SC.5.P.10.2

Students will be working in teams of four to measure the rebound heights of a tennis ball dropped from four different heights. Students will be investigating with the bouncing balls to measure changes in the type of energy they possess.

Type: Formative Assessment

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. 

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore the connection between energy and motion and help Thomas the turtle win the race by using your knowledge of energy and work in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

When your classroom is the open ocean, which is the longest period? The one from the tsunami.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

This website provides information and resources for teachers seeking to make learning about energy fun and exciting for students. Renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy are well organized and supplemented with diagrams, maps, and graphs. Other sections include fun facts about energy, games & activities, history, and classroom activities. This resource was developed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Type: Resource Collection

Students will learn about light energy including light waves with which the students will study shadows they make. They will also learn to relate certain forms of energy to real life scenarios by using illustrations. The students will learn how static electricity works and will even create some of their own in an experiment. They will also realize how light and heat energy are often involved in the same situations.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence