This lesson covers the topic of muscles. Students learn about the three different types of muscles in the human body and the effects of microgravity on muscles. Students also learn how astronauts need to exercise in order to lessen muscle atrophy in space. Students discover what types of equipment engineers design to help the astronauts exercise while in space.

I created this game to give my students a fun way to practice multiplication!  3rd grade students should participate in meaningful activities to develop an understanding of multiplication and become fluent with their multiplication facts.  This activity supports sol 3.4c, demonstrate fluency with multiplication facts of 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 and sol 3.4a, represent multiplication and division through 10 × 10, using a variety of approaches and models.  The students make a big circle around the room and play a cakewalk style game and draw pictorial models.  This game should be played after students have had experiences in the classroom working with manipulatives to practice the different approaches and strategies for multiplication.  Movement is an effective way for students to learn and I can easily assess them while they play the game.  My students love this game and ask to play it all the time!   

This activity helps students learn about the three different types of muscles and how outer space affects astronauts' muscles. They will discover how important it is for astronauts to get adequate exercise both on Earth and in outer space. Also, through the design of their own microgravity exercise machine, students learn about the exercise machines that engineers design specifically for astronaut use.

In this lesson, students will explore motion, rockets and rocket motion while assisting Spacewoman Tess, Spaceman Rohan and Maya in their explorations. They will first learn some basic facts about vehicles, rockets and why we use them. Then, the students will discover that the motion of all objects including the flight of a rocket and movement of a canoe is governed by Newton's three laws of motion.

Students learn about a fascinating electromechanical coupling called piezoelectricity that is being employed and researched around the world for varied purposes, often for creative energy harvesting methods. A PowerPoint(TM) presentation provides an explanation of piezoelectric materials at the atomic scale, and how this phenomenon converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A range of applications, both tested and conceptual, are presented to engage students in the topic. Gaining this background understanding prepares students to conduct the associated hands-on activity in which they create their own small piezoelectric "generators."

 Subtraction with regrouping is a skill that we practice throughout the school year because my students need lots of practice.  This activity supports sol 3.3b, create and solve single-step and multi-step practical problems involving sums or differences of two whole numbers, each 9,999 or less.  The students make a big circle around the room and play a cakewalk style game.  When the teacher stops the music, they sit in front of the closest card and subtract the two numbers to find the difference.   Students use their knowledge of place value and estimation to determine if their answer is reasonable.  With this game, I was able to incorporate movement into my classroom.  I love seeing my students have fun while learning!   

Students learn the value of writing and art in science and engineering. They acquire vocabulary that is appropriate for explaining visual art and learn about visual design principles (contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity) and elements (lines, color, texture, shape, size, value and space) that are helpful when making visual aids. A PowerPoint(TM) presentation heightens students' awareness of the connection between art and engineering in order to improve the presentation of results, findings, concepts, information and prototype designs. Students also learn about the science and engineering research funding process that relies on effective proposal presentations, as well as some thermal conductivity / heat flow basics including the real-world example of a heat sink which prepares them for the associated activity in which they focus on creating diagrams to communicate their own collected experimental data.

After students have complete the associated activity to collect and graph acceleration data from walking human subjects, they learn more about gait analysis---the study of human motion, which is used as biometric data for human medical diagnostics and (non-human) comparative biomechanics. They learn about the steps that comprise the universal process of engineering analysis—data collection, data analysis, mathematical modeling and reporting—and consider how these steps could be applied to analyze a person's gait, which prepares them to conduct the second associated activity.

This article describes ways to supplement a science unit on the water cycle with the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker. Ideas for art, writing, poetry, and creative movement are included.

When you think about moving, what comes to mind? Most of us think about using our muscles. But what tells your muscles to move? Your brain! Join Dr. Catherine Franssen, a resident scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia, as we investigate how your brain senses the outside world and helps you walk, run, swim and toss a ball. Movement can even make your brain think better! Along the way, we will explore the different areas of your brain and create a model brain out of dough.