Subject
Objective
Description/What to do in the classroom
Things to consider/science behind it
Number of TryScience.org features used
Titles of TryScience.org features
Materials Used
Results of student feedback and teacher assessment of activity
Attachments

Subject
Science

Objective
The students will be able to work in cooperative groups and generate at least 12 questions and answers based on their experimentation and exploration of various TryScience.org activities. The students will be able to work as a team to share information and compete in a PowerPoint Jeopardy game based on their experimentation and exploration of various TryScience.org activities

Science Standards: (List as applicable)
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards: Science Standard 5.8: Earth Science
All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the Earth.
A.   Earth's Properties and Materials
B.   Atmosphere and Water
C.   Processes that Shape the Earth
D.   How We Study the Earth

Description/What to do in the classroom
Fourth grade students will engage in a Jigsaw grouping activity and develop questions to be used in their category on a PowerPoint Jeopardy game, and play the game. Students will conduct research in their groups that are responsible for collecting information about an assigned strand of NJ Core Curriculum Science Standard 5.8: Earth Science. Students are the ones who generate the questions to be researched after experiencing various activities that are designed to generate questions about their strand.
Following completion of their group task, the teacher will separate students into new groups -- jigsaw groups -- by assigning one member from each original strand group to one of three new groups. The activity will begin with groups
A: Earth's Properties and Materials; B1: Atmosphere; B2: Water; C: Processes that Shape the Earth; and, D: How We Study the Earth. The jigsaw groups will have a member from A, B1, B2, C, and D. In the jigsaw groups, students share information, especially the questions and answers they generated about their strand, and study for their Jeopardy challenge.
Various students from each group will enter their questions and answers into the PowerPoint presentation for the Jeopardy game. Once the game is completed, the three new groups will play as teams to compete at the Jeopardy game.

Things to consider/science behind it
What is the composition of the Earth and what forces shape it.

Curriculum topics:
A.Earth's Properties and Materials
1.Observe that most rocks and soils are made of several substances or minerals.
2.Observe that the properties of soil vary from place to place and will affect the soil's ability to support life.
3.Recognize that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at that time.
B.Atmosphere and Water
1.Recognize that air is a substance that surrounds us, takes up space, and moves around us as wind.
2.Recognize that most of Earth's surface is covered by water and be able to identify the characteristics of those sources of water.
3.Observe weather changes and patterns by measurable quantities such as temperature, wind direction and speed, and amounts of precipitation.
4.Observe that when liquid water disappears, it turns into a gas (vapor) in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or as a solid if cooled below its freezing point.
5.Observe that rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation come from clouds, but that not all clouds produce precipitation. 
> 6.Recognize that clouds and fog are made of tiny droplets of water and possibly tiny particles of ice.
C.Processes that Shape the Earth
> 1.Recognize that some changes of the Earth's surface are due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid changes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
2.Recognize that moving water, wind, and ice continually shape the Earth's surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas.
D.How We Study the Earth
1.Use maps to locate and identify physical features on the Earth.

Integration of TryScience.org features The activities featured on the TryScience.org website were the basis of this fourth grade science unit. Each group of students was given an outline of activities to explore from TryScience.org that related to their group's particular science strand. As a result of their exploration and experimentation, several questions and answers were generated and shared with members of other groups. These questions and answers were then entered into a PowerPoint Jeopardy game, in which students competed as teams.

Number of TryScience.org features used
6-10

Titles of TryScience.org features
Experiments
 - Seeds Soil, Salt,
 - Wind Mapping with Bubbles
Field Trips
 - Engineer It! At OMS!
 - Get Blown Away at MOSI
 - Find a Science Center-Interactive Map
Live Cams 
 - View of Mt. Washington
 - Dino Dig @ Fort Worth Museum 
Curious? (SiteMap>>Still Curious?) 
 - Did you shake it up!
 - Did you quake up?-Earthquakes
 - How Snows it? Avalanches in the News

Materials Used
Tryscience.org website
> Various Internet search engines
Materials for experiments from tryscience.org and BrainPop.com
Computers
PowerPoint software
Digital projector
index cards, paper, folders, pens, pencils