Science Lesson Plans
Middle School
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| Breaking the Stock Barrier |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
In this unit, students will learn about the stock market, specifically the stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. They will create a virtual portfolio containing 5 stocks from the Dow and watch their movement for a 3-month period. Each day as they gather data, they will keep a chart in Excel. History of the market, the Dow, as well as a guest speaker from an investment firm would be excellent additions. This lesson takes approximately 3 days to teach and then you can follow up on it for as long as you would like. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Cereal Box Presentation |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
Students will research a planet of their choice. In groups of 3, they will create a cereal box with planet information as the ingredients. They will choose an appropriate name and brand for the cereal. The majority of the box must be computer generated. Students must then present their box using one of the following: Publisher brochure, PowerPoint presentation, or a burned CD video. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Classification |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Students will craete a classification system based on physical characteristics of plants and animals. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1 and 3. |
| Comets |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
In this science lesson about comets, students will discover more than the fact that a comet is just a dirty ball of ice. This is a 5-day project. One the first day students will learn how to use the newsletter part of Microsoft Publisher. They will also focus on the legal issues involved with copyright laws. The rest of the week will be spent creating a newsletter on comets that will be written in groups. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 2 and 3. |
| Coral Reef WebQuest |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
After learning about the coral reefs and the danger they are in, students will create some type of PSA (Public Service Announcement) to inform and educate the public. They will share this PSA with the class and with the public. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. |
| Creative Planet News |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
After students learn about the planets of the Milky Way they get to be creative and create their own planet in another galaxy. The students incorporate aspects of our planets for example: atmospheric layers, plants, animals, weather, and landscape. They use their own art as well as digital pictures for the pictures of their planet. The students then create a newspaper on Microsoft Publisher to headline their new planet. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 1. |
| Dendrology Database |
Students research selected trees and develop a dendrology database. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Discovering Elements Online |
Students research assigned elements on the Internet with sites given in advance. They will then contribute to a class database with their individual information. The database will then be made availanle for studetns to again work independently and in pairs ro answer questions created from a class discussion to discover relationships about the elements. Meets Arizona State Technology State Standards 3, 4, 5, and 6. |
| Earthquake Predictions |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
In this lesson students will use real-time earthquake and volcano data to explore the relationship between earthquakes, plate tectonics, and volcanoes. This in an online project which allows students to access real time data, interact with experts, and publish the results of their work on the project web site.Students will need to collect data several times a week for two weeks. This should take 5-10 minutes for each data collection. The project also has four Core Activities that are designed to be used in 45 minute class periods. The final activity is an enrichment activity that asks the students to write a letter reporting what they have learned. This letter may be posted to the site’s Student Gallery. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 4. |
| Geo-Plant |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Plants are used to encourage learning about geography. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 1. |
| Hazards WebQuest |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
In this WebQuest activity, students will investigate the geologic hazards in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Hawaii to determine a location for a family move. Students will use web resources to research the hazards of each area, then come to a decision about a recommendation for their families. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| History Big Book |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
While participating in an interdisciplinary unit on space, students are fascinated by the history of space missions. Scholastic.com has created a very user-friendly timeline of these historical space events. Each student in the class will use this site to research one historical event, create a big book page, and together as a class compose a space timeline big book to share. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| How do the Biomes Compare to the Climatic Zones Around the World |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
The students will compare the biomes around the world with climatic zones through the use of maps. Using Kidspiration, Inspiration, or Word the students will create a Venn diagram to compare climate zones and biome location. The students will also rate which biome they think people inhabit the most by using the climatic information. For an extension the students will compare their hypothesis to a world population map to see if they were correct. This lesson utilizes the Cox Education Network desktop. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| How Much Water Do You Use? |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
This is a collaborative project in which students will learn about water usage in their homes and in homes around the world. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 4. |
| N'Sync Weather |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
Students will work on a WebQuest. They will be following weather forecasters on local weather channels. In groups, they will write a thank-you letter to the station they believe has the most accurate predictions. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3, 5 and 6. |
| Ohm's Law Made Easy with a Spreadsheet |
Students use math word problems to help them input information into a spreadsheet that will use Ohm's law to calculate current and resistance using common household appliance wattages. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| Parts of the Cell/Cell Theory/Significant Scientists |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
In this activity students learn the basic parts of the cell and their functions. The students also examine the significant historical scientists that help aid in the discovery of The Cell Theory, cells and cell parts. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Photo Essay |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
In this lesson, students will be creating a “photo essay” depicting their experiences at the Grand Canyon. (A similar type of field trip can be done.) They will do this by placing photos of class activities placed into Power Point, adding summaries of the lesson, and then they will find music that is free public domain. This lesson can be done as a yearlong project that would result in a great classroom memory, or it can also be a one-experience lesson. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1, 2 and 3. |
| Planets' Relative Gravity Spreadsheet |
Students use a prepared database to find th relative gravity of each of the plaets in our solar system and then use a spreadsheet to calculate what the weight of an average man and woman would be on each of the planets. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| Rights Go Up In Smoke |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Through a webquest, students will analyze the smoking ban, and draw their own conclusions to the question, How does the smoking ban in Pima County affect the residents here? Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 6. |
| Save the City! |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
Students will participate in the WebQuest Epicenter, That Rockin’ Town. This WebQuest is based on gathering and analyzing real earthquake information for a specific city or area. The WebQuest will allow students to work as a team to organize the information gathered about earthquakes into a report to a town council that needs to make decisions regarding the possibility of future earthquake damage. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 4. |
| Slide Show Review |
Students work in groups to create a five question slide show which reviews the chapter or unit we have just competed in class. Groups then present their slide shows to the class and the class attempts to answer the questions posed by the groups. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 4. |
| Solar System Alphabet Books |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
This lesson will be a culmination of our study of the solar system. Students will use print and electronic resources to gather information to create an alphabet book about the solar system. Students will create the book using an electronic publishing tool such as a word processor, multimedia presentation software, or publishing software. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Students Study Genetic Disorders |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
After a five-week unit on Genetics, students learn about different genetic disorders. The students are given the problem of finding about a student selected genetic disorder, collect data, and present the findings. The students also incorporated their knowledge of genetics to discuss the remedies for the disorder and the location of the disorder on the chromosomes. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 6. |
| Threats to the Ocean Internet Activity |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
In this activity, students will learn about three threats to the health of the ocean: pollution, over-fishing, and global warming. Students will use Internet resources to learn more about these threats. Students will evaluate the resources and decide which threat is the greatest, based on the evidence presented. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| Track Star Recycling |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Students, using a Track star, with learn more about the U.S. waste programs and about recycling programs. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 5. |
| Tremendous Tornados |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Students will participate in a number of different activities in order to investigate tornadoes. The students will learn basic facts about tornados in general and will also learn how a tornado is formed. This will allow them to learn how a tornado compares and differs from a hurricane. They will also illustrate the destruction of a tornado, and then produce a tornado of their own. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| Under the Sea |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
An essential question is an activity in which the students self direct their learning of a concept. In this activity students locate information on the computer to create a self selected project. The theme of this essential question is oceanography encompassing the ocean layers. After students research the ocean layers they will produce either a speech, PowerPoint, model, mural, or newspaper headline story. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Using Inspiration, Word, the Internet and PowerPoint to Put together a presentation on Space |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Students will use the Internet to answer questions they have about Space and create a presentation in PowerPoint to share with peers. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 1. |
| Wise about Weather |
An Amphi Ed Tech Lesson
Students will go through 2 TrackStar activities and learn about weather. Through the 2 activities, students will learn to apply their knowledge about the variables that cause weather and compare various weather maps. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Worldwide Search for the Dominant Trait-Do YOU Have It? |
An Amphi TLCF Lesson
Students are provided with a list of dominant and recessive traits. They are to interview a determined amount of individuals and record the number and types of traits found. Students will learn how their physical characteristics, or traits, are inherited by gathering a great deal of information about specific, easily seen human features. This information will be shared through an Internet Project. During this project, students will complete surveys, formulate hypotheses, and use the data compiled by students around the globe to test their hypotheses. Following the study, the students are to create forms and charts to illustrate their individual and group findings. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 4. |
