Education Commons^™

5th Grade Adaptation, Michael Carroll

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

A 10 day lesson plan for teaching students in the 5th grade about Biology; specifically on adaptation, inherited traits, and learned behaviors.

The Chemistry Of Making Soap: Chemical And Physical Changes In 6th Grade Science, Samantha Bos

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed primarily for 6th grade students, but it can be paired to work with 10th grade curriculum as well. In the unit, students will be introduced to elements and compounds before moving into identifying chemical changes. As part of the final lab, students will create soap.

Please note that this unit has multiple hands-on activities that require many household products or items to be brought and used in classroom experiments. This unit also uses Stemscopes, a purchased curriculum. When possible free alternative assignments are provided to the Stemscopes activities.

Communities Change: How Outside Factors Impact Communities [3rd Grade], Shayna Rosenthal

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This is a social studies until for 3rd grade. The suggested length is 15 days. In this unit students will learn about what it means to inquire and what an explorer is. Students will investigate how people, ideas, and events can have an impact on communities. Throughout the unit, students will have an opportunity to create their own community as well as take on a role to create change.

Prokaryotic And Eukaryotic Cells (6th Grade), Samantha Bos

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is meant to provide a concrete and hands-on approach to introducing cells and differences between prokaryotic cells (cells without a nucleus), and eukaryotic cells (cells with a nucleus). Certain organelles and their functions are introduced, although this is covered much more in depth in 7^th grade; the unit is based on the TEKS (Texas Standards).

The conclusion of the unit is a fun lab in which students practice using the scientific method as well microscopes to collect data. Students will be expected to apply their knowledge to identify the eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells provided on the slides. …

Ap Chemistry: Bonding And Intermolecular Forces (11th-12th Grade), Carrie Duesing

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed for Advanced Placement Chemistry as a review and extension of topics introduced in first year chemistry. Students will review the different types of bonds and intermolecular forces to help them make predictions about the properties of materials and analyze data and draw conclusions. In class, students will utilize this information to better understand how they can predict the properties of materials and how scientific data help us understand properties and interactions of materials.

The unit culminates with an inquiry lab where students are tasked with deducing the type of bonding in a sample of a solid …

Improving Elementary Mathematics And Science Teaching And Learning: Lessons From A School-University Partnership, Patricia J. Norman, J. Nordine

Education Faculty Research

The challenges of teaching elementary mathematics and science, particularly in urban settings, have been well documented. While evidence exists that sustained professional development in mathematics and science can promote inquiry-oriented instruction and bolster student achievement, little has been written about the particular challenges associated with offering differentiated professional development through school-university partnerships. This paper examines the impact on student achievement and teacher practice when university teacher educators launched a 3-year science and mathematics professional development initiative in grades 3-5 at one of the university's elementary partner school campuses. Our intention was to create a ''constructivist'' professional learning initiative where the …

Sky Patterns [2nd Grade], Analeasa Holmes, Rachel Capetillo

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit will give students the opportunity to observe, describe, illustrate and predict patterns found in nature and specifically the daytime and nighttime sky.

The students will build on their prior knowledge of objects found in daytime and nighttime sky. Students will practice gathering, recording, and discussing data through classroom and home investigations leading to understandings of patterns found in nature.

Using the data and findings, the student will create projects displaying their understanding of patterns found in the daytime and nighttime sky.

Microbe Hunters: Pioneers Of The Microscopic World [7th Grade], Joy Brush, Jaime Jaen

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit integrates reading and science as students follow the contributions of Leeuwenhoek, Spallanzani, and other influential scientists depicted in Paul de Kruif’s Microbe Hunters. Students first read and discuss the investigations conducted by these scientists in reading class. In science class, students design and implement their own versions of these experiments to build on their understanding of the microscopic world and the importance of problem solving and perseverance.

Artist As Chemist [10th Grade], Bonnie Brawner

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The purpose of this unit is for students to experience the interdisciplinary nature of chemistry and science by having them create a work of art using processes and/or concepts learned in class. Each student will create their own art piece which incorporates at least 7 chemical processes. At least 4 of them must be concepts learned in class. The theme of the project: My Personal Identity. Accompanying the physical project will be a “How-To” paper which explains at least 7 of the chemical processes used to create the art piece. Also, accompanying the project will be a paper explaining the …

Honeybeezzz [1st Grade], Jordan E. Taylor

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

First grade students will engage in a research unit about honey bees, learning about colony demographics, habitats, pollination patterns and preferences, and their importance within the agriculture world. The goal is for students to understand the importance of honeybees and their impact on our global and local ecological systems.

Cell Theory And Cell Function [7th Grade], Daisy Wang, Amber Schumacher

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit on cell theory and cell structure and functions, 7th grade students will be able to recognize the different levels of organization in plants and animals including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms (7.12C). Students will also learn to differentiate between structure and function in plant and animal cell organelles (7.12D) as well as relating how the functions of the cell helps the organism to carry out the functions necessary for survival (7.12E) Students will be able to recognize the characteristics of the cell theory and that all cells need energy from food to sustain life (7.12F).

Personal Safety [Pre-Kindergarten], Anne Peppers

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit addresses the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guideline “Child practices good habits of personal safety.” At the conclusion of this unit, students will know that we should always try to make safe choices, safety is everyone’s responsibility, and rules help keep us safe. Students will be able to identify safe and unsafe choices at school; give examples of safe and choices at home, on the street, and in vehicles; and practice safe behaviors at school (with occasional reminders). Specific areas of safety addressed include school, street, fire, vehicle, and animal safety and safe people vs. strangers.

Circuits [4th Grade], Carrie Sites, Melissa Cole

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will understand that electricity flows through a circuit which must be closed for the energy to travel, that different materials can allow energy to flow or prevent it from travelling and that the energy source must be properly connected for energy to flow. At the end of this unit students will be able to independently identify complete and incomplete circuits, offer ways to fix incomplete circuits, identify parts of a circuit, and create a circuit that is a part of a lighthouse.

Heating And Cooling [Kindergarten], Kyla Mcglynn

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will practice making, recording and discussing their observations of materials that have changed through heating and cooling. Students will be able to identify if a material has been changed by adding or removing heat, and will accurately record the change through drawings and labels.

Habitats [3rd Grade], Leslie Davenport

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This is a unit focused on a TEK from the Curriculum Framework for the STAAR Alternate. Students will understand that animals live in specific environments called habitats and that each habitat has its own characteristics. Throughout the unit, students will learn about five different habitats that animals live in. At the end of the unit, students will create a mural of a habitat of their choosing, including at least three elements. Students will then have to describe the elements of the mural.

What’S The Weather? [1st Grade], Lisa Hoveland

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will engage in a twelve day unit delving in different facets of weather and the seasons. Lessons give students the chance to explore the differences between hot or cold, clear or cloudy, rainy or icy, and calm or windy. Students will learn to observe and record changes in the sky during the day and at night. They also learn how to interpret a thermometer. Students also have the chance to learn about the seasons, realizing that there is a difference between the seasons in Texas and the seasons in New England. At the end of the unit, students have …

Energy Resources [5th Grade], Lindsay Freres, Kristen Miceli

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed to guide students in the discovery of how sedimentary rock and fossil fuels are formed, what nonrenewable and renewable resources are, and how alternative energy can be both useful and harmful to our environment. Students will compute labs that show how sedimentary rock is formed and how this process is similar to the formation of fossil fuels. They will also discuss the different forms of alternative energy, stating both pros and cons for each. Students will use writing, illustration, and oral explanation throughout the unit. The final performance task will allow students to apply, explain, and …

Stone Oak Park Exploration: 2nd Grade, Canyon Ridge Elementary School (San Antonio, Tex.)

Stone Oak Park UbD Units

Topic: Natural Resources, Rocks, and Plant Adaptations

Stone Oak Park Exploration: 3rd Grade, Canyon Ridge Elementary School (San Antonio, Tex.)

Stone Oak Park UbD Units

Topic: Plant Adaptation and Soil

Stone Oak Park Exploration: 5th Grade, Canyon Ridge Elementary School (San Antonio, Tex.)

Stone Oak Park UbD Units

Topic: Changes Over Time (erosion, weathering, deposition) and Plant Adaptations

Stone Oak Park Exploration: 4th Grade, Canyon Ridge Elementary School (San Antonio, Tex.)

Stone Oak Park UbD Units

Topic: Plant Adaptations, Weathering, Erosion, Food Webs

Stone Oak Park Exploration: 1st Grade, Canyon Ridge Elementary School (San Antonio, Tex.)

Stone Oak Park UbD Units

Topic: Living/Nonliving, Plant Parts, and Food Chain

A Closer Look At Trees, Mattina Van Coppenolle

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will investigate living trees in order to answer the essential question of “What is a Tree?” By using some materials in the Trees FOSS Kit and classroom mini-field trips, students will experience how trees and leaves have identifiable structures such as particular shapes, colors, or textures. Through these outside investigations students will understand that there are different types of trees (e.g. evergreens, deciduous, old trees, young trees, oak, red oak, maple, pine, fruit trees). Likewise, trees are identifiable by physical characteristics such as the type of leaves and bark, product of the tree (acorns, apples, etc) …

Matter Matters, Natalie Pierce, Jamie Boelens, Catherine Brackett

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Students will understand that:

1. All matter can be classified by its observable, physical properties.

2. Matter can be measured and changed by energy (ex: heat, light, sound).

3. When materials are put together, they can do things that they cannot do by themselves.

Students will know:

1. The difference among a solid, liquid, and a gas.

2. The concepts of heating, cooling, cutting, melting, folding, and sanding.

3. Energy is power- the ability to do work or make changes.

Genetics, Adaptations, Biomes, Theodore Risinger, Stephanie Greathouse

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit covers basic Genetics (Punnett Squares and terminology), the role it plays in adaptations and how it affects Natural Selection and Selective Breeding. This unit will also tie in the environment (Biomes) and how it plays a major role in determining the physical and behavioral characteristics of plants and animals.Interconnection of these “big ideas” will facilitate better overall understanding of how time and changes in the environment will affect all living organisms.

Animal Interdependence, Christy Custer

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is meant to be taught after second graders have learned about plants and the basic needs of plants. In this unit students will explore how plants and animals rely on each other for survival. Through concrete, hands-on, and multimedia activities, students learn about food chains, basic needs, and what is required for survival in different habitats. As a culminating activity students will choose a habitat and a natural or man-made event that occurs in that habitat. Students will then draw a picture showing what the habitat looks like before the event and make predictions about how the habitat …

Genetics: Heredity And Adaptations, Alexander Serna-Wallender

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

By the end of this unit students will able to distinguish the difference between offspring from asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. Students will be able to describe how traits are passed from parent to offspring and the role that DNA and chromosomes play in the passage of inherited traits. This unit will also lead students to predict genetic outcomes using Punnett Squares. Using their knowledge of heredity students will then be engaged in exploring how the passage of genetic traits can change over time based on an organism’s environment, through natural selection. Students will also be able compare the difference …

Animal Habitats, Beth Morrow, Anne Peppers

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit addresses the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guideline “Child recognizes, observes, and discusses the relationship of organisms to their environments” (SCVIB3). At the conclusion of this unit, students will know that animals and humans depend on plants and vocabulary related to animal habitats (ie: nest, cave). They will be able to investigate organisms in their natural environments and describe and explain animal behaviors.

Nutrition And Exercise, Beth Morrow, Anne Peppers

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit addresses the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guideline “Child identifies good habits of nutrition and exercise.” By the end of the unit, students will know that:

- exercise is necessary to stay healthy

- how the body is affected by eating healthy vs. unhealthy foodsand will be able to:

- identify healthy and unhealthy foods;

- sort ‘go,’ ‘slow,’ and ‘whoa’ foods; and

- demonstrate and discuss the need for exercise and rest to stay healthy.

Energy: Electricity, Heat, And Light, Beth Morrow, Anne Peppers

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is based on the Pre-Kindergarten Science Guideline “Students will investigate and describe sources of energy, including heat, light, and electricity.” By the end of the unit, students will know that energy comes in the forms of electricity, heat, and light and be able to identify sources of energy and safely use electricity.