After reading, What if You Had Animal Ears? by Sandra Markle, students will plan, design, and create bat-like ears from various materials for a STEM challenge. Students will test their models and redesign them to improve the effectiveness of their models to increase their own ability to hear by mimicking the external parts of a bat's ear. The students will measure and collect data from tests and compare results between the design and the redesign. This lesson can be completed in two 45 minute sessions or one 90 minute session.
This lesson plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.
Students will be exposed to three different scenarios. The scenarios will require that students hypothesize two solutions, test their hypotheses, document the results, and document the property that proved the effectiveness of the material chosen. An example of a scenario would be, “When provided toilet paper, tissue paper and paper towels, which material would be most effective in cleaning spilled water, and what property makes it so effective?” Students will then present the data collected in a Google Slides presentation. The lesson's total duration is about six days.
This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.
The purpose of the lesson is to identify suitable porous materials for the sidewalk. The students should test and evaluate the material that best reduces erosion caused during excessive rainfall.
This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
In this lesson, students will develop an understanding that objects and materials have characteristics or properties. Students will be able to recognize similarities between the properties of certain objects and materials and will be able to group the objects based on these similarities.
Students are introduced to the idea that objects and materials have certain “properties” or “characteristics” that can be used to describe them. After working with a simulation to help students understand the meaning of properties and characteristics, students are given a variety of small common objects to sort based on observable properties. Working in groups, students sort objects and record their groupings on an activity sheet. Students are then guided to come up with different criteria for one more set of groupings. Students participate in a class discussion of the different properties used to make the groupings.
In this lesson, students will develop an understanding that objects and materials can be tested to learn about their properties. Students will help plan and conduct different tests on the materials. Students will be able to explain that when testing materials to learn about their properties, all the materials need to be tested in the same way.
Students test a piece of aluminum foil, plastic from a zip-closing plastic bag, and copier paper to learn about some of their properties. Students conduct tests on the materials and then help design a strength test. The point is stressed that for a good, fair test each material needs to be tested in the same way. A simulation is shown that emphasizes the point that the different properties of materials are good for different uses.
Students will plan and conduct an absorbency test on four different materials and be able to explain that when testing materials to learn about their properties, the materials need to be tested in the same way. Students will be able to explain that since the materials are made from different substances, they absorb different amounts of water.
Students will use what they know about the properties of paper, plastic, and aluminum foil to decide how the materials can be used for a specific purpose.
The teacher will demonstrate making a paper boat to guide students, who work in pairs, to make their own paper boat. The boat will be placed in water to demonstrate how many pennies the boat can hold before sinking. Students are then guided to think of ways to improve the boat by covering it with waterproof material. Students make the same paper boat and cover it with plastic and aluminum foil. Students test the boat to see if it holds more pennies than the original paper boat.
In these Hero Elementary activities, children explore the variety of materials that make up the world around them. Through investigating and describing the properties of materials in their everyday world, children’s ideas about the way materials are and the ways that materials respond to tests give them insight into the complex idea of matter.
In these Hero Elementary activities, children learn about materials that make up the world around them. They investigate and describe the properties of materials in their world. They find out which materials have properties that will make them work well for a specific purpose.
In these Hero Elementary activities, children learn about different materials that make up the world around them. They observe and describe the properties of the materials. They compare how materials are alike and different. They sort materials into groups based on their properties. What children learn about the properties of solids and liquids can help them make sense of their world.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to introduce students to the physical properties of different materials, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. This learning activity will provide important background information before students collecting and evaluating their own data regarding physical properties of matter.
