Middle School Engineering Design
Design and Evaluate an Experiment
Two ways to measure the same thing. Which one held up?
Algae and brine shrimp are cheap, fast and forgiving, so a class can afford to try two methods side by side. Students set the rules for a fair test first, run both, and explain which method met them.
How the lab meets it
What students do that satisfies the standard
NGSS MS-ETS1-1
Standard: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.\nWhat the kit does: Before any bag is set up, students write down what a fair test needs and what limits them: time, light, space, and live animals.
NGSS MS-ETS1-2
Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.\nWhat the kit does: Students run two methods for the same measurement and score each against the criteria they wrote.
Texas 8.2.D
Standard: Evaluate experimental and engineering designs.\nWhat the kit does: Students run two methods for the same measurement side by side, then judge which design gave the more trustworthy result and why. The same wording appears in grades 6 and 7, so this lab works at any middle school grade in Texas.
Florida SC.8.N.1.1
Standard: Define a problem from the eighth grade curriculum using appropriate reference materials to support scientific understanding, plan and carry out scientific investigations of various types, such as systematic observations or experiments, identify variables, collect and organize data, interpret data in charts, tables, and graphics, analyze information, make predictions, and defend conclusions.\nWhat the kit does: Students define the problem, set the variables for a fair test, collect data from both methods, and defend which one worked better. Honest fit: partial. Florida does not have a middle school engineering design benchmark, so this investigation benchmark is the nearest. It covers the planning and data but not the comparing of two designs.
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Microplastics and Brine Shrimp
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Toxicity Testing Using Brine Shrimp
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