This correlation lists the recommended Gizmos for this state's curriculum standards. Click any Gizmo title below for more information.
5.PS1: : Matter and Its Interactions
5.PS1.1: : Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements of the physical properties of matter to explain phase changes between a solid, liquid, or gas.
Phases of Water
Heat or cool a container of water and observe the phase changes that take place. Use a magnifying glass to observe water molecules as a solid, liquid, or gas. Compare the volumes of the three phases of water.
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The Secret Service has arrested suspects accused of counterfeiting coins from the year 1915 valued at $50,000 each. The students act as a forensic scientist to investigate the crime scene and evidence. Students learn about the properties of matter to recreate the methods used to make the coins as evidence for the trial.
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5.PS1.2: : Analyze and interpret data to show that the amount of matter is conserved even when it changes form, including transitions where matter seems to vanish.
Chemical Changes
Chemical changes result in the formation of new substances. But how can you tell if a chemical change has occurred? Explore this question by observing and measuring a variety of chemical reactions. Along the way you will learn about chemical equations, acids and bases, exothermic and endothermic reactions, and conservation of matter.
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5.PS2: : Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
5.PS2.1: : Test the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the speed and direction of motion of objects.
Force and Fan Carts
Explore the laws of motion using a simple fan cart. Use the buttons to select the speed of the fan and the surface, and press Play to begin. You can drag up to three objects onto the fan cart. The speed of the cart is displayed with a speedometer and recorded in a table and a graph.
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5.PS2.2: : Make observations and measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Measuring Motion
Go on an African safari and observe a variety of animals walking and running across the savanna. Videotape the animals, and then play back the videotape to estimate animal speeds. Which animals run fastest?
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Find the effect of length, mass, and angle on the period of a pendulum. The pendulum is attached to a clock that can be adjusted to tell time accurately. The clock can be located on Earth or Jupiter to determine the effect of gravity.
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5.PS2.3: : Use evidence to support that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed toward the Earth’s center.
Free Fall Tower
Recreate Galileo's famous experiment by dropping objects off the Tower of Pisa. You can drop ping pong balls, golf balls, soccer balls or watermelons. Objects can be dropped in air or no air, with or without a parachute. The speed of each object is shown on a speedometer and a graph.
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Imagine a gigantic pitcher standing on Earth, ready to hurl a huge baseball. What will happen as the ball is thrown harder and harder? Find out with the Gravity Pitch Gizmo. Observe the path of the ball when it is thrown at different velocities. Throw the ball on different planets to see how each planet's gravity affects the ball.
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5.PS2.5: : Explain how forces can create patterns within a system (moving in one direction, shifting back and forth, or moving in cycles), and describe conditions that affect how fast or slowly these patterns occur.
Pendulum Clock
Find the effect of length, mass, and angle on the period of a pendulum. The pendulum is attached to a clock that can be adjusted to tell time accurately. The clock can be located on Earth or Jupiter to determine the effect of gravity.
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5.LS1: : From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
5.LS1.1: : Compare and contrast animal responses that are instinctual versus those that are gathered through the senses, processed, and stored as memories to guide their actions.
Animal Group Behavior - Elementary School
A farmer in Africa is having problems with elephants eating her corn and cotton crops. As a wildlife biologist, students learn about animal group behavior and relationships of elephants and humans with bees. Students collect data from the farm and elephants to hypothesize and test solutions that will protect the crops without hurting the elephants.
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5.LS3: : Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
5.LS3.1: : Distinguish between inherited characteristics and those characteristics that result from a direct interaction with the environment. Apply this concept by giving examples of characteristics of living organisms that are influenced by both inheritance and the environment.
Inheritance
Create aliens with different traits and breed them to produce offspring. Determine which traits are passed down from parents to offspring and which traits are acquired. Offspring can be stored for future experiments or released.
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As a bee scientist, students help a honey farm that has low honey production due to wasps. Students learn about bees, heredity and traits to determine which traits will help the bees defend their hives against the wasps. They then pick a new queen bee to pass on these traits to the bee colony.
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5.LS3.2: : Provide evidence and analyze data that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variations of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.
Inheritance
Create aliens with different traits and breed them to produce offspring. Determine which traits are passed down from parents to offspring and which traits are acquired. Offspring can be stored for future experiments or released.
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5.LS4.2: : Use evidence to construct an explanation for how variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.
Natural Selection
You are a bird hunting moths (both dark and light) that live on trees. As you capture the moths most easily visible against the tree surface, the moth populations change, illustrating the effects of natural selection.
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Study the thickness of birds' beaks over a five-year period as you control the yearly rainfall on an isolated island. As the environmental conditions change, the species must adapt (a real-world consequence) to avoid extinction.
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5.ESS1.4: : Explain the cause and effect relationship between the positions of the sun, earth, and moon and resulting eclipses, position of constellations, and appearance of the moon.
Eclipse
Observe solar and lunar eclipses as the Moon orbits Earth. The full and partial shadows of the Moon and Earth can be displayed, and the Moon can also be dragged around Earth. See what the Moon and Sun look like from Earth during partial and total eclipses.
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Understand the phases of the Moon by observing the positions of the Moon, Earth and Sun. A view of the Moon from Earth is shown on the right as the Moon orbits Earth. Learn the names of Moon phases and in what order they occur. Click Play to watch the Moon go around, or click Pause and drag the Moon yourself.
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5.ESS1.5: : Relate the tilt of the Earth’s axis, as it revolves around the sun, to the varying intensities of sunlight at different latitudes. Evaluate how this causes changes in day-lengths and seasons.
Seasons: Why do we have them?
Learn why the temperature in the summertime is higher than it is in the winter by studying the amount of light striking the Earth. Experiment with a plate detector to measure the amount of light striking the plate as the angle of the plate is adjusted (and then use a group of plates placed at different locations on the Earth) and measure the incoming radiation on each plate.
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Observe the tilt of Earth's axis and the angle that sunlight strikes Earth on June 21 and December 21. Compare day lengths, temperatures, and the angle of the Sun's rays for any latitude. The tilt of the Earth's axis can be varied to see how this would affect seasons.
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5.ETS1.2: : Plan and carry out tests on one or more elements of a prototype in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify which elements need to be improved. Apply the results of tests to redesign the prototype.
Earthquake-Proof Homes
Design a house to withstand an earthquake and protect the people living inside. Select a location in San Francisco, then choose the design and materials for a foundation, frame, walls, and roof. Decide which extras to add to your home design. Test each house in an earthquake and assess the damages. Try to arrive at a house design that results in the least damage.
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Build a home to survive a flood or a hurricane and protect the people inside. Choose materials and a design for the foundation, frame, walls, and roof of the house. Add "extras" such as sand bags, storm shutters, and roof clips. Test your house in a flood or storm and see how well your design worked.
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In this introduction to coding, program a rover to explore the surface of Mars. Start by using tiles to create simple programs involving moving forward or backward, turns, jumps, loops, and picking up rock samples. Then use text instructions to optimize your code. Use your skills to program the rover to complete six challenging missions on Mars.
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There has been an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in a small town. This disease is caused by legionella bacteria that proliferate in contaminated water supplies. Students take on the role of a civil engineer to investigate how the water treatment plant has failed to get rid of all the contaminants in the water and design a new method.
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Students assume the role of a scientist trying to solve a real world problem. They use scientific practices to collect and analyze data, and form and test a hypothesis as they solve the problems.
