Eggbert has volunteered for the first egg-head mission to the Moon. The problem Eggbert faces is that the landing on the Moon’s surface will be very quick, and his space ship will crash. To ensure the success of this mission, your engineering team will need to design a safety restraint device that will withstand the crash.Your team has a budget of $800.00 to spend on the materials for the design. You must discuss what materials you will purchase, keeping within your budget, and record the items in a spreadsheet. You must also ALL agree on a team design. If Eggbert does not survive your first attempt, you may have time to redesign the restraint system. Your goal is to be the team that spends the least amount of money and keeps Eggbert from cracking.

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 3rd grade Science content. Within the folder you will access Parent Guide PDFs in FIVE Languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Vietnamese to help on-going communication with caregivers. 

This resource accompanies our Rethink 3rd 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. 

Students will observe falling objects in order to explain how gravity affects the motion of all objects.

Students will drop a small weight attached to a string, once without a parachute and once with a parachute and compare how fast each falls.

The activities in this lesson will allow students to observe and analyze the forces of gravity.

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.

This scientific article discusses two aspects about the sphere shape of our planet: the Earth concept through history of science and gravity as the source for ball-shaped structures in the universe. The text is written in child-friendly language for native readers age 9 and up.

This scientific article describes the physical phenomenon of gravitation. Starting with the discovery by Isaac Newton, the article explains the principles of gravitation, but also finds answers to the questions how heavy our planet is and why we still can lift a chair. The text is written for native speakers age 9 and up in child-friendly language.

On this webpage, students look at photos of objects and predict which will require more force to overcome gravity. Students click on the pictures to self check their ideas. Next, students list objects from lightest to heaviest and check their answers by rolling the mouse over a highlighted box. Then, students organize the weight of foods in containers from lightest to heaviest on a chart and build their own spring scale to weigh items. Finally, students look at photos of trucks weighing differing amounts and predict which will take the most force to push up a hill. Links to video clips are provided for students to check predictions.

On this interactive webpage, students read a short article about the effect that incline has on the force of gravity. Learners are asked to look at pictures of inclines of varying degrees and answer questions about how the incline affects the pull of gravity on an object going up or down.

In this activity, students play catch with a friend and observe what happens to the ball. Students then click on links to watch short video clips of balls being thrown and dropped. After predicting what will happen, students watch video clips of different sized balls being dropped and compare the dropping rates. Students analyze their observations with provided questions.

In this activity, students investigate the force of gravity by tossing a balloon into the air and observing what happens as it comes down. Next, students blow on the balloon to keep it in the air and observe what happens. Finally, students climb a hill and watch a video clip showing a toy truck being pushed up a ramp to illustrate that a push or a pull is needed to overcome the force of gravity.

Students will use marbles and weights to discover some basics about gravity. The set-up for the activity includes stretching fabric over two buckets. Students will then place marbles of different sizes and weights on top of the fabric and make observations.

Students investigate the force of gravity and how all objects, regardless of their mass, fall to the ground at the same rate.

In this lesson, students observe gravity as they take turns trying to catch a ruler dropped from shoulder height. Next, students estimate, weigh, order and record the weights of several different objects. Finally, students create a graph to show the weights of the objects. A worksheet to record and graph weights is included.

In this lesson, students will read the book "What's Faster Than a Speeding Cheetah?" by Robert E. Wells and make comparisons of the speeds mentioned in the text. Then they will set up a simple experiment to investigate motion of a toy car moving down ramps of various slopes.

In this activity, students will make go-carts and measure the speed, then change different factors of the experiment and see how the speed changes. In day 1, students will design and build a cart based on a specified set of materials, and then complete several trials to test the cart by rolling it down a ramp. Through discussion and journaling students will share their designs and compare the speeds of carts. In day 2, students will experiment with ways to increase or decrease the speed of their cart.

This is the educator's guide for a set of activities that teach students about humans' endeavors to return to the moon. The emphasis is for students to understand that engineers must "imagine and plan" before they begin to build and experiment. Each activity features objectives, a list of materials, educator information, procedures, and student worksheets. Students should work in teams to complete the activities. Note: Activities do not align to all objectives that are listed; specific activities align to specific objectives.