Earth Science Archives - Secondary Sparks

Winter and Christmas Science Stations Lab – Editable & Digital – Middle School Science

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:58:48 +0000

Do you need differentiated Winter and Christmas Science Stations Lab for your middle school science class? Perfect for a middle school physical science, life science or Earth/Space science class. This resource will help you reach and assess your students in a multitude of ways. This resource includes 8 stations with minimal prep involved.

There is a printable version, editable PowerPoint version and a Digital Google Slides version that will help you save on time and paper!

The 9 Winter and Christmas Science Stations included are:

1. Ice Insulation – Students will explore how quickly ice melts using various insulators.

2. Candy Cane Reactions – Students will explore the dissolving rate of candy canes with different temperatures of water.

3. Holiday Light Interactions – Students will explore refraction and reflection using holiday lights, mirrors and water.

4. Christmas Tree Life Cycle – Students will discuss how spruce trees contribute to ecology throughout their life cycle.

5. Reindeer Adaptations – Students will explain adaptations that reindeers have.

6. Tundra Food Web – Students will organize a tundra food web and identify producers and consumers.

7. Winter Weather – Students will observe a weather map and answer questions about winter weather.

8. Holiday Treat Layers of Earth – Students will identify types of holiday foods that could be used to represent different layers of Earth.

9. Snow in the Water Cycle – Students will answer questions about snow within the water cycle.

*Each station should take students between 8-10 minutes to complete.*

The RESOURCE includes:

Digital Google Slides link to perform stations online.
Printable version of stations in color and black/white
Editable PowerPoint version of stations.

Content covered:

Heat transfer and insulation

Interactions of matter and heat induced changes

Light waves (reflection and refraction)

Life cycles, ecology

Weather and Earth’s systems

Food webs, producers, consumers

Weather and Earth’s Systems

Earth’s layers

The water cycle

Find on TPT

Learn more about why should try stations in middle school science!

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Halloween Science Stations for Middle School Science – Editable and Google Slides

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:49:40 +0000

Do you need differentiated Halloween science stations activities for your middle school science class? Perfect for a middle school physical science, life science or Earth/Space science class. This resource will help you reach and assess your students in a multitude of ways. This resource includes 8 stations with minimal prep involved.

There is a printable version, editable PowerPoint version and a Digital Google Slides version that will help you save on time and paper!

The 9 Halloween science stations included are:

1. Batty Limbs – Students will compare bat limbs to human limbs to describe homologous structures.

2. Ghoul’s Goo – Students will explore states of matter with oobleck.

3. Disappearing Candy Corn – Students will explore physical changes with dissolving candy corn in warm water,

4. Pumpkin Mass & Weight – Students will obtain the mass and weight of a mini pumpkin to explore the difference between both measurements in matter.

5. Spider Ecology – Students will discuss the ecology of spiders and their role in the ecosystem.

6. Sweet Erosion – Students will perform a mini experiment in which they simulate erosion with sugar cubes and a spray bottle.

7. Moon Phases – Students will identify different phases of the moon in the lunar cycle. Students will also research to see what phase the moon will be on Halloween night.

8. Monster Genetics – Students will create their own monster using Punnett squares.

9. Candy Rock Cycle – Students will simulate the rock cycle using candy.

*Each station should take students between 8-10 minutes to complete.*

The RESOURCE includes:

Digital Google Slides link to perform stations online.
Printable version of stations in color and black/white
Editable PowerPoint version of stations.

Content covered:

Evolution, Common Ancestors and Homologous structures

States of Matter

Physical Changes

Mass and Weight in Matter

Ecology, Food Webs, Food Chains

Erosion and Weathering

Moon Phases / Lunar Cycle

Punnett Squares / heredity

Rock Cycle ( Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary )

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Plate Tectonics Choice Board – Editable and Google Slides

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:26:42 +0000

This plate tectonics choice board allows students to choose a plate tectonics project of their choice. The differentiation of activities provides students with autonomy in their learning and presentation of knowledge. The project will assess knowledge of plate boundaries (convergent, divergent, transform) and continental drift. Perfect for an Earth Science or Earth Space Middle School Science class.

Included in this plate tectonics choice board resource:

1 editable choice board with 9 activities to choose from.

1 editable rubric.

1 color and 1 black/white version for printing.

Editable PowerPoint file for editing

PDF file for printing

Link to Google Slides version for Google Classroom

This choice board is editable to suit the needs of you and your students. Students can also submit most of the activities digitally through Google Classroom or Canvas.

General teacher directions and the choice board are included in PowerPoint format for easy editing. There are no rubrics included within the resource for their individual choice activities. Only one rubric that can work for any of the project choices.

*Only the choice options are editable. Fonts and clip art are not editable due to copyright.*

Options include:
Research project
Create a stop-motion video
Recording a podcast
Designing a visual timeline of geological events
Writing an illustrating a children’s story about plate boundaries
and more!

Related Products:

Plate Tectonics Unit Bundle

Earth Space Lessons & Guided Notes Bundle

Earth Space Science Activities Bundle

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Weathering Erosion Deposition Choice Board – Editable and Google Slides

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:25:06 +0000

This weathering erosion deposition choice board allows students to choose a geoscience processes project of their choice. The differentiation of activities provides students with autonomy in their learning and presentation of knowledge. The project will assess knowledge of weathering, erosion and deposition. Perfect for an Earth Science or Earth Space Middle School Science class.

Included in this weathering erosion deposition choice board:

1 editable choice board with 9 activities to choose from.

1 editable rubric.

1 color and 1 black/white version for printing.

Editable PowerPoint file for editing

PDF file for printing

*Only the choice options are editable. Fonts and clip art are not editable due to copyright.*

Options include:
Recording a video simulation with common household products
Writing a song or rap
Building a before & after diorama
Recording a “geoscience processes” podcast
Creating a comic strip
and more!

Related Products:

Weathering, Erosion & Deposition Gallery Walk Activity

Rock Cycle (Weathering, Erosion and Deposition) Lesson and Guided Notes

Weathering, Erosion and Deposition Google Slides and Print Activities

Earth Space Lessons & Guided Notes Bundle

Earth Space Science Activities Bundle

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Weathering Erosion and Deposition Gallery Walk Activity

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 19:22:07 +0000

This is a stations-based Weathering Erosion and Deposition Gallery Walk Activity activity that focuses on geoscience processes. During this gallery walk, images with questions are posted around the room while students move through each.

Gallery walks are great for getting students up and moving while learning. They work like stations because students only focus on one image at time, then move on to the next at the sound of a timer.

This activity is low prep and works best in the images are printed in color and then laminated. Tape them around the room and provide the answer sheet for students to work on. It’s that easy!

How does a gallery walk work?

1.Set up stations around the room by taping them to walls or tables.

2. Divide students into small groups and assign them to stations.

3. Explain that students will have a minute or so at each station to observe the image/answer a question based on it.

4. Use a timer that goes off at the selected time to signal students to move on to the next image or station.

5. Repeat until students have visited all stations!

What is included?

Editable gallery walk images/questions

Editable Student answer sheet

Google Slides versions of both

Topics Covered:

Mechanical weathering

Chemical weathering

Erosion

Deposition

Related Resources:

Shop on TPT

Learn how to use a gallery walk with task cards

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Women in STEM Project for Middle School Science – Women’s History Month

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 17:21:29 +0000

Students will learn about women in STEM with this brochure style project. Perfect for a middle school or high school science class learning about women in stem or celebrating Women’s History Month.

This project will involve students researching a particular woman in STEM. They will learn about the woman through research. Then, they will plan and design a brochure to inform others about the accomplishments of this person and more. Students will need to demonstrate knowledge of research skills.

What is included?:

30 editable brochure templates to choose from with clip art of each woman.

Editable blank brochure template for students to choose a different woman and complete their own drawing.

Editable grading rubric.

Editable student planning sheet with bibliography

Print AND Digital Google Slides versions of brochure and rubric.

List of women to choose from.

Color versions and black/white versions for printing.

There is no prep, it’s ready to print for students or digitally assign in Google Classroom!

Women included:

1. Ada Lovelace – computer programming

2. Mae Jemison – First African American woman to travel in space

3. Antonia Novello – First female and Hispanic U.S. Surgeon General

4. Dr. Christine Mann Darden – research into supersonic aircraft noise

5. Cynthia Breazeal – Pioneer of social robotics

6. Diana Trujillo – Aerospace engineer

7. Dorothy Vaughan – mathematician and NASA’s first black manager

8. Elizabeth Blackwell – first woman in the U.S. to earn a medical degree

9. Ellen Ochoa – first Hispanic woman to go to space

10. Emilie du Chatelet – Mathematician, physicist and author

11. Emmy Noether – Mathematical physics

12. Euphemia Hayes – first African American woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics

13. Florence Nightingale – founder of modern nursing

14. Hedy Lamarr – Pioneered the technology that influenced Modern Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth communication systems

15. Hypatia – mathematician, astronomer

16. Jane Goodall – conservationist who studies chimpanzees

17. Katherine Johnson – figured out the paths for the spacecraft to orbit Earth and land on the moon

18. Margaret Hamilton – led the software engineering division of the MIT Instrumentation Lab

19. Marie Curie – discovery of radium and polonium. Contributing to finding treatments for cancer

20. Marjorie Lee Browne – mathematician and educator

21. Maryam Mirzakhani – First woman and first Iranian to earn a Fields Medal

22. Mary Cartwright – mathematician

23. Mary Golda Ross – first Native American woman engineer

24. Mary Jackson – NASA’s first black female engineer

25. Rachel Carson – known for her writings on environmental pollution

26. Rosaline Franklin – Chemist

27. Sally Ride – first American woman to fly in space

28. Sofia Kovalevskaya – first female professor of mathematics

29. Sophie Germain – first woman to receive an award in mathematics

30. Tu Youyou – Key contributor to a malaria fighting drug

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Read more about Women’s History Month activities here.

Find more middle school science activities here.

The post Women in STEM Project for Middle School Science – Women’s History Month appeared first on Secondary Sparks.

Interactions of Earth’s Spheres Unit Bundle

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 02:00:09 +0000

This Earth’s spheres unit bundle contains resources to review Interactions of Earth’s Systems (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere) with your Earth Science or Environmental Science class! Each resource includes a Google Slides version for online and distance learning!

Included in the bundle:

1. Interactions of Earth’s Spheres Print and Digital Google Slides Activities

This is a print and digital resource that uses Google Slides. There are 6 interactive activities to Earths spheres including geosphere, hydrosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. These activities are perfect for an Earth Science class with no prep! These can be used as online stations, an activity for early finishers, homework, for science interactive notebooks or for review in the classroom. Perfect for distance learning!

Students will practice vocabulary skills, make real-world connections and review concepts.

The activities in Google Slides include either drag and drop or short answer text. Watch the preview video to get a better idea of how each slide works.

The slides and printable are not editable. An answer key is included in the PDF as well as the Google Slides link.

Content covered:
Geosphere
Hydrosphere
Atmosphere
Biosphere
How Earth’s spheres interact with one another

2. Interactions of Earth’s Spheres Lesson, Guided Notes and Quiz

Need to introduce or review interactions of Earth’s systems for your Earth Science or Environmental Science class? This resource contains a quick, interactive PowerPoint lesson and visual guided notes to review the key information related to Earth’s Spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and cryosphere).

It is editable to meet the needs of your students and there is a colorful Google Slides version of both the PowerPoint lesson and guided notes to use digitally!

Included in this resource:

Editable PowerPoint Lesson
Editable guided notes with 2 versions for differentiation
Editable 10 question quiz with self-grading Google Forms option
Cover for interactive notebooks
Google Slides version of PowerPoint lesson and guided notes for online learners

Content covered:

What is the Earth System?

Geosphere

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Cryosphere

How do Earth’s Spheres Interact?

***Text is editable but clip art and text with special fonts are not editable due to copyright of those resources.***

3. Choice Board

This choice activities menu allows students to choose a Earth’s Spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere) project of their choice. The differentiation of activities provides students with autonomy in their learning and presentation of knowledge. The project will assess knowledge of the interactions of Earth’s Spheres in various ecosystems.

Included in this resource:

1 editable choice board with 9 activities to choose from.

1 editable rubric.

1 color and 1 black/white version for printing.

Editable PowerPoint file for editing

PDF file for printing

Link to Google Slides version for Google Classroom This choice board is editable to suit the needs of you and your students. Students can also submit most of the activities digitally through Google Classroom or Canvas.

*Only the choice options are editable. Fonts and clip art are not editable due to copyright.*

Options include:

Creating a diorama

Research

Creating an informative poster

Creating an animation

Board game

and more!

4. Warm Ups

2 weeks of editable warm up slides about Earth’s Spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere). These could also be used as exit tickets! Digital or print versions are perfect for an Earth’s Systems unit in your Earth Science class with no prep! Use these as bellringers to get your students ready for the day or end the class with a ticket out the door. Google Slides versions are also included for online learning!

Each question is in short or long response format so students explain the topic and show their understanding.

There are 3 ways to use these editable warm ups/exit tickets:

1. Use them with slides as students fill out the answers on their own personal answer sheet.

2. Use the answer sheets with the questions on them without the slides. I personally have my students hole punch them each week to add into a pronged folder or binder to use as a study tool. You can even print them at 90% so students can glue them into their interactive science notebooks!

3. Use them for online learning or digitally with the Google Slides version. This is also perfect for digital interactive student notebooks.

A PowerPoint version is included for editing and a PDF version is included for easy printing.

*The questions are editable but the fonts and clip art are not due to copyright.*

Included in this resource:
2 weeks of warm ups/exit tickets (10 total).
3 editable templates to fit the needs of you and your students
PowerPoint Slides with the questions to project for your students
Answer key

Content covered:

What is the Earth System?

Geosphere

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Cryosphere

How do Earth’s Spheres Interact?

5. Stations

Do you need differentiated Earth’s Spheres activities for your Earth’s Systems unit? These stations are perfect for a Earth Space science class! This resource will help you reach and assess your students in a multitude of ways. This resource includes 7 stations with minimal prep involved to review geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere interactions. There is a printable version, editable PowerPoint version and a Digital Google Slides version that will help you save on time and paper!

The 7 types of stations include:

1. Discover – Students will research real-world application of Earth’s Systems.

2. Observe – Students will observe how Earth’s Spheres interact during natural disasters.

3. Experiment – Students will interact with a PhET simulation on the greenhouse effect, then discuss the impact on Earth’s Systems.

4. Write – Students will explain their answers in 2-3 sentences.

5. Create – Students will draw their own interaction of Earth’s Spheres and describe it.

6. Sort – Students will sort scenarios to the proper matching spheres.

7. Quiz – Students will answer a mix of 8 true/false, multiple choice and short answer questions.

*Each station should take students between 8-10 minutes to complete.*

The RESOURCE includes:

Digital Google Slides link to perform stations online.
Printable version of stations in color and black/white
Editable PowerPoint version of stations.

Content covered:

Geosphere

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Biosphere

How Earth’s spheres interact with one another

6. Task Cards

These 24 Interactions of Earth’s Spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere) task cards can be used in a classroom or digitally for distance learning through Google Forms with no prep. They are editable and even self-grading! Perfect for a Earth Science or Earth/Space Science class. They can be easily printed, cut and laminated for use in the classroom with a ready-to-print student answer sheet.

Review vocabulary and key concepts related to Earth’s Systems. The link for Google Forms is available in the resource. An answer key is included in the resource and in Google Forms.

Task cards can be printed 1 per page or 4 per page. The answer sheet can be printed 1 per page or 2 per page to save paper. I typically print 2 per page so they’re perfect for gluing into interactive notebooks.

*Please note that the text is editable in each task card but the titles and clip art are not editable.

Content covered:

What is the Earth System?

Geosphere

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Cryosphere

How do Earth’s Spheres Interact?

Shop TPT here.

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Interactions Earth’s Spheres Stations Activities

Michelle Rudolph — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 01:54:23 +0000

Do you need differentiated Earth’s Spheres stations activities for your Earth’s Systems unit? These stations are perfect for a Earth Space science class! This resource will help you reach and assess your students in a multitude of ways. This resource includes 7 stations with minimal prep involved to review geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere interactions. There is a printable version, editable PowerPoint version and a Digital Google Slides version that will help you save on time and paper!

The 7 types of Earth’s Spheres stations include: