Way!: | Students will investigate and illustrate complete circuits using a battery, wires, light bulb and various conductors and insulators. They will understand that electricity is a form of energy that can be converted into other forms of energy such as heat and light. |
| Marbelous Pool Noodle Ramps: | In this lesson, students will build a ramp out of a pool noodle and use it to launch a marble across the room. Students will investigate by adjusting the height and slope of the ramp and record their findings on a data sheet. Students will practice collecting and analyzing data and will investigate the importance of performing repeated experimental trials. Students will practice converting metric units of distance as well as the addition and division of decimals to find the mean of a small data set. |
| SPS2064 Inc. Energy of the Future: | This Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) is written at a 5th grade level. SPS2064 Inc. MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they must work as a team to design a procedure to select the best company that will send and build solar energy equipment in space. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Getting the Top Mini-Fridge not a Small Deal: | In this MEA, students will create a procedure to rank five mini-refrigerators to determine which one should be purchased for the school by the PTA based on size, type, features, energy usage, and cost. In the process, students will solve real-world problems involving the multiplication of multi-digit numbers with decimals to the hundredths, including using money. Students will also determine the volume of a rectangular prism using a formula. |
| Keeping Your Cool With Your Lunch Bag: | On this MEA activity, students will create a procedure to rank five lunch bags as to which one is the best in keeping food and drinks at a safe temperature and appealing to the taste, while keeping design and price on target.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Solar Cooking: | This is a 5th grade MEA designed to have students compare different types of solar cookers based on temperature, cook time, dimensions, weight, and customer reviews.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Inventions and Innovations MEA: | Inventive minds have persisted throughout history. Inventors have improved our lives with inventions created out of a desire to solve a problem or make the quality of peoples' lives better. Our president is concerned that we are not keeping up with other countries in the area of engineering and inventive thinking. Why is this? As students explore famous inventions from around the world throughout history, they will decide what the best inventions of all time are and support their opinion with strong reasons. |
| The Shocking Truth About Circuits - An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of electrical energy, circuits, insulators and conductors in standards SC.5.P.10.4, SC.5.P.11.1, SC.5.P.11.1, SC.5.P.11.2 by constructing circuits. It may also be used as introductory instruction of the content. |
| Soccer Team Uniform Decision: | Students will learn about energy from the sun and how it is transformed into heat energy. Students will use this information to decide on a manufacturing company to order team shirts from. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Transformation of Electrical Energy: | This lesson helps students learn that electrical energy can be transformed into: sound, heat, and light energy. In this lesson, students will participate in a hands-on lab to explore what forms of energy electrical energy will be transformed into. This lesson can be completed in one 60 minute science block. |
| All Sorts of Energy: | This lesson will explore six forms of energy including mechanical, heat, electrical, chemical, sound and nuclear. Through the 5E lesson plan model, students will become engaged in this hands-on lesson. This lesson will take place over 5 days, allowing students an introduction and summary as well as hands-on opportunities to explore the 6 forms of energy. |
| Sammy's Solar Fountains: | In this MEA students are presented with start-up business that needs to buy solar batteries for their business. Students will form engineering teams to review battery choices. Students will understand that solar energy is transferred into electrical energy. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Solar Energy QR Hunt: | This lesson allows students to read and internalize information about solar power from the article "Solar-Powered Plane" from Time For Kids (1080L Lexile Level). After reading the article independently, discussing and answering the questions in pairs, the students get to go for a hunt around the classroom with a smartphone or scanner capable device to find the answers that are in the forms of QR Codes! This lesson can be completed in one 50 minute science block. |
| Exploring Forms of Energy: | This lesson helps students explore and learn about different forms of energy: mechanical, chemical, electrical, sound, light and heat. This lesson works students through the Engage, Explore, and Explain sections of the 5E model. This lesson can be completed over one or two 50-minute science blocks depending on time you give students for each activity. During this lesson students will work in groups to sort pictures according to different forms of energy. After sorting the pictures, the teacher and students will come together to discuss and define the different forms of energy and where each picture should be sorted and why. |
| Pop Goes the Balloon, a Rube Goldberg Design Project: | The students will work in small groups in order to build a "Rube Goldberg" machine. A "Rube Goldberg" machine is modeled after a famous cartoonist who tried to make more difficult ways to accomplish simple tasks, such as popping a balloon. The students will build one machine, made from many simple machines working together, to perform their task. The machine is only permitted to be touched at the beginning and must work independently from that point on. |
| Sail Away - An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of forces from SC.5.P.13.1 and SC.5.P.13.2 as well as energy and its ability to cause motion from SC.5.P.10.1 and SC.5.P.10.2 by designing a boat and racing it. It may also be used as introductory instruction of the content. |
| Enlightening Explorations, Part I: | This lesson contains three student experiments: How Light Travels, Comparing Light Sources, and Reflective Surfaces. |
| Transformation of Energy: Constructing an Electromagnet: | In this hands-on lesson, students will work in groups to construct an electromagnet. This lesson focuses energy, forms of energy, and how energy is transformed in a circuit. This lesson also can be used to address variables in an experiment, conductors and insulators, data tables and graphs, and open and closed circuits. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
