Curated OER
Wind Effects- A Case Study
Students explore hurricanes. In this weather data interpretation lesson, students draw conclusions about the impact of Hurricane Floyd as it related to weather conditions. Students read and interpret a tide data table, a barometric...
Curated OER
Feeling the Heat
Pupils record temperatures at different locations around campus. They examine the results and draw conclusions about how materials and colors affect the amount of heat produced. They also analyze Los Angeles' temperature records over a...
Curated OER
Fish Eyes - More than Meets the Eye
Inform your class about the adaptations in fish eyes: cones, lens size, endothermy, and speed of vision. The adaptations are related to diving behavior. Junior marine scientists compare the adaptations of four different fish species to...
Curated OER
Hazards of Defrosted Food
Peas spoilage hot, peas spoilage cold: examine the bacterial growth on newly defrosted peas versus peas that have been defrosted for 24 hours. Using the session one questions in the "Microbes and Food Spoilage" PDF, learners will make...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
Outside Education
Plant a Plant in Anything!
Primary graders repurpose items brought from home to create containers for plants. After poking holes in their containers, kids add soil and plant seeds or transplant an item, and then observe and draw conclusions about which items make...
EduGAINs
Chemical Properties Investigation
This lesson demonstrates differentiated instruction at its best. Over the course of 2-3 class periods, young chemists have the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of metals and their chemical properties from a variety of...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Around the World
Look at climate change around the world using graphical representations and a hands-on learning simulation specified to particular cities around the world. Using an interactive website, young scientists follow the provided directions to...
CK-12 Foundation
Stow Lake
Does the depth of a pond matter to the waves created when rain is falling? Many people assume the answer is no, but interestingly, it does matter. Pupils explore this concept and other variables related to wave behavior through a...
University of Minnesota
C. elegans and Alcohol
Investigate experimental design through a hands-on exploration. A creative lesson plan allows learners to design an experiment to monitor the effects of alcohol on the C. elegans worm. After conducting the experiment, individuals analyze...
Beyond Benign
Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions
How can you tell the difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions? Chemistry scholars perform and observe two chemical reactions, measure the temperature throughout, then draw conclusions about changes in energy from their...
Beyond Benign
Water Waste
Explore the process of wastewater treatment. Scholars analyze different samples of water before drawing conclusions about the types of chemicals in the water that leaves our homes.
Nuffield Foundation
Effect of Size on Uptake by Diffusion
Cell size is limited by the surface area to volume ratio, but why is this true? Scholars measure the surface area and volume of cubes before placing them into liquid. After a set amount of time, they measure the uptake by diffusion for...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Reading Primary Sources: Darwin and Wallace
Take your classes back in time. Learners read real historical texts from both Darwin and Wallace as well as an announcement of their findings. Using guiding questions, they make inferences and draw conclusions from the information in the...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Look Who's Coming for Dinner: Selection by Predation
What happens when a new predator comes to town? Learners analyze an experiment that studies the effect of predation on selection. They use real data to draw conclusions about the impact a new predator has on a prey species.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Living Dinosaurs: Fact or Fiction?
Are birds descendants of dinosaurs? Learners consider the question as they watch an informative video comparing fossil records of dinosaurs with current species. Following the video, groups ponder the evidence to draw conclusions about...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Battling Vector-Borne Diseases: Factors That Affect the Mosquito Life Cycle
Slow the spread of disease by slowing disease carriers in their tracks. Learners explore just how they might accomplish this as they experiment with the life cycle of a mosquito under different conditions. Scholars design and conduct...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Evolution in Action: Data Analysis
An environmental factor, such as a drought, sometimes speeds up the rate of natural selection. Scholars analyze data on the beaks of birds around the time of the drought. They compare those that survived to those that perished and find...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Milk—How Sweet Is It?
Have you ever wondered why some people are lactose intolerant? Participants test simulated patients in a hands-on lab activity to find out! They learn about lactose intolerance by performing an experiment, analyzing data, and drawing...
NASA
Christa's Lost Lesson: Effervescence
How are chemical reactions affected by gravity? Learners explore the phenomenon of effervescence as part of the Christa's Lost Lessons series. They compare findings in an experiment on effervescence to a video of a similar experiment in...
Purdue University
Animal Diversity and Tracking
What exactly are those glowing eyes in the night? Learners run an experiment to attract local wildlife and then document the number of visitors by identifying their tracks. They then analyze the data to draw conclusions about the types...
Purdue University
The Scientific Process of Conservation Biology: Analyze, Design, Debate
Scientists use data to learn about species survival—and your classes can too! A set of four lessons guides learners through a process to draw conclusions about the fluctuations in the population of the Hellbender species. They read...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Down2Earth: Making Impact Craters
Is the sky falling? Learners use a simulator to modify the mass and velocity of asteroids and collect data on how they influence the diameter and depth of the impact crater. They use their results to draw conclusions and make predictions...
NASA
Exploring the Moon
Can plants grow on the moon? The second instructional activity in a five-part series has pupils explore the resources available on the moon to determine if plant life is possible. They use lava rocks as their soil and draw conclusions...