Watch your Step!

In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to measure their carbon footprint and the impact we have on our planet. This measurement is calculated based on statistics and data collected from many different countries. The students will be able to calculate the carrying capacity of Earth as well as the number of Earths they will need to continue to live this way. 

This will hopefully open the students' eyes on the harmful impacts we as humans put on the Earth and how long we have left to live like this before resources become too scarce to support Earth's growing population. 
Students will then answer follow up questions as well as a personal quiz to determine their own carbon footprint based upon their findings. This activity will urge students to come up with ideas to help reduce this impact and transition to more sustainable methods of living. 
The quiz can be found at www.footprintnetwork.org. Click on the Tools & Resources link and select “Footprint Calculator.” 

MS-ESS3-4: Human Consumption of Natural Resources
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact earth's systems. (Cause and Effect)

Resource: https://ngss.nsta.org/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=752

Reflection: I feel that this is a great way to get kids thinking about the impacts their family makes on the Earth as well as the fact that we as humans have limited resources and we need to do our best to conserve what we have and think of new and sustainable methods to living. This activity allows for a lot of use of technology within the class allowing students to exercise their skills when it comes to using their Chromebooks. I feel that my students love to take quizzes that pertain to themselves and this is an easy way to get kids engaged in an aspect of science that is extremely important and relevant to all of them!

Oreo Phases of the Moon!

Students will be creating 3D models of the moon's lunar phases to be able to connect the names of the moon phases to its shape. This will help students remember the order of the phases as well as what they look like in more a hands-on way. 
Having each student model and describe every phase can help clarify any confusion they had from just hearing or reading about the phases prior.
This can be done in your classroom depending on the rules for food in the school

MS-ESS1-1: Earth-Sun-Moon System: Develop and use a model of the earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

OREO PHASES OF THE MOON ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY —
1. Invite the students to describe what the Moon looks like, and how it changes
shapes.
2. Explain to the students that they will be using Oreo cookies to draw the phases
and to put them into order. Demonstrate how to twist and open a cookie so that the
frosting is all on one side.

• Which side looks like the Full Moon? Which side looks like the New Moon?

3. Pass out 6 cookies, a paper towel, a plastic spoon, and a copy of the
student handout to each student. Each cookie should be able to make two Moon
phases, but some will break, and some of the frosting will go “missing.”

4. Invite the students to twist their cookies open and scrape the Oreo® cookies to
illustrate Moon phases, and ask them to arrange cookies on the poster in order.

5. Check on the students’ progress and invite them to clean up by eating their work! 

Resource: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/workshops/phasesSeasons/OreoPhases.pdf

Reflection: This activity is one that I always remembered doing as a kid and looked forward to conducting as a teacher. There is nothing better than getting sweets from your teacher, and this is an easy way for students to solidify the knowledge they know and the knowledge that they don't. This activity creates a class period of minimal pressure and a chance for students to work with their hands and apply the facts they have learned. The moon phases are obvious to represent, therefore it will be apparent when a student may have the order mixed up. This activity creates a more student-run class so you can encourage the kids to check their own work and work together to create the correct order of lunar phases. Having the kids work on mini-projects like this during class time also creates an opportunity for me to circulate the class and monitor their progress in an informal way. Also, allowing the students to eat their moon phases helps with clean-up!

Geologic Time Scale Scavenger Hunt

The geologic time scale is a scale used around the world by geologists, paleontologists, and other Earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships of events that have occurred during Earth's history relating geologic strata (types of rocks) with time. 

This lesson is designed to get students to use this time scale as intended and show them the value it has when trying to pinpoint dates with specific areas on the Earth's surface. 

MS.ESS1.4: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history. (Scale, Proportion, and Quantity)

The Geologic Time Scale Scavenger Hunt!

Students will be putting on their detective hats and sent on a quest for information. They will be given a geologic time scale and be asked to complete an analysis using the scale as their only source of information. All of the questions are answerable, but some may require more thinking than others. 

Analysis

1. For how long has there been life on Earth? _____________________________________________

2. For what percentage of time has life existed on Earth (round to the nearest whole number).

_______________________________________________________________________________

3. For about how many years of geological time have humans existed on Earth?

_______________________________________________________________________________

4. For about how many years of geological time have the dinosaurs existed on Earth?

_______________________________________________________________________________

5. Did dinosaurs exist at the same time as humans? _______________________________________

6. How do scientists determine when an era begins and when it ends?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

7. What is the purpose of making a geological timeline?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

This activity makes a normally boring worksheet into a hunt for clues to find the answers to their analysis questions. Assessments like these are casual and get the students engaged, it will be easy for all of them to earn good participation points and emphasize how much these timescales can help scientists uncover the history of Earth. 

Evidence of Plate Tectonics and Earth's History

Plate Tectonics was always my favorite topic within Earth Science and my Geology studies. 

For this topic, I want to create a differentiated lesson plan that allows me to target all types of learners in my classroom (kinesthetic, auditory, visual, etc). 

MS.ESS2.3: Evidence of Plate Tectonics

Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions. (Patterns)

Resources: thewonderofscience.com 

What causes the surface of the Earth to change?
How does what we see today tell us about the Earth's past?
How can we predict and understand changes to the surface of the Earth?

Students will be discussing these essential questions with small groups during the beginning of the class period.

After some time, as a class, we will come together with our discussions, share our ideas, and eventually come to a consensus that Earth's crust is made of plates that have shifted over millions of years. 

As scientists, we need evidence to prove this theory.

Around the classroom, there will be 4 different stations containing different pieces of evidence to support the Plate Tectonics theory. Groups of students will visit each station, be asked to describe the piece of evidence, and give a reason as to why it supports our theory.

The evidence presented at each station will be:

#1: a puzzle of Pangea, students will be asked to assemble the puzzle in a way that allows all of the continents to fit together. 

#2: a map of the locations where the plant Glossopteris plant is present as well as a description ( a plant that is located in Australia, Antarctica, India, South Africa, and South America, but the seed of the plant is large and bulky which would prevent it from being swept up with the wind and spread to all of these countries) 

#3: A map of the major volcanoes around the world (ring of fire)

#4: A map of a freshwater fossil found within different continents

This lesson may end up taking a day or two, depending on the pace of the students themselves. I would not want to rush each station because I want them to have time to make their own hypotheses and work together to determine what they think is the link this evidence has to the Theory of Plate Tectonics.

Human Impact on the Environment

While studying ecology, students will become familiar with different types of ecosystems such as tundra, grassland, desert, savannah, etc. Students will be asked to create a food web of 5 organisms within one ecosystem of their choosing.

Within each food web, students must have a consumer, producer, and decomposer. 

Revisit the terms abiotic, biotic, and limiting factor 

These terms describe the kinds of things that influence change within ecosystems. These changes may be for the better or for the worse. 

Once the food webs are created, a question is posed:

How would the addition of humans to these areas affect how the energy flows through the ecosystem?

Students will create a T-chart of positive and negative ways that the addition of humans will affect their chosen ecosystem. 

Results will be shared and discussed as a class

Try to create parallels between the factors affecting their chosen ecosystems with our ecosystem

For homework, students will be asked to think about our ecosystem and the effect humans have on it. What are the ways we can ease these impacts? 

MS.LS2.4: Ecosystem Interactions and Dynamics

Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. (Stability and Change)

MS.LS2.2: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

I really like this activity because it gives the students some time to revisit what kinds of animals are in what ecosystems, allows them to have a choice of what kind of environment they want to focus on, allows them to gather pertinent information on their own and leaves time for us to reconnect as a group and make connections to our own ecosystem. Students nowadays are highly aware of human impact on the environment resulting in high engagement throughout the period, allowing us to get a lot of work done. 

Touring the Water Cycle

You are now a water-molecule-journalist advertising for a trip around The Water Cycle!

Create a brochure explaining each aspect of a water molecules trip from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back.

Students will work together in pairs to construct a brochure.

The brochure must include exclusives about:
Evaporation
Transpiration
Condensation
Precipitation
Infiltration
Runoff



MS-ESS2-4: Cycling of Water Through Earth's Systems



Reflection: I really enjoyed this activity, and many students were engaged and excited to get started with their mini project. It gave the students a platform to combine creativity with fact and reestablish the basic ideas of the water cycle in a more interesting way. The downside of a project like this is the amount of time it takes in class. I gave the students the majority of the period to complete this assignment and they insisted on taking it home to complete. I am working towards my goal of trying to combine creativity with new scientific knowledge in a timely manner to keep my students engaged while targeting all types of learners in my classroom.