NASA eClips Real World:  The Carbon Cycle - Essential for Life on EarthVideo Description:  Carbon is an essential building block for life. Learning how carbon is converted through slow- and fast-moving cycles helps us understand how this life-sustaining element moves through the environment. Discover how NASA measures carbon through both field work and satellite imagery keeping watch through its eyes on the sky, on Earth, and in space.  This video won and Emmy Award in 2020.  Video Length:  5:43.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.  

Science Instructional Plans (SIPs) help teachers align instruction with the Science Standards of Learning (SOL) by providing examples of how the content and the scientific and engineering practices found in the SOL and curriculum framework can be presented to students in the classroom.

Students learn about the similarities and differences between photosynthesis and cellular respiration through research, the creation of a comic strip or story book, and then assess themselves with a google drawing.  REMIX of https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/43

Simple diagram illustrating the process of photosynthesis and cellular respiration including an option with the chemical formula to accommodate different learning styles and provide differentiation.

Download this flow chart as a word document and share with students in google classroom or print the paper copies. Please feel free to edit and make any needed changes to make it relevant to your classroom.

Science Instructional Plans (SIPs) help teachers align instruction with the Science Standards of Learning (SOL) by providing examples of how the content and the scientific and engineering practices found in the SOL and curriculum framework can be presented to students in the classroom. This lesson includes the WIDA English Language Development Standards for ELs and differentiation through additional supports for both ELs and other students. 

"The Prairie Preacher" follows Dr. Dwayne Estes, a botanist who earned his nickname for his passionate advocacy of grassland conservation. Once a child who found solace in nature, Estes now dedicates his life to saving America’s most endangered ecosystem—Southeastern grasslands. Through the Southeastern Grasslands Institute (SGI), he works tirelessly to protect and restore these vital landscapes.