Students will participate in a discussion of the Moon´s habitability. The students will create a plan for the design and creation of a self-sustaining ecosystem within a lunar station.
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.
Humans heavily rely on a wide variety of living and non-living things. This 7th grade life science education module is designed to provide a unique approach to learning what is actually considered dead or alive, and how we interact differently with living and non-living things. This lesson plan is designed with the “student in mind”, and our goal is to reach all the various learning styles. It will meet the students where they are and assist them in understanding a new scientific concept. Alexandria Bufford-Tuskegee University, helped with the experiment write-up and testing. Gerald Griffin-Hope College, and De'Shayla Chappell, Adrinece Beard, Angela Player-Tuskegee University produced the "bacteria vs viruses" powerpoint.
Students brainstorm what they know and need to learn about endangered species, in order to best answer the driving question for the unit. Students then engage with a variety of sources about the Sumatran rhino to learn about conservation concepts, including causes of extinction, food webs, and ecosystem services. This lesson is part of the Extinction Stinks! unit.
Students receive their target species and perform background research. Students learn about working with local populations to protect endangered species and read several conservation success stories. Students engage with two conservation storytellers and apply the power of storytelling to their target species. They then compare two grant proposals to prepare for writing their own proposals. This lesson is part of the Extinction Stinks! unit.
Students explore drivers of extinction across Earth’s major biomes, including human-to environment interactions that threaten biodiversity and seek solutions to mitigate habitat loss and prevent extinction. As a result, they develop research-based action steps critical to protecting a certain species and incorporate key findings into their culminating conservation pamphlets. This lesson is part of the Engaging in the Fight Against Extinction unit.
Students learn how human activity has impacted animal migration. They begin by watching a video of elk migration through Yellowstone National Park to understand what animal migration is, why elk migrate, how far they travel, and why humans should care. They then imagine themselves back in time and think about how they would adapt the land to better meet the evolving needs of their developing community. Finally, students learn more about specific ways people have altered the environment, explore one geographic area in the United States, and map the human activity in that region. This lesson is part of the Interrupted Migrations unit.
Students engage with a variety of resources to learn about ecosystems and the interactions among organisms in ecosystems, with a focus on elk migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Groups create a second map layer for their unit project that shows how their focal animal’s migration impacts its ecosystem. This lesson is part of the Detours and Distractions: How Humans Impact Migration Patterns unit.
Students will engage with photographs, videos, handouts, and animations to learn why and how animals migrate, methods used to track and map migrations, and how humans are impacting animal migration. Students use a variety of resources to research a focal animal in order to create a map layer showing its migration pattern, which is part of their unit project. This lesson is part of the Detours and Distractions: How Humans Impact Migration Patterns unit.
