SC.5.P.10.1

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

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

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

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

This lesson contains three student experiments: How Light Travels, Comparing Light Sources, and Reflective Surfaces.

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

Investigate and describe some basic forms of energy, including light, heat, sound, electrical, chemical, and mechanical, at the amusement park in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how heat is a form of energy. You will also look at other examples of energy as they are found during a camping trip.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This video about energy storage has a lot of potential to help you learn about solar power and batteries.

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

Calorie-dense foods can power the human body across the ocean? Feel the burn.

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

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

A project challenge that uses an engineering approach to build a solar water heater out of common materials.

Type: Teaching Idea

In this activity, students investigate how sound travels through air, solids, and water, students will be able to explain why sound is an effective means of communication and navigation for whales.

Type: Teaching Idea

The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun.

Type: Text Resource

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