Mississippi Science E.3.10.4
The Standard
- E.3.10
- Students will demonstrate an understanding that all materials, energy, and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources.
Design a process for cleaning a polluted environment (e.g., simulating an oil spill in the ocean or a flood in a city and creating a solution for containment and/or cleanup). Use an engineering design process to define the problem, design, construct, evaluate, and improve the environment. *
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Earth’s Resources
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify what needs protection in a model spill. They plan and build a cleanup tool, test it, and change it based on what they observe.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student sets a clear goal, such as keeping oil off a beach. They build a barrier, record whether oil gets past it, and explain how a change improves the result.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a tool has cleaned the water just because it touches the oil. They may confuse moving oil elsewhere in the tray with removing or containing it. Some change a design without checking the first result.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Draw a tray with oil spreading toward a beach. Sketch a barrier, label two materials, and describe one test result that would make you change it.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a floating ring from foam strips to contain cooking oil in a water tray; count escaped drops, then tighten the ring.
After testing, ask pairs to write: What escaped your barrier, how do you know, and what will you change?
On a paper spill map, draw three oil paths toward a beach; give pairs five cotton-ball tokens to block the paths.
Show a photo of an oil boom beside a dock; have students sketch where another boom could protect a nearby beach.
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Printable E.3.10.4 Worksheet
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