Ohio's Academic Content Standards in Science

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: This lesson is designed to help students recognize the changes that a blue crab goes through during molting, and why it is important for scientists to understand these changes. It is important to understand the changes an animal goes through during its life span so they can research what may be causing that animal some difficulty...

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: The objective of this lesson is to carry out an investigation in order to answer a central question: Does soap float? The focus of this lesson is on scientific inquiry, but it incorporates scientific topics such as sinking and floating so it is recommended that students have at least some prior experience with these concepts....

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: This lesson requires students to identify the positive and negative effects of microorganisms and how science has developed positive uses for some microorganisms and overcome the negative effects of others. This lesson actively engages students by having them create their own compost bags from which they observe the growth of microorganisms while also noting their observations...

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: This lesson would be a great way to introduce students into planning and setting up a scientific investigation. The content addresses physical changes, but would have to be developed further to allow students to completely understand the concept of physical changes....

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: This lesson includes Family Connection activity that demonstrates the effect of freezing water in the weathering processes. Students create a "landform" using plaster of Paris....

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: The purpose of this resource is to help students further understand the predator/prey relationship by researching specific examples of birds (predators) and what they eat to survive (prey). Middle school students have been introduced to the concept that animals eat other animals and plants to survive....

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: Students experimentally measure the strength of a magnet and graph how the strength changes as the distance from the magnet increases and as the barrier (masking tape) is built between the magnet and an iron object. This lesson gives students guided practice using simple equipment to test a question, tools to extend their senses, and...

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: The purpose of this lesson is to expand students' knowledge of animal features and behaviors that can help or hinder their survival in a particular habitat. Students take part in classroom discussions and visit a website to learn more about animals and how well (or poorly) they have adapted to satisfying their needs in their natural...

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: This lesson provides an opportunity for students to develop experimental design skills in the context of a familiar event (floating and sinking) while furthering their understanding of the concepts of density and buoyancy. Students first classify a group of common objects by a characteristic of their own choosing....

Discipline: Science

Professional Commentary: In this lesson students compare and contrast the patterns that they create using iron filings and different types of magnets. This is a fairly straight forward lesson that provides students with opportunities to practice some scientific processes as they learn about magnetic fields....