MS-PS3-3
KSDE Grade: 6th
Have students design a container that keeps something hot or cold, which is the design-a-device standard nearly word for word. Teacher and student guides included.
Kansas – Middle School Science Quick-Start Guide
Summary
This guide matches Switch Classroom lessons to KSDE’s recommended middle school scope and sequence, covering the 6th-grade Thermal Energy unit, 7th-grade Changes in Earth’s Surfaces, 8th-grade Human Impact on Ecosystems, and the engineering design standards that Kansas attaches across the whole band. Teachers will find design-a-device labs, Play-Doh circuits, a mining simulation, and take-home data challenges, all free and editable.
Resources
Investigating Passive Solar Heating Lab
MS-PS3-3, MS-PS3-4
KSDE Grade: 6th
Students design and test model homes to see which holds heat best.
Introduction to Electricity
MS-PS3-3, MS-PS3-4, MS-PS3-5, MS-ESS3-1
KSDE Grade: 6th
The Play-Doh Circuits Lab will energize your lesson as students build and test series and parallel circuits using Play-Doh, exploring conductors and insulators along the way.
Holiday Lights: Play-Doh Circuits
MS-PS3-4, MS-PS3-5
KSDE Grade: 6th
Keep the circuit physics going in December with the holiday edition. Low prep, answer key included.
Introduction to Coal
MS-ESS3-1
KSDE Grade: 6th
Run the Mining Simulation: students extract their own “coal” and confront what extraction costs.
Energy Production Fair
MS-ESS3-1
KSDE Grade: 6th
Every student becomes the expert on one energy source and pitches it at a class fair.
Recycling Waste Audit
MS-ESS3-1, MS-ESS3-3
KSDE Grade: 8th
Students audit real waste and design a plan to reduce it.
Family Energy Awareness Challenge
MS-ESS3-3
KSDE Grade: 8th
Send home a challenge where students audit energy use with their families. Real household data, no lab required.
Introduction to Wind
MS-PS3-3, MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-4
KSDE Grade: 6-8
Students design blades, test them, and iterate. Pairs with a data set on where wind actually blows.
Float the Offshore Wind! Hands-On
MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-4
KSDE Grades: 6-8
Challenge students to build a floating platform that keeps a model wind turbine upright. The full define-test-improve cycle in one period.