Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Remember the Axolotl: | Explore the axolotl, a Mexican salamander struggling to survive in a harsh environment filled with non-native species and abiotic factors that threaten its very existence! What does the future hold for these unique creatures? How are the limiting factors of their ecosystem actually limiting their chance for survival? |
| SYMBIOSIS - Episode 2: Aphids Are Weird! (Dr. Alex Wilson's Amazing Pea Aphids!): | Dr. Alex Wilson of the University of Miami is an evolutionary biologist whose research centers on symbiotic relationships. In this short animated film, she introduces the concept of symbiosis to the viewers. This is the second of four films created with funding from the National Science Foundation, from Day's Edge Productions on Vimeo. This lesson, which includes a pre-test, slide presentation, activity, and formative assessment, was developed to support the learning concepts provided by Dr. Wilson's films. |
| SYMBIOSIS - Episode 1: Symbiotic Super Powers (Dr. Alex Wilson's Amazing Pea Aphids!): | Dr. Alex Wilson of the University of Miami is an evolutionary biologist whose research centers on symbiotic relationships. In this short animated film, she introduces the concept of symbiosis to the viewers. from Day's Edge Productions on Vimeo is the first of four films created with funding from the National Science Foundation. This lesson, which includes a pre-test, slide presentation, activity, and formative assessment was developed to support the learning concepts provided by Dr. Wilson's films. |
| Solar Powered MEA: | Students will explore ways in which energy conservation affects the environment. 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. |
| To Divide into Two or Four: That is The Question of Meiosis and Mitosis: | Is it meiosis or mitosis? How does meiosis compare to mitosis? There is no life without cell division. Explore the differences and similarities between these processes to understand how they affect your life! |
| Unlocking the Mysteries of an Ecosystem: | In this lesson, students will explore an ecosystem and create a food web illustrating the relationship among producers, consumers and decomposers. They will also summarize these relationships in a paragraph. |
| Walking Whales!: | Whales had legs?! What?!!! Use this well researched and easily understood set of resources to explore the evidence for evolution in a way that is both non-threatening and engaging. Use a combination of article excerpts and videos, along with other activities, to show evidence for the clear progression of whales from land dwellers to sea masters.
This is best used, in totality, as the opener for your evolution unit. The resources provided may also support your current practices as well. |
| A Day in the Life as Oscar the Organelle: | In this lesson, students will create a story as if they are a cell organelle going through its day. In this activity, they will show how they interact with their own organelle family or other organelles in a cell. In this two day lesson, students will create a labeled model of a plant and animal cell and write a story. |
| Everything is NOT Okeedokee in Okeechobee!: | Students will gain background knowledge and develop a greater understanding of how human impact has affected local waterways. Students will work collaboratively to develop and defend an argument about how urbanization and different types of pollution have resulted in water flow changes from Lake Okeechobee. |
| Name That Sphere!: | In this lesson, students will work towards a better understanding of the Earth's systems (geosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere) and how they interact with each other. With the use of class discussions and a cooperative carousel activity, students will be able to then create and explain a diagram showing these interactions. |
| Is My Backpack Too Massive?: | This lesson combines many objectives for seventh grade students. Its goal is for students to create and carry out an investigation about student backpack mass. Students will develop a conclusion based on statistical and graphical analysis. |
| The Lewis and Clark Expedition: | In this lesson, students will analyze the challenges faced by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, and the effect the journey had on American history and Native American cultures. |
| The D'Fence Project: | This activity will help students with practicing critical thinking, calculating density, will reinforce Physical Properties of Matter and will lead them to understand the role of heat in the changes of the state of matter. 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. |
| Rocket Repair: | Students will select the best type of coating for rockets given a set of data which will include temperature, hardness, resistance to corrosion and drag. 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. |
| Out of this World Workout: Exercise in Space to Prevent Bone Loss: | Students will learn how exercise is helping astronauts decrease bone and muscle loss during extended stays in micro-gravity. They will be asked to design an exercise program that utilizes both aerobic and muscle-building workouts while using the 3 exercise machines currently in use on the International Space Station. Then, the students will learn that current research suggests that more intense, short bursts of exercise may be more effective at decreasing bone and muscle loss, and they will be asked to redesign their workout prescription accordingly. 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. |
| 3D Printing Pizza in Space!: | Students will learn how NASA's scientists are exploring the possibility of 3D printing food in space. The students will evaluate various sources of protein, taking into consideration the nutritional quality of each, along with the cost to produce them, and finally their impact on the environment.
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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx |
| Glider Challenge: | Students will select a glider model that will meet the needs of a Summer Space Camp program. 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. |
| Family Fishing Trip MEA: | Students will analyze a set of data to determine the best location for a family fishing trip based on annual and monthly weather patterns. Students will consider average number of rainy days, wind speed, average number of sunny days, and relative humidity for each location. 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. |
| On The Road: | Students will analyze data to create a route and itinerary, while following time frame guidelines. 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. |
| Snack Time: | Students will look at a data set to determine which vending machine should be placed in a school. Students have to determine profit and consider other provided data. 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. |
| Laura’s Babysitting Job: | In this 7th grade MEA Laura Banks requests a consulting firm, JJ Consulting, to help her make a decision on an employer. Students are to use the data table to calculate unit rates (nightly rate and hourly rate) and then rank her choices and write a recommendation with the procedure used to come up with the ranking. 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. |
| Johansson Family Travel Plans: | In this 7th grade MEA, students will form teams to rank the best vacation package for the Johansson family vacation. They will have to calculate the total cost of the vacation package making sure they don't go over budget. Teams will suggest what the family should do with any excess money. They will also suggest any deletion of activities if the package is over budget. Teams will make a presentation of the first choice recommendation. 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. |
| Spread the Sunshine MEA: | In this MEA, the sun is asking students to provide an advertisement explaining how the sun's energy is used to provide energy every second of every day. Students are asked to provide many examples of how solar energy is transformed into electrical, thermal, and other types of energy. Students are then asked to develop a presentation for the media outlet of their choosing. This MEA can be scaled down for differentiation, or used as is for a challenge to engage students in a rigorous fun activity. 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. |
| HOORAH!! Pizza For Lunch: | The principal of Central Middle School is thinking of adding pizza to the lunch menu on Mondays and Fridays but needs help deciding the costs per slice and what students think is important about the pizza. After the students' initial decision about the pizza the principal remembers that there is a delivery charge.The students must revisit their decision and do additional calculations to see if their original process still works. 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. |
| Town Mosquito Eradication MEA: | Students will analyze a set of data to determine the best eradication technique for a town experiencing a mosquito infestation. Students will need to consider cost, impact on the environment, and effectiveness of the methods presented to them. 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. |
| Great Leaders of Ancient Egypt: | In this lesson, students will learn about seven of Egypt's most famous pharaohs. They will discuss leadership styles and draw conclusions about the success of each of these pharaohs. After learning about the personality and life of each pharaoh, students will break into groups to create in-depth projects about one of these seven pharaohs and will teach others in the class about this leader. |
| Close Reading Exemplar: Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution: | The goal of this one to two day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to observe the dynamic nature of the Constitution through the practice of close reading and writing habits. By reading and re-reading the passage closely, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will explore the questions Monk raises and perhaps even pursue additional avenues of inquiry. When combined with writing about the passage, not only will students form a deeper appreciation of Monk’s argument and the value of struggling with complex text, but of the Preamble of the Constitution itself. |
| The Body's Defense System: | The lesson consists of a series of mini-lessons presented through a PowerPoint presentation with embedded videos, formative assessments, a simulation activity and a writing assignment that can be used as a summative assessment. The components of the lesson include the body's external and internal defenses, information on the white blood cells role in defending the body and in creating immunity, vaccinations and how they work to help produce memory cells and challenges to our immune system. |
| Family Restaurant: | This MEA requires students to formulate a comparison-based solution to a problem involving finding the best choice on purchasing cooking ingredients for a family who runs a restaurant considering different aspects. Students are provided the context of the problem, a request letter from a client asking them to provide a recommendation, and data relevant to the situation. Students utilize the data to create a defensible model solution to present to the client. 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. |
| Investigate Cell Theory: | This lesson allows students to investigate the Cell Theory. |
| Shake It Up: | After creating a series of simulated earthquakes with various magnitudes in a virtual manipulative online, the students will investigate liquefaction by shaking fishing weights on top of three types of soil. Upon completion of journal notes on earthquakes, students will write an essay explaining the cause of earthquakes, the ways energy from earthquakes moves, and the effects of earthquakes on the Earth's surface. |
| Our Magical World Vacation: | Students are asked to create a map for a family about to go on a family trip to Magical World Park. All of the family members have wants that they would like the itinerary to have in order to ensure that the family has a great time at the park. Students are asked to look at a map to decide what parts of the park to go to first that allow the family to have everything they desire for their family trip. As a vacation planner working for our company, the students will be asked to create an itinerary for the family. The students will then receive an approval from the family, but now have decided to have the entire family meet up for the annual family reunion. Will the itinerary still work or will the student need to tweak some of their previous thinking? 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. |
| CAReers are not JUST about Automobiles!: | In this lesson, students will research the careers of famous scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking and many others. They will present an oral report and a visual aid to the class. Class activities include a bell ringer, 2 short videos, a PowerPoint presentation, class discussions, computer research and time to construct a visual aid. This lesson will take several days depending on the needs of your students. (1-2 days should be reserved in the computer lab for the research portion of the lesson.) |
| Determining the density of regular and irregular objects: | This MEA provides students with opportunities to practice solving one-step equations while learning about density. Students will calculate density of regular and irregular objects.
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. |
| Importing Machine Parts: | This MEA requires students to formulate a comparison-based solution to a problem involving choosing the best shipping options for importing machine parts from India to US. Students are provided the context of the problem, a request letter from a client asking them to provide a recommendation, and data relevant to the situation. Students utilize the data to create a defensible model solution to present to the client. 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. |
| All Around Fences: | Students use problem solving skills to determine how much fencing is needed and the type of fencing in order to secure a pool and recreational area. 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. |
| Planning the perfect wedding: | Students will decide what is the best month to celebrate an outdoor wedding. The couple is looking for the perfect wedding day. What is the definition of a perfect day? It has to be a Saturday or Sunday with a 20% or less probability of rain and sunny but not too hot. Based on the information provided , students will find the month in which the probability of having a rainy day and the probability of having a super hot day (temperature higher than 75º F) are minimal.
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. |
| Magical Science Lesson: | Students will choose a "cool" scientific experiment ("trick") from informational text, follow a precise multi-step procedure to carry out the experiment, research the scientific explanation for the result and using accurate reasoning explain the science to a broadcast audience. Students will be creating a short video clip with the theme "Is it Magic or is it Science?" to air on the school CCTV. They will dress up like magicians and scientists and perform a science experiment for the audience. After the experiment the debate will begin and ultimately the magician will give in and admit that it was science, not magic. Students will research, perform, write, edit, record, create video clips with music and text. |
| Lord of Fries Conservation MEA: | This is an 8th grade MEA. This MEA will ask students to investigate different types of hamburger patties and choose the one that is best for the restaurant. Some of the areas that students will examine is how the hamburger patties undergo a chemical change, but mass is not lost only changed into different substances. They will also investigate how the hamburger patties are chemically changed due to a change in temperature. Students will also be exposed to how the Law of Conservation of Mass is used in our daily lives. For example, cooking a hamburger patty, the mass is not lost but sometimes the juices are separated from the meat. Also, in French fries, matter is not created but cooking oil is absorbed by the fries. 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. |
| Mystery Powder Investigation: | Students will use their skills as scientists to identify a mystery white powder. This lesson is a hands-on, engaging way to build students' understanding of physical and chemical properties of several common compounds. |
| Tablet of Knowledge MEA: | This MEA will give students the opportunity to analyze and organize data about tablet devices that their school is looking to purchase for daily use in the classroom.
In this MEA, students compare different tablet devices. They will be given empirical evidence and must organize this data to allow for interpreting key factors to determine which device is best suited for the client. Basically, students are given data and must use this information to make a recommendation to the principal about which tablet or device should be purchased with the school's funds. They will have to provide evidence to support their recommendation. This MEA is designed to help students with data that is collected from an investigation or a lab. In the past, students were able to generate data, but in this MEA they are given the data and asked to make it relevant. 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. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
