Curated OER
Root Caps and the Effect on Gravity Sensing
Students conduct an experiment to determine how the absence of a root cap affects a plant's ability to sense gravity. They make comparisons between capped and decapped roots.
Kenan Fellows
Designing a Water Treatment Plant
How does dirty water get clean enough to drink? After viewing a PowerPoint that outlines the process water goes through at a water treatment plant, groups work together to design a chlorination chamber for a treatment plant.
Curated OER
How Owly And Wormy Became Friends: Using a Silent Comic To Inspire Creative Writing
Students view a wordless comic before using it as a story starter. They access a story that uses the same characters at a website in order to better understand the nature of the characters. They write a story inspired by the comic and...
Curated OER
Reading and Thinking About Evolution
Students are given a science reading assignment outside the text followed by a discussion on the content. The reading is augmented with a series of thought questions for students to consider prior to class discussion. They direst the...
Curated OER
The Kindness Company
Middle schoolers organize themselves into a simulated company complete with applications, interviews and training. They identify a community need they can fulfill related to cooking or sewing and work to make and deliver the designated...
Curated OER
Biodiversity Study -- A Unit Study
Students sample a site with low human impact, one with moderate human impact, and a third with high human impact. Students chart the data for each site and then compare the sites and discuss.
Curated OER
Take Note2!
Students practice the note-taking skills of Pocket Note Taking, Outlining, and 2 column note taking. They use pocket notes, outlining, and/or two-column notes to summarize information taken from web sites or other sources. Afterward,...
Curated OER
The Watson's Go to Birmingham, 1963
Learners conduct research to obtain geographical information about the author. They create brochures or fliers to highlight the author as a guest at a mock author's conference. They answer questions on the Cyber Fact Scavenger Hunt...
Curated OER
Let's Make a Compost Cake
Students create a compost cake. In this gardening and decomposition science lesson, students review and describe the "nutrient cycle." Students create a compost pile, measure and record the dimensions and temperature of the pile, and...
Curated OER
Gauss' Law
Young scholars derive the equation of Gauss's law. For this physics lesson, students investigate the factors affecting the strength of the electric field. They perform simulation on Gauss's law.
Curated OER
Identify the Phases of the Cell
In this cell phases worksheet, 7th graders study the phases of an onion cell. Students write the onion mitosis cell phases on the lines.
Curated OER
Discover Science
Students practice scientific research skills. In this lesson about science, students gain experience with the following skills: comparison, observation, identification, and data gathering. Students will go from station to station and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Young scholars discover what simple machines are and identify a gear, a pulley, and a lever. In teams, they build at least two models each of simple machines and challenge them with specific instruction cards. Finally, students present...
Curated OER
Making Your Own Sampling Tools
Students examine cause-and-effect relationship between human attitudes and behavior in the environment. They also assist citizens in increasing their sensitivity and stewardship for the environment.
Curated OER
Scientific Method and Graphing
Seventh graders use the scientific method to determine how many seeds are in a watermelon.
Curated OER
What Is the Freezing Point?
Students remove heat energy and determine how it causes a phase change.
Curated OER
Protein Biochemistry: Evidence for Charged Amino Acids in Proteins
Students add the acid and base drop wise as the protein precipitates. If either are added too rapidly, students may miss detail or the protein may not have sufficient time to renature. Casein does not buffer the solution well when it is...
Curated OER
The Average Atom - Isotopes
Seventh graders, in groups, complete an Isotopes model and notice that atomic masses are decimal numbers. These masses are an average of all the isotopes of that element.
Curated OER
Introduction to Dissolved Oxygen and Demonstration of a Simple Test Procedure
Students explain the importance of dissolved oxygen in water ecosystems. They describe the aquatic oxygen cycle and the effect of water pollution on oxygen. They make observations, collect data and draw a conclusion.
Curated OER
Chemical Reactions and Balancing Equations
Students perform various laboratory activities involving chemical reactions. They write balanced chemical equations for all reactions observed using computer software.
Curated OER
Project Geode
Students predict the appearance of a geode's internal structure based on its mass and density. They form a hypothesis based on the data they collect. They also identify common minerals found in Illinois.
Curated OER
Tessellations Lesson
Fifth graders demonstrate their understanding of tessellations by watching a teacher prepared Powerpoint presentation and completing an activity. The students work independently to identify tessellations.
Curated OER
Science: Flight Aerodynamics
Students apply the principles of aerodynamics by constructing styrofoam airplanes. By using simple tools and materials, they improve their spatial visualization abilities while increasing motor skills. After small groups of students...
Curated OER
Analyze This
Sixth graders use a video and the internet to determine whether a game is fair or unfair. In this probabilities lesson plan, 6th graders determine the fairness of a game based on the probabilities of the outcomes.