Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
Maya dropped her phone and the back cracked open. Her brother asked where all those parts come from. "A factory," she guessed. But a factory only puts things together. Every part started in the ground or a forest somewhere on Earth. Your team's job: trace eight ingredients of a phone and a pencil back to where they come from, and explain why they are found there.
Teams of three, with jobs that rotate after four cards: Reader (reads each card aloud), Recorder (fills in the table) and Mapper (walks to the continent signs).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
8 printable pages
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Ingredient cards
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- Ingredient tracker
- Museum label
- Exit ticket
- Ingredient cards
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Reads the data
- Renewable or not
- Explains location
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Where does your stuff come from?” take?
50–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
10 minutes. Print one set of ingredient cards per team and cut it apart. Tape six signs on the walls, one per continent (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania), roughly where they sit on a world map. Print the student sheet for everyone.
What materials do I need?
None. No materials needed: just the printed sheets.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): MS-ESS3-1 (partly). It also matches England National Curriculum, Key Stage 3 and Cambridge Primary Science and Lower Secondary Science (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”, “Ingredient tracker”, “Museum label”, “Exit ticket”, “Ingredient cards”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.