ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: Science (3)
Title: Optimal Snow Sled Experience
Description: Students will determine the difference between balanced and unbalanced forces through an experiment. The experiment consists of a student-created scaled snow sled model going down a teacher-created ramp. Students will plan to change one variable, collect data, and chart the data graphically. Students will change a variable such as: number of students riding the snow sled, size of the child (children) riding the snow sled, direction, position on the hill the snow sled is released, position of children on the sled (sitting, standing, laying), friction caused by materials that makes up the sled, and air resistance caused by an object such as a parachute. Students will collect and chart data of each experiment graphically in order to determine the longest snow sled ride. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Subject: Science (3 - 5)
Title: Marble Coaster
Description: This lesson is adapted from a lesson entitled, "Marble Run", from the NASA Education Guide Amusement Park Physics with a NASA Twist. Students will explore the effects of force, speed, motion, and gravity in creating a roller coaster track for a marble. 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.