This module is designed to guide students in better understanding light. The students will also understand how light travels and interacts with other materials.  The teacher will facilitate students' explorations as they generate a summary of their experiences.  Throughout this unit, students will be guided in using practical materials such everyday items found in their classroom and light energy produced by flashlightThe goal of this module is for students to explore light and to better understand how it behaves.  This module has been designed for 5th grade students or students who are developmentally ready to explore light.  This module could also be used as a review for students in upper grades who need to build their fundamental understanding.  This module was developed by Sarah Donnelly, Stephanie Hooks & Karin Kaerwer as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

Carbon and other elements play a key role in determining the structure and function of macromolecules needed to sustain life processes. Life processes include growth and repair, reproduction, gas exchange, metabolism, and response.  Cells make a variety of macromolecules needed for life processes from a relatively small set of monomers. These macromolecules include carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. This module was developed by Kristin Scheible as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

Living things must move materials into, out of, and within the cell. Substances can move across the cell membrane passively (i.e., osmosis and diffusion) or actively (i.e., active transport). This module focuses on the two types of cellular transport and assumes knowledge of cell membrane (components and functions, ie. Fluid Mosaic Model) has already been addressed. This module was developed by Teresa Ballou as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

Sustaining life processes requires substantial energy and matter inputs. The complex structural organization of organisms accommodates the capture, transformation, and elimination of the matter and energy needed to sustain life. Photosynthesis is an important metabolic activity within living cells important in the transfer and transformation of energy for life processes.  This module focuses on photosynthesis and the energy molecule ATP.This module was developed by Teresa Ballou as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education. 

Students will investigate potential and kinetic energy, and observe that energy is continually transferred from one object to another between various forms.This module was developed by Christina Owens as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

Proteins carry out the essential functions of life processes through systems of specialized cells. The structure of DNA serves as a code for the production of proteins through the process of protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is a biochemical process that uses information coded in DNA to construct proteins.  The central dogma illustrates the flow of genetic information in this process:  DNA-->RNA-->Proteins.  (Enduring Understandings of BIO.2d).This module was developed by Kris Scheible as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

Overall goal of the module (reference: The standards that reflect intended Enduring Understanding)The student will:A.)  model a longitudinal (compression) wave and diagram, label, and describe the components (wavelength, compression, and frequency) (PS.6 a)B.)  explain the relationship between frequency and wavelength (PS.6 a)C.)  plan and conduct an investigation related to sound (the investigation may be a complete experimental design or may focus on systematic observation, description, measurement, and/or data collection and analysis) (PS.6 b)This module was developed by Tracey Nipper as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Viginia Department of Education.

In this 8th grade physical science module, students will calculate speed problems/scenarios using the speed equation (speed=distance/time), and compare and contrast the speed of multiple objects.  This module was developed by Tracey Nipper as part of a Virginia Commonwealth Universtiy STEM initiave sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.    

The student will compare sound traveling through a solid and sound traveling through the air. After the completion of this module students will understand that sound travels fastest through solids, slower in liquids and slowest through gas. This module was developed by Sarah Donnelly as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.

This project is the culmination of a grant working to share with students the VCU/Richmond East Marshall Street Well Project. Over the last year, the following curriculum has been presented to students in Richmond and surrounding counties five times. Dr. Simmons and students in the Department of Forensic Sciences taught the lessons. Victoria Solana, Dr. Edmondson, and Dr. Simmons developed the lessons. They were refined by the Department of Forensic Science students and Ms. Solano after being taught in each of the classrooms. The feedback that we have received from the students has been reflective of the need for lessons that showcase local and historical issues that have arisen in our own backyard.

The goal of this module is that 5th graders will not simply memorize the definition of matter and know what makes up matter, but they will understand this conceptually and deeply. They will explore how matter takes up space and has mass, that the amount of mass doesn't change when matter undergoes phase change, and that matter can be subdivided into particles too small to see.This module was developed by Karin Kaerwer as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University STEM initiative sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.