Curated OER
The Buoyancy Factor
Students examine why some objects float in water while others sink and the ability of something to float does not depend entirely on its weight. Archimedes' principle is introduced and buoyant force is discussed. Practice calculations...
Curated OER
Clay Boats
Seventh graders are given the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They use both successful and unsuccessful models to make inferences, refine...
Curated OER
Observing and Classifying Rocks
Fourth graders examine various types of rocks and record their properties. They collect rocks at home and bring them to school where they are mixed and distributed to groups of students. After writing their observations on...
Curated OER
Can We Measure the Impossible?
In this measurement worksheet, students explore methods to measure the thickness of foil. They write an essay on how they calculated the thickness of the foil, and the number of atoms thick it is. Students create labeled sketches to...
Curated OER
Sunlight and Warm Air
Students discuss radiant energy from the sun, performing a simple experiment with sun glasses and bright light to demonstrate the concept. Students further participate in simple in-class experiments to demonstrate: air density as it...
Curated OER
Marine Debris on the Chesapeake Bay
Students examine problem of litter and marine debris on the Chesapeake Bay, and experiment with density of marine debris.
Curated OER
Clouds, Winds, and Weather
Students observe, record, and report weather conditions to learn how air mass densities determine the weather we experience daily. They demonstrate how clouds form, name clouds and predict the weather.
Curated OER
pH and Red Cabbage Juice
Students review properties of materials and define what pH tells them about matter. In this pH levels instructional activity, students determine whether materials are acids or bases using indicator substances.
Teach Engineering
Clay Boats
Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Tracking Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
What's that buzzing in your ear? An insightful lesson about genetically modified mosquitoes! Partnered pupils explore the creation, release, and monitoring of mosquitoes designed to reduce the mosquito population. After watching a video,...
Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany)
EMD PTE
You can't tell by the title, but this is a functional periodic table of elements. Incorporating bright colors, lucid text, and easily operated features, this application serves as a valuable reference tool for your chemistry class.
Curated OER
The Magical Diving Sub
First graders discuss and predict if a given object sinks or floats. They record their predictions on a data sheet. Pupils test the objects and organize them into floating/sinking groups. Students observe the floating and sinking of a...
Curated OER
Name That Gas!
Young scientists discover that air is a mixture of different gases - mainly nitrogen and oxygen. The properties of some of the other gases found in oxygen are listed in a table, then learners must decide which one of those gases is...
Curated OER
Phytoplankton in the Gulf of Maine
Students use satellite data to see the correlation between sea temperature and sunlight in the Gulf of Maine. In this phytoplankton instructional activity students use Excel to analyze data.
Curated OER
Dry Ice: Simply Sublime
A fascinating lesson plan on states of matter is here for your young scientists. Dry ice is used to challenge learners preconceived notions about how solids work. They discover all sorts of interesting facts about states of matter from...
Curated OER
Magnus Effect
Students examine the Magnus effect and its history. In this forces lesson students investigate the lift of a rotating cylinder.
Curated OER
Ocean Layers
Learners investigate how temperature and salinity causes ocean layering. In this ecology lesson, students observe and sketch their experimental result. They report their findings in class.
Curated OER
Helping the Body Build Strong Bones
Students explore the effects of diet and weight-bearing activities on bone mineral content. The influence of playing a variety of sports with different weight-loading levels is examined.
Curated OER
Energy from the Sun
In this energy from the sun instructional activity, students are given 20 terms to complete sentences about the sun, the energy of the sun, the radiation of the sun, the transfer of energy from the sun and the currents created by the...
Teach Engineering
Rock and Boat
Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...
Teach Engineering
Measuring Viscosity
Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...
Curated OER
Microbes From a Hay Infusion
Students observe, over time, microbes such as amoebas, protozoa, rotifers and insect larva. They create a hay infusion culture using pond water then sample and record organisms found over a two week period.
Curated OER
Mooring Mobiles Lab
Oceanography experts use candy to construct a model of a bio-physical mooring that would test a variety of factors. Each piece of equipment to be included on the mooring is described within the write-up. As pupils gather the candies for...
Curated OER
Hurricanes
Students state and directly experience two laws of Physics (Law of Gravity, Law of Centrifugal Force) that affect weather. They explain the observations made when using the "hurricane machine" and relate them to other events and phenomenon.