OpenSciEd Releases Latest Free Middle School Science Unit
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 01/07/21
Nonprofit
OpenSciEd
has released new hands-on learning content for eighth-grade science.
The latest unit covers "forces
at distance"
with 12 lessons for 30 days of classes. Among the inquiries covered
are:
-
What
causes a speaker to vibrate?
-
What
can a magnet pull or push without touching?
-
How
does energy transfer between things that aren't touching?
The
activities primarily require ordinary materials
(such as a screwdriver and scissors, cardboard and foil) and a few
more specialized resources (a couple of four-inch speakers to be
dismantled, small disk magnets, alligator wires and clips and "tiny
compasses").
Each
unit developed by the organization includes a set of professional
learning resources, with instructional agendas, slides and videos.
The
latest one builds toward three Next
Generation Science Standards:
Middle School (MS) PS2-3
and PS2-5,
"Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions"; and
MS-PS3-2,
"Energy."
OpenSciEd
was launched to create high-quality open-source science instructional
materials, specifically for middle schools. The lessons are available
for science teachers to access and download freely. All align with
NGSS and are developed by educators and tested by teachers. The
organization expects to be finished with middle school lesson by
February 2022. Then it hopes to expand its efforts into elementary
and high school science.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.