Curated OER
What Does the Sun Give Us?
Pupils study the sun and how solar energy works. To learn about renewable energy, they complete a lab activity using a pizza box as a solar heater. Quite clever!
California Academy of Science
Dry My Laundry!
Meant to be a pre-field trip instructional activity, this can also serve as a cute and simple activity to use when your little ones are learning about evaporation or surface area. The children cut tiny t-shirts out of paper towel...
Curated OER
Pendulum Lab
Students predict how changing the pendulum components affect its period. In this physics activity, students calculate the period using different masses. They analyze lab result and complete assigned worksheet.
Curated OER
An Introduction to Thermal Spray Technology
Young scholars discuss difference between kinetic and thermal energy, develop and demonstrate understanding of key concepts and characteristics underlying thermal spray techniques, list items used in their daily lives that are coated,...
Curated OER
Einstein's BIg Idea
High schoolers discuss what the m in E=mc2 represent. They relate that mass in a chemical reaction is always conserved. Students convey that atoms rearrange themselves in chemical reactions to form different molecules and compounds.
Teach Engineering
Solar Water: Heat it Up!
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
Columbus City Schools
ABC: Acid Base Chemistry
Bubble, bubble, boil and trouble! What causes common substances like baking soda and vinegar to react the way they do? Welcome your junior chemists to the wonders of acid-base chemistry using a comprehensive and fun...
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
Curated OER
Impulse/Momentum Lab
Students investigate the relationship between force and momentum using motion detectors and sensors. In this physics lesson, students graph experimental results. They calculate impulse using the area under the graph.
Curated OER
Modeling the Process of Mining Silicon Through a Single Displacement/Redox Reaction
Students study silicon and where it comes from. For this solar mining lesson students complete an Internet search of mining and a lab activity.
Virginia Department of Education
Partial Pressure
At some point, everyone has been under pressure—even Dalton! Explore Dalton's law of partial pressures with young chemists as they measure the volume of air extracted from a sample compared to its original volume. Class...
Curated OER
Balancing Bottles
Young scholars explore the Law of Conservation of Matter using effervescent tablets. In this mass and energy lesson, students investigate how mass is conserved in the reaction of effervescent tablets and water. They will discuss...
Curated OER
Luminous Efficacy (Efficiency)
Students examine the basics of luminous efficacy and why it is used. For this light source lesson students test energy efficiency and the luminous efficiency for babies.
Curated OER
Stopping Global Climate Change
Students synthesize or express concepts towards solving the question posed at each lab station about climate change. After all lab teams have finished, the teacher facilitates a class discussion on teams' responses to each station.
Curated OER
Warming by Freezing
Ninth graders discover the reasoning behind spraying water on fruit and seedlings in preparation for hard freezes. For this conceptual physics lesson, 9th graders conduct an experiment to measure the heat released when water goes from a...
Curated OER
Ballistic Pendulum Lab
Young scholars determine the muzzle velocity of projectile launcher. In this physics instructional activity, students compare the pendulum method and kinematic method in calculating the initial velocity. They analyze data and discuss...
Curated OER
Investigation of Hooke's Law Lab
Young scholars determine the spring constant by conducting an investigation. In this physics lesson, students collect data and create a graph of force vs. displacement. They compare the results of two different methods to find spring...
Curated OER
Chemical Composition of American Coins
Young scholars investigate the chemical composition of pennies dated 1983 or later. In this chemical composition of American coins lesson plan, students scratch the surface of the penny to expose the zinc core. They put the penny in...
Curated OER
GUM: More, Less, or the Same?
Learners confirm the law of conservation of matter by weighing chewing gum before and after it is chewed.
Curated OER
Cosmic Ray Momentum
Students describe how cosmic rays achieve high kinetic energy via conservation of momentum.
Curated OER
Glass Transition in a Rubber Ball
Students illustrate the changes in the properties of a material at its glass transition point. They gather data which they use to construct graphs regarding elastic modules versus absorption modulus, tangent delta, and the effect of...
Curated OER
MLA 7th Edition Formatting and Style Guide
Review MLA format, particularly the 7th Edition and its updates. The slides cover the first page of an essay, section headings, in-text citations, formatting questions, and the Works Cited page. This is a great way to make sure papers...
Virginia Department of Education
Mystery Anions
Lost an electron? You should keep an ion them. Young chemists learn qualitative analysis in the second lesson of an 11-part chemistry series. After observing reactions of simple salts, the teacher provides pupils with unknown...
Virginia Department of Education
Molecular Model Building
During this hands-on activity, young chemists build molecular models based on the Lewis dot structure before studying valence shell electron pair repulsion theory.