The Cave That Stank

About this resource

Under the town of Horse Cave, Kentucky, a river flows through a cave. For 50 years the cave smelled so bad that it was closed. Today, tours are back and cave animals live there again. How did a town clean up a river it couldn’t even see? People change Earth’s land, water, and air — and communities can use science to protect them. In this one-week, 5-level Protecting Earth's Resources unit for 5th grade science (NGSS 5-ESS3-1), students investigate a real mystery, then use their evidence to crack the case.

The Cave That Stank is part of Science Unlocked, a series of mystery-driven lesson sets. Every set opens with a real, surprising phenomenon, builds the science one level at a time, and ends with students solving the mystery in a claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) write-up.

Topics: natural resources, human impact, claim evidence reasoning (CER), science phenomenon, review games.

What's included

• Teacher Deck (83 slides, PowerPoint). Answers are highlighted on the slides. Speaker notes tell you what to say and do, what to watch for, and how to support students or push GT students further. Prep slides and answer keys are hidden, so they skip during a slideshow.
• Interactive Student Deck (50 slides, PowerPoint + PDF). Students type in boxes, drag cards and check marks, and rate their confidence. Assign one copy per student in Google Classroom or your LMS.
• Google Slides versions of both decks. Click a button in the Google Slides Links PDF to make your own copy in Google Drive.
• Teacher Guide (25-page PDF). The standard, a week at a glance, a materials list, misconceptions to watch for, a run-of-show for every level, answer keys and sources.
• Student Printable (15-page PDF + a low-ink greyscale copy). The same tasks on paper in 12 pt type, for students without devices, sub days, or anyone who learns better with a pencil. Slide numbers match the Student Deck.
• Self-grading digital activity. SCORM 2004 and SCORM 1.2 packages for an LMS that accepts SCORM uploads, a web package, and a single HTML file that opens in any browser. Notes, sorts, matches, tables and multiple-choice items grade themselves, and students get a copy-and-paste backup of their work. A 2-page teacher quick start is included.
• Two whole-class review games that open in any browser: a Jeopardy-style game (6 categories, 30 clues) and Trashketball, where teams answer on whiteboards and then shoot for points.
• Kahoot! and Blooket import files. 48 review questions, one file per level plus an all-levels file, with a printable answer key.
• Start Here guide, HTML & SCORM how-to guide and Terms of Use, so you know which file to open first.

The 5 levels (about one 45–50 minute class each)

1. The Cave That Stank. Natural resources, farming, factories, and everyday life change land, water, air, ocean, even space. Key activities: Cave mystery, Farms, Factories, or Everyday Life sort.
2. Case File Detectives. Obtain and combine information from reliable sources, two more communities. Key activities: Trust It sort, 3 Case Files, Combine table.
3. Down the Sinkhole. A system: town, ground, cave river, springs, dye traces, questions science can answer. Key activities: Label the cave system, Follow the Water, the fix that missed.
4. Clean It Up Lab. How a treatment plant cleans water, the town’s fix and the comeback. Key activities: Settle-and-filter lab, clarity ratings, Lab Conclusion.
5. Crack the Case. Stretch MS-ESS3-3: creek bugs as living clues, final explanation. Key activities: Bugs That Grade a Creek, Crack the Case CER.

Built for real classrooms

• Every level follows the same routine: "I can" targets with a confidence check, a warm-up, copy-it notes with a word bank, hands-on practice, a checkpoint students must pass to unlock the next step, and an exit ticket. A 10-item Mini Quiz wraps up the week.
• Level 1 opens with a Power-Up on the earlier-grade ideas this standard builds on (K-ESS3-1, K-ESS3-3, 3-LS4-4, 4-ESS3-1).
• The last level includes a middle school Stretch (MS-ESS3-3) that every student tries and advanced students can take further.
• Hands-on lab (Clean It Up Lab: The Investigation). Student materials list: 2 clear plastic cups of muddy water (your teacher mixed bagged soil, tap water); 1 cut plastic bottle (your teacher cut and taped it), 1 empty cup; Clean gravel, clean sand, cotton balls, 1 coffee filter; A clarity card (a thick black X); Goggles, paper towels. Safety notes are on the slides and in the Teacher Guide.
• Support is built in: word banks, sentence starters and support notes on the slides, plus GT extensions.

Standards

• NGSS 5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about solutions individual communities use to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. (Kentucky 5-ESS3-1 uses the same wording.)
• SEP: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information · DCI: ESS3.C · CCC: Systems and System Models
• Stretch: MS-ESS3-3
• CCSS connections: MP.4, RI.5.7, RI.5.9, W.5.1, W.5.8, W.5.9

Try the digital activity first

• Not sure the self-grading activity will work in your LMS? Download the FREE HTML & SCORM Sample and test it with your students before you buy.

Save with a bundle

• Grade 5 Earth Systems (3 sets)
• Grade 5 Complete (16 sets)
• Science Unlocked Mega Bundle (all 89 sets)

Teach next

• The Rain Mountain (5-ESS2-1)
• The Thirsty City by the Sea (5-ESS2-2)

More from Mystery Lab Learning

• See every Science Unlocked set, and follow to hear when new ones are added, at Mystery Lab Learning.

Good to know

• The illustrations in this resource were created with AI image tools, and AI tools helped draft the lesson text. Every slide, answer key and lab step was then fact-checked against the sources listed in the Teacher Guide and proofread.
• Kahoot!, Blooket, Jeopardy!, Google Slides and PowerPoint are trademarks of their owners. This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
• License: one teacher, for use with their own students. Please buy an additional license for each colleague who uses it.