Mine by Design
A STEM Program
Grade 5
Pre-Visit Activities
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 1
Mine by Design: A STEM Program
Pre-Visit Activities
Grade 5
The Pre-visit activities are linked to the pre-requisite skills and
knowledge that each student arriving for this particular program,
should have experienced at their home school.
Introduction
Mine by Design is a four (4) hour program developed for fifth grade students. This STEM program
provides students with an enrichment opportunity to integrate many skills including team work, decisionmaking, and communication as well as reinforce 3-Dimensional learning of NGSS (Science and Engineering
Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas and Cross-Cutting Concepts), as well as Common Core Math and RELA.
Working in teams, students design their own experiments to test the behavior of a variety of invertebrate
animals. They will incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills as they randomly choose
an animal, choose a variable to be tested, develop a hypothesis, make a prediction, engineer a device to
test their hypothesis and collect their data. Finally, they will share their results and discuss next steps for
possible presentations of their completed investigations back in the class.
On the following pages are three pre-visit activities available for the teacher to use to help prepare the
students prior to attending time permitting. Pre-visit Activity 1: Scientific Method Foldable allows students
the opportunity to explore their ideas of what is involved in conducting an investigation and understand that
not all scientists approach every problem in the same set or sequence of steps. Pre-visit Activity 2 focuses
on the students chance to explore the engineering design process. Activity 2A: Building a Better Tower is a
correlated activity from Discovery Education’s Science Techbook and Activity 2B: Spaghetti Tower
Challenge is the alternate engineering activity for those without access to Science Techbook. Teachers can
also use/review activities from the new 5th Grade Science Fusion Textbook Unit 1 How Do Scientists Think
and Unit 2 The Design Process. Pre-visit Activity 3: Invertebrates vs. Vertebrates provides students with the
opportunity to review what they learned in fourth grade about classifying animals as vertebrates and
invertebrates as well as encourage conversations prior to the program about invertebrates since they will be
using live invertebrates in their team designed investigations.
When planning to attend this program, the teacher should complete the Team List found on the next page
before arriving to save time. Because students will be working in teams for the entire day, it will be helpful if
the teacher takes a few minutes to place students in teams using the Team List. This ensures that students
are put in groups in which they will work together best and not randomly placed together based on their
place in line when they arrive at the Science Center. Also, due to the length of the program, students
will be provided a 20 minute lunch break during the program; but students must bring their own bag
lunch to the Science Center. The Science Center is not equipped with any cafeteria facilities and cannot
provide food for students who forget their lunch or a place to microwave their lunches. The total time the
students are at the Science Center is 4.0 hours including the program and time for eating lunch.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 2
Mine by Design Team List
Teacher Name ___________________
Number of Students ______________
School Name ________________________
Please take a few minutes to assign students to teams. The ideal is to have each group with four students.
Since part of the program is teamwork, for smaller classes, it is better to have fewer groups with the full
four students in each group than to spread 2-3 students out over all seven groups. Only fill in the fifth
student in a group for classes larger than 28 students.
Blue Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student name
Red Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student Name
Green Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student Name
Purple Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student Name
Orange Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student Name
Yellow Team
1
2
3
4
5
Student Name
Black Team
1
2
3
4
5
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Student Name
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 3
Pre-visit Activity 1 Scientific Method Foldable
Length of Time: 45-90 min
(Optional time modifications)
Introduction:
Objective: Students will create a 6 or 8 Door Foldable to review what they know about the Scientific
Method.
Although the scientific method is often thought of as a linear process with a set number of steps, this is not
the way scientists always think or arrive at their ideas. For example, below are some common set of steps
you may see listed on posters or in books:
Example One
1. Question
2. Hypothesis
3. Procedures
4. Results
5. Conclusion
Example Two
1. Research
2. Question (problem or purpose)
3. Hypothesis (prediction)
4. Materials
5. Variables
6. Procedures
7. Data Collection (conduct experiment)
8. Results
9. Conclusion
Both examples have good information, but which is correct? When should students do research? Do they
only research before beginning the experiment? Are listing variables and materials a separate step or part of
the procedure? Although we teach students steps to follow to help them organize their thinking and provide
consistency in our instruction, it is important for students to understand that the scientific method is more a
process, a way of thinking or approaching a problem than a rigid set of steps.
In this activity students will brainstorm a list of important words associated with the scientific method. Then
create a 6 or 8 Door Foldable to organize their thoughts.
Teacher Materials
 1 copy of Sample Word List
 foldable directions
 blackboard, chart paper or overhead projector
Student Materials
 1 pair of scissors per student (can be shared)
 1 sheet of colored copy paper or construction paper per student (81/2’’ x11’’ or 12’’ x 18’’)
 crayons, markers or colored pencils (optional)
Procedures
1. The teacher has students brainstorm a list of words associated with the scientific method. The list is
written on the chalkboard, chart paper or overhead projector.
2. Depending on the group, the teacher may wish to do this next step with the students or have the students
work in teams. Students use the class list to create ther own list of words, grouping like words or related
words together. (For example, question, problem, purpose are all basically the same or thermometer,
stopwatch, timer, beaker are all materials used to measure).
3. Demonstrate to students how to make a 6 and an 8 Door Foldable. (If you want to be consistent you can
have all the students do a 6 or 8 Door Foldable.) See foldable directions on the next page.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 4
4. Students then look over the list of words they have grouped together and each student decides on the
most important 6 or 8 words to put on the doors of the foldable that best describes the scientific method.
5. Each student writes their 6-8 important words on the doors of the foldable, one word per door. The
student decides in what order to place them.
6. Inside each door flap the student writes a definition or description of the door word using the remaining
words from the class word list for help. (For example, if the student chose to place the word Question on
the door of the foldable, the inside flap might have words like purpose, problem, testable.)
7. Students share which words they put on the doors of their foldables and why. They can also share how
they organized the words (ie. paired words across from each other, steps down left and right, used arrows to
point to connecting words) on their doors. Sharing can occur at tables in teams or can be whole class
sharing. This will help the teacher identify any major misconceptions and guide students in the discussion
of scientific method as a process.
8. Writing Extension: Students answer one of the writing prompts and once they have proof-read and
edited it, they make a final copy on notebook paper that is cut to fit the back of the foldable and then glue
the notebook paper to the back of the foldable.
Writing Prompt 1: Write a summary of what you have learned about the scientific method based on the class
discussion, your foldable and the foldables shared by your classmates.
Writing Prompt 2: Explain why you choose the important words for the doors of your foldable and how they
describe the scientific method.
9. Time saver/ Homework modification: Steps 4-6 can be done as homework. Be sure students
understand how to make the 6 or 8 Door Foldable before leaving class. Otherwise, have them make the
foldable in class but complete the writing parts at home. Just remember to share out the next day! The
writing prompt can be another homework assignment on a separate day.
Example Foldables
Research
Question
Hypothesis
Conclusion
Results
VARIABLES
Procedures
Howard B. Owens Science Center
QUESTION
GRAPHS
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
HYPOTHESIS
problem
research
prediction
conclusion
materials
data
PROCEDURES
CONCLUSION
Fifth Grade
variables
steps
Pre-visit Activities 5
Teacher Resource Page for Activity 1
Sample Word List
This list is just a sample of words students might brainstorm during this activity. It is not an all inclusive list.
The teacher might use a few of the words to get the discussion started or to restart a lagging discussion.
Research
Prediction
Control
Sample size
Conclusion
Materials
Question
Because
Independent
Variable
Trial
Graph
Steps
Purpose
Reason (Why)
Dependent
Variable
Average
Table
Directions
Units
Claim
Metric
Reason
Measure
Argument
Problem
Testable
Responding
Variable
Data
Chart
(conduct)
Experiment
Trend
Constant
Hypothesis
Variable
Manipulated
Variable
Results
Procedures
Investigation
Equipment
Support
Directions for a 6-8 Door Foldable
(These directions can be found in Dinah Zike’s Big Book of Science: Elementary K-6 on page 23, a copy of
which should be available from your school science coordinator. I have modified the directions of a FourDoor Foldable.)
Step 1. Make a shutter fold by turning the paper lengthwise (the long side) and folding each side to the
center of the paper.
Step 2a. To have six doors on the foldable,
fold the shutter fold in thirds, starting
at the bottom.
Step 2b. To have eight doors on the foldable,
fold the shutter fold in half and then in
half again.
Step 3. Unfold the paper. Cut on the small inside folds you just made. These will create the “doors”. Only
cut to where you made the shutter folds at the beginning. Depending on the number of folds you will now
have either 3 or 4 doors on each side of the shutter fold.
Cut on the inside folds,
shown by the dotted line.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 6
Pre-visit Activity 2A: Building A Better Tower Length of Time: 30-45 minutes
Introduction:
Objective: In this activity, students will be able to compare the quality of a tower constructed with one
material and one constructed of three materials with different properties in order to explore the design
process.
Students will engineer their own apparatus in teams during their visit to the center, therefore; it would be
advantageous to have to them engaged in a simple engineering activity prior to coming. The activity has
very low cost materials and is available through the supplemental science materials that can be accessed
through the Discovery Education website for all of our teachers in the county.
Teacher Materials
 Discovery Education Science Techbook Building A Better Tower Student pages
 Discovery Education Science Techbook Build A Better Tower Teacher Guide pages
Student Materials for teams
Materials
Per group A:
• three square-shaped sections of poster board, holes cut or punched along the edges
Per group B:
• four pencils
Per group C:
• roll of wax paper
All groups:
• tape
• rubber bands
• metal brads
The Procedures and Analysis questions are included in the link. Please follow the links and login to
Discovery Education to use this resource.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 7
Pre-visit Activity Two B: Alternative Engineering Activity: Spaghetti Tower Challenge
Length of Time: 30-45 minutes
Introduction:
Objective: Students design and build the tallest spaghetti tower within the requirements in order to explore
the engineering design process.
For teachers who wish to do a second engineering challenge or do not have access to the Discovery
website an alternate engineering activity has been provided.
Teacher Materials
 timer
 meter stick
 samples of engineering design process (a few have been provided as a PPT resource, they are not
all inclusive, teachers may wish use their own)
Student Materials (teams of 4-6)
 20 pieces of spaghetti
 3 feet of tape
 3 feet of string
 One large marshmallow
 scissors
Procedures
1. Students are given 18 minutes to design and build the tallest tower possible using only the
materials available given to them. The structure must support the marshmallow at the top and be
free standing. (Students may not hold onto any part of the tower or its parts to keep the tower
standing.
2. The teacher measures the towers as teams finish and records the team results.
3. Discuss the results and the process they went through to design and build their towers
a. How did you decide on a design?
b. Did your team all work together or have different jobs?
c. What did you do first?
d. Do you feel you were successful? Why or why not?
e. What were the limitations for building? Do you think there are always limits when
engineering? Why are why not?
4. This next step can be done several ways:
a. Have students in teams create a model of what they think the steps of the engineering
process include (2-3 min max). Next have teams share out their models, finding common
concepts (ie, brainstorming might be called generate ideas, sketch or draw etc..) Then
share some common engineering models that are used. Finally ask them which model
most closely resembles what they did. Ask them if they feel like they skipped any
important steps that might have helped them be more successful in building their tower.
b. Student teams research different engineering models on the web and share out which
one/s no more than two per team that they like the most and why. Ask them if they feel
like they skipped any important steps that might have helped them be more successful in
building their tower.
c. Post four or five engineering models around the room. Have students go to the model
they like the most and discuss with the people at that area why they like that model. Ask
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 8
them if they feel like they skipped any important steps that might have helped them be
more successful in building their tower.
5. A great elaboration on this lesson is to share with them the Marshmallow Challenge Video at
http://marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html. Here are a few video strategies:
a. Questions given in advance: What did most teams not leave time for? Which teams were
most successful? What do you need to with the prototype?
b. Phrase Me: Give them a list of words or statements and have them write down a quick
word or phrase to go with it during the video to discuss afterwards
Word/Phrase
Student Comment
Collaboration
Jockey for Power
Single Right Plan
Prototype
Hidden Assumptions
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 9
Pre-visit Activity Three: Invertebrates vs. Vertebrates Length of Time: 30-45 minutes
Introduction:
Objective: Students use a Venn diagram to compare vertebrates and invertebrates or a KWL chart to
discuss what they know about them (This is not a requirement to know. The students will be using
invertebrates in their engineering design investigation).
Students studied invertebrates in 4th grade under the Maryland State curriculum in 2015-16 school year, so
they should have some prior knowledge. This activity can be used in several ways to find out what students
alre During this program students will be designing experiments using one of a variety of invertebrates;
therefore it would be advantageous to the students to understand what invertebrates are and how they differ
from vertebrates.
Teacher Materials
 Discovery Education Science Techbook
 Computer/Internet access
 Venn diagram
 KWL chart
Student Materials
 Discovery Education Science Techbook
 Computer/Internet access
 Copy of Venn diagram (students can share in teams or make their own)
 Or copy of KWL chart (students can share in teams or make their own)
Procedures
This activity can be modified for instruction in several ways. It can be completely teacher led. It can begin
with class discussion, team work and then regroup for team sharing. It can also be done independently and
then discussion at the end. One strategy for this lesson has been shared. It may be modified to meet the
needs of your class.
1. Have a Venn diagram drawn on the board or an overhead projector. Students should also have their
own copies of the Venn diagram or have them take a minute to make their own.
2. Students are asked “What is an invertebrate?” Take several answers. (An invertebrate is an animal
without a backbone.) Write “Invertebrate” as one of the headings for the Venn diagram. Write “no
backbone” inside the circle.
3. Students are also asked, “What is a vertebrate?” Take several answers. (A vertebrate is an animal with
a backbone.) Write “Vertebrate” as the second heading for the Venn diagram. Write “backbone” inside the
circle.
4. Ask students, “What word could we put on the Venn Diagram where the two circles overlap. Take
several answers. (Animal) Students may also come up with other answers like “multicellular” “living”, and/or
“various sizes”. Accept these answers also but be sure to get the word “animal”.
5. Students can now use several of the following resources to further their research
Resources:
Videos from the web (for those who do not have access to Discovery Education Science Techbook)
Vertebrates vs. Invertebrates (time length 01:17) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh7oPMgK82A (DOA:
8/29/16)
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (time length 05:01) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X07ApgAzy8 (DOA:
8/29/16) – note- there are some good examples and pictures in the video but their also a lot of talking with
no words on the screen for visual assistance.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 10
Study Jams by Scholastic- (DOA 8/29/16)- available to everyone
Vertebrates http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/animals/vertebrates.htm
Invertebrates http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/animals/invertebrates.htm
Arthropods http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/animals/arthropods.htm
Discovery Education Science Techbook (These resources are only available to PGCPS
students and can be shared as a class or you can assign them through Discovery Education for the
students to work on their own or in teams.)
The Difference Between Vertebrates and Invertebrates (time length 01:19)- very brief introduction video
stating difference between two groups- could be used to pose the question before starting the Venn
Diagram
What are Simple Animals? (time length 0:1:52)-another very brief introduction video between two groups.
Invertebrates – article on invertebrates in the DocReader (This article can be printed out or read as an entire
class from one computer).
Spineless Wonder- quick, colorful facts about some invertebrates and their abundance in the world- article
on invertebrates in the DocReader (This article can be printed out or read as an entire class from one
computer).
Animals without Backbones - article on invertebrates in the DocReader (This article can be printed out or
read as an entire class from one computer).
Animals with Backbones article on invertebrates in the DocReader (This article can be printed out or read as
an entire class from one computer).
Welcome to the GMS Virtual Zoo Entrance – this is a Boardbuilder board that is very detailed with many
pages- might be a good example of types of things that can be put on a board for a later project.
Use the various resouces provided and have students research the differences and similarities between
vertebrates and invertebrates. You may want to have students differentiate between a specific example like
“Frog” and group or class of animals like “Amphibian”. (ie. They may want to use pencil vs. pen to
distinguish the two types of examples.) Challenge students to find one additional word that can be placed
in the center, especially if you only started with the word “animal” in the center.
6. Have students share one answer from their Venn diagrams to add to the class Venn diagram. Optional:
students can add to their own Venn diagrams if there is room or they can fold their papers in half, turn them
over and continue their lists on the back of the paper. If they do this, be sure they put headings on the back
side of the paper.
7. At the bottom of their Venn diagram have students write a definition of an invertebrate. It may help if
they include an example.
Homework Modification: Have students complete step 5 for homework and then share during the next class
period.
A similar plan can used with the KWL chart, having students list what they know together and then what
they want to learn before giving them time to research 2-3 things they learned.
For more strategies and graphic organizers visit the PGCPS Literacy Tool Kit Google Site
https://sites.google.com/a/pgcps.org/speaking-listening-reasoning/cross-content-graphic-organizers part of
the literacy initiative of Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 11
Sample Venn Diagram (Specific animal examples will vary based on resources used.)
Invertebrate
Vertebrate
backbone
no backbone
ARTHROPODS
grasshopper
BIRDS
FISH
animal
moth
clownfish
REPTILES
MOLLUSKS
AMPHIBIANS
jellyfish
WORMS
MAMMALS
giant clam
bear
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone such as a jellyfish.
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 12
Howard B. Owens Science Center
Mine By Design: A STEM Program
Fifth Grade
Pre-visit Activities 13