ninth - twelfth grade

Our purpose is to create an intentional learning experience. To ensure that each student in every grade experiences educational enrichment that corresponds to their classroom learning we have created videos, downloadable handouts, quizzes, and more that corresponds to classroom learning.

ninth - twelfth grade Science Content Standards

The high school science curriculum provides essential preparation for college and career readiness for all students in Grades 9-12. The courses are designed to enable students to attain scientific literacy of the disciplinary core ideas by engaging in science and engineering practices through increased rigor and sophistication to deepen their understanding of science content. By the end of high school, students should have an adequate scientific background to be active, informed citizens and to succeed in both the workplace and in postsecondary courses. Student expectations include the ability to formulate and pose scientific inquiries that establish what is known and what still needs to be understood, to conduct investigations based on well-developed hypotheses, to construct models to explain abstract concepts, to use appropriate tools to obtain numerical measurements that explain mathematical relationships, and to formulate their own explanations of scientific phenomena and be able to use these in problem solving. Finally, students should be able to obtain, assess, and communicate knowledge from scientific literature and construct and engage in evidence-based arguments.

“Plan and carry out investigations (e.g., squeezing a balloon, placing a balloon on ice) to identify the relationships that exist among the pressure, volume, density, and temperature of a confined gas.” 

Supporting Curriculum

Changing pressure, volume, density and temperature of a confined gas adjusts the experiment dramatically. We are going to share with you the process of creating the right water balloon to use in our Water Balloon Battle attraction at Majestic Caverns. In the quiz we are going to show examples of other forms of adjustments with balloons that affect the experiments with balloons. 

“Analyze and interpret data using acid-base indicators (e.g., color-changing markers, pH paper) to distinguish between acids and bases, including comparisons between strong and weak acids and bases.” 

Supporting Curriculum

Let’s look at using tools to distinguish between acids and bases. In our video we will be sharing how carbonic acid reacts with our stalactites. In the video, we are using a piece designated removed stalactite that we show experiments on. This is part of why we do not allow drinks within the caverns, they often have acidic qualities that would damage the formations. In our quiz we will be going more in-depth into what objects would be considered acidic or bases.

“Analyze and interpret data for one- and two-dimensional motion applying basic concepts of distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration (e.g., velocity versus time graphs, displacement versus time graphs, acceleration versus time graphs).” 

Supporting Curriculum

In this video, we will show the process of velocity, speed, acceleration and displacement shown in the Gyro attraction at Majestic Caverns. Our quiz will test your skills at reading graphs created concerning these factors.

“Design, build, and test the ability of a device (e.g., Rube Goldberg devices, wind turbines, solar cells, solar ovens) to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.” 

Supporting Curriculum

There have been many creative inventions that transfer energy from one form to another, such as solar ovens, wind turbines and waterwheels. In this video we will show Majestic Caverns’ waterwheel powered rock saw, which happens to be the only one in the world, This waterwheel was created by Ida Mathis’ great grandson, Allen Mathis, who developed Majestic Caverns into a park with attractions for families.
 

“Formulate an evidence-based explanation regarding how the composition of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) determines the structural organization of proteins.

a. Obtain and evaluate experiments of major scientists and communicate their contributions to the development of the structure of DNA and to the development of the central dogma of molecular biology.” 

Supporting Curriculum

In the following video, we are going to showcase some of the bones that were found in the cave and had their DNA tested in order to understand information behind the species of Mastodons. In our quiz we are going to cover your understanding of what DNA is, the 4 nitrogen bases of DNA, what scientists discovered DNA, which researchers first constructed the DNA model and more DNA facts! We hope you enjoy and learn about this fascinating piece of our biology!

“Analyze scientific evidence (e.g., DNA, fossil records, cladograms, biogeography) to support hypotheses of common ancestry and biological evolution.” 

Supporting Curriculum

Did you know that your DNA is incredibly similar to those of the people around you!

“Use mathematics and computational thinking to express the concentrations of solutions quantitatively using molarity.

a. Develop and use models to explain how solutes are dissolved in solvents.

b. Analyze and interpret data to explain effects of temperature on the solubility of solid, liquid, and gaseous solutes in a solvent and the effects of pressure on the solubility of gaseous solutes.

c. Design and conduct experiments to test the conductivity of common ionic and covalent substances in a solution.

d. Use the concept of pH as a model to predict the relative properties of strong, weak, concentrated, and dilute acids and bases (e.g., Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry acids and bases).” 

Supporting Curriculum

In this video we will be showing how items of differing pHs affect each other. We will be pouring a soda that has carbonic acid on a stalactite made of calcite.

“Identify and analyze forces responsible for changes in rotational motion and develop an understanding of the effect of rotational inertia on the motion of a rotating object (e.g., merry-go-round, spinning toy, spinning figure skater, stellar collapse [supernova], rapidly spinning pulsar).” 

Supporting Curriculum

Do you know what rotational inertia is? It is The moment of inertia, otherwise known as the angular mass or rotational inertia, of a rigid body is a tensor that determines the torque needed for a desired angular acceleration about a rotational axis. Rotational inertia is used in a lot of forms of recreation and energy conservation. Some examples of rotational inertia include spinning toys, merry-go-rounds, and figure skating. A larger example of an object with rotational inertia is our planet.

“Investigate collisions, both elastic and inelastic, to evaluate the effects on momentum and energy conservation.” 

Supporting Curriculum

In this video we are going to share how using elastic surfaces, such as a bow can create energy conservation with propelling an arrow forward. 

“Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain how constructive and destructive processes (e.g., weathering, erosion, volcanism, orogeny, plate tectonics, tectonic uplift) shape Earth’s land features (e.g., mountains, valleys, plateaus) and sea features (e.g., trenches, ridges, seamounts).” 

Supporting Curriculum

Evaluate how changes in erosion, volcanism, plate tectonics and more affect the shape of Earth’s land and sea features.

“Obtain and communicate information about significant geologic characteristics (e.g., types of rocks and geologic ages, earthquake zones, sinkholes, caves, abundant fossil fauna, mineral and energy resources) that impact life in Alabama and the southeastern United States.” 

Supporting Curriculum

In this video we are going to be sharing about the significant geological characteristic, Majestic Caverns, and the impact it has had on life in Alabama. Majestic Caverns was used for thousands of years by local Native American tribes, but it was more recently used as a shelter for moonshiners during the prohibition due to its secluded secrative location.

“Engage in argument from evidence to compare how individual versus group behavior (e.g., flocking; cooperative behaviors such as hunting, migrating, and swarming) may affect a species’ chance to survive and reproduce over time.” 

Supporting Curriculum

Do you know the differences between individual versus group behavior? There are a lot of unique group behaviors that only exist in group behavior, such as flocking, migrating, swarming and more. In the following video we will talk about specific animals that survive in groups. The following quiz will test your knowledge on what animals survive in groups and how this behavior affects their lifespan.

ninth - twelfth grade history

“Evaluate the impact of social changes and the influence of key figures in the United States from World War I through the 1920s, including Prohibition, the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the Scopes Trial, limits on immigration, Ku Klux Klan activities, the Red Scare, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Jazz Age, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, W. C. Handy, and Zelda Fitzgerald.” 

Supporting Curriculum

We’re going to share with you about how Majestic Caverns was used during the Prohibition for making Moonshine. Our quiz will cover this along with several other influential pieces and individuals of this time of time of dramatic change for the United States from World War I through the 1920s.

“Analyze the expansion of suffrage for its effect on the political system of the United States, including suffrage for non-property owners, women, African Americans, and persons eighteen years of age.” 

Supporting Curriculum

We’re going to share how Ida Mathis, who purchased Majestic Caverns in 1912, had an influence on women’s suffrage and the affect that movement had on the political system of the United States.