Students will design a personal landing carrier to land on Planet X. The carrier will house an explorer (a raw egg) that can land successfully near a given target
from a set height with the following constraints:

The landing carrier must:
1. Hit a target area on the planet
2. Protect the explorer (egg) during landing.
3. Allow the explorer to exit the lander to
conduct scientific excursions. (15 seconds
or less).
4. Nothing can be used on the floor (to
cushion)

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 5th grade Science content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 5th Grade Science course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This is a remix of Caine's Arcade PBL, orginially authored by Val Capel, Katie Johnson, and Michele Randle.  The original work was aligned to Michigan State Standards and housed in Google Drive, which made it difficult to remix on this platform.This version has been aligned to North Carolina State Standards and was created on this platform for easy remixing by others.

Dancing Dash!
Create a dance for Dash to do along with students to demonstrate mastery of Math (addition/subtraction) and Science (motion/force).

Kids love to build, what’s more they love to be challenged. Zoob Builderz STEM Challenge is designed for both. Students must read and create using the Zoob Builder pieces. Pieces include gears, axles, joints, wheels, and more for students to snap together.

After brainstorming a list of essential businesses and/or points of interest, each student will create a building from recycled cardboard. They will then decide a location to house the building in the city. There will also be waterways included.  Then in teams of 2-3 the students will use recycled materials to build a bridge to carry the ozobot through the city giving tours of important locations. The ozobot will need to be able to cross the bridge which will allow students to work through issues with force and motion.

This is a 5th grade unit for Science.  This unit helps students develop their understanding of force, motion, and the relationship between them as well as how factors such as gravity, friction, and change in mass affect the motion of objects. 

 Students are tasked with moving a 20 gram (or other low denomination) weight a distance of one meter using a “Sphero*” remote controlled robot.  Students use available materials to design and build a structure that will allow the sphero to push or pull the weight, while allowing for factors such as friction, direction, and gravity.   *Note: Although students can issue specific commands in the Sphero software, this activity only requires that they be able to “drive” the Sphero, thus providing the force to move the weight. 

Through this lesson, students learn about the four forces of flight: lift, thrust, drag, and weight. They evaluate the role design plays on aerodynamics and the distance a paper airplane travels.

Students work in groups of 2 to create an anchor out of a collection of materials provided by the teacher. Students will test their anchors in an aquarium periodically to determine if their anchor has too much surface area, thus making it buoyant, or if the materials are combined in a way that is denser than the water causing the anchor to sink. The ultimate goal is to balance the forces being applied to the boat.  The anchor is attached to a 3d printed boat, or a boat of the teacher's choosing. A fan is directed at the boat after the anchor has been attached and dropped in the water. In addition to the wind, the teacher will create waves by tapping the side of the tank. Students will observe if the anchor holds under these circumstances or not. Ultimately, they will try to prevent the boat from moving at all. Distance traveled for each test will be taken by a meter stick or tape measure fixed to the side of the tank. Students will strive to keep the boat frozen at 0 centimeters.

This is a school-wide STEM competition designed to be conducted in a STEM/Media Center class. Students design armor suits out of maker supplies to protect a Hexbug in a bracket-style battle bot competition.

Link to activity below:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hrTCTBtOoid9pQ4dW-nANUFVhwkWtDi9bd-78AHMhuo/edit?usp=sharing

Students will design a car that is powered by air and write a resource book article on how they did it

Please note this resource has been aligned to science standards as NC does not currently have a SCOS for K-5 STEM.

The focus of this unit is to introduce the concepts of force and motion. Specifically this unit will address the forces of push, pull, gravity, and work. It also introduces students to the concepts of friction and slope. The unit begins with an introduction to the scientific method and addresses the differences between scientists and engineers. Students will be both scientists and engineers while completing this unit.

In this short video and accompanying experiment activity and readings, students learn about all kinds of forces in motion at Falls Lake State Recreation Area. Chopping wood, riding a bike, pitching a tent, canoeing — students can see each of these examples to discover out how objects (and people) move in their surroundings.

After learning about types of simple machines, students create one with recyclables in order to 'rescue' a small figurine by moving it 10 feet.  

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade Science. 

Students will design a fun and safe roller coaster with at least one loop. Students start by simulating a coaster with Amusement Park Physics. Here they learn about giving their coaster the maximum energy needed to complete the course. Their coaster design is rated for safety and fun. After simulating a coaster and understanding how to design a safe and fun coaster, students use the design process to create a prototype coaster for an amusement park.

Students will learn and understand the design process by designing and engineering the ultimate playground. What is the design process? Read Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler and Loren Long and Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. Discussion about dreams, goals, and reality.
Discussion about the design process and how to use it to design your dream
playground.
Discussion about what was created in each book. Write on poster paper. Make connections between dreams and reality.
Could we dream up a better playground (or school)? How do we make it a reality?