Curated OER
Pecan Fingerprints
Students investigate the traits that make them individuals. They study that natural items have traits that make them unique by looking at pecans. They make fingerprint animals which they use to design fingerprint cards.
Curated OER
Water Quality
Students are presented with a hypothetical situation to investigate the water quality of the James River. They are given data to analyze and put into the graphic organizer that is included to help solve the problem. The lesson plan...
Curated OER
Four Forces of Flight
Students explore the four forces of flight. They investigate the four forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust and weight (gravity). They experiment with flight-testing various objects commonly found around the house and constructing paper...
Curated OER
Trigonometric Ratios
Learners investigate properties of the unit circle using sine, cosine and tangent. They analyze the answers to questions about the unit circle based on a right triangle.
Curated OER
Transformations of Functions 2
Solving problems on the TI graphing calculator can be quite easy. Students observe the properties of transformation of functions and create a formula for the transformation.
Curated OER
Electricity: Will It Conduct?
Students build conductivity testers and investigate which solids and solutions conduct electricity. Working in groups, they predict which items will conduct electricity and record their answers on worksheets.
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...
National Gallery of Canada
Reading Symbols
Introduce your upper-elementary students to printmaking. Class members view prints, select and research symbols in a piece, and create their own sets of prints using styrofoam trays. Pupils can wash off the paint on their trays to make...
Teach Engineering
Cell Membrane Experimental Design
Grandma said to gargle with salt water for a sore throat. Was she right? In the last part of the seven-part unit, lab groups design an experiment to test a cells reaction to salt solutions. The pupils conduct their experiment to answer...
Curated OER
Physical properties of matter
Sixth graders find the physical properties of matter. In this matter lesson, 6th graders measure mass, volume, and density. Students are broken into 3 tiers with 3 different activities based on their understanding of mass and volume.
Curated OER
Elementary Circuits
In this electrical circuits learning exercise, students answer 12 questions about basic circuits including identifying parts of a circuit, answering questions about shorted circuits and determining if voltage would exist at certain test...
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Cleaning an Oil Spill
Third graders use oil, feathers, eggs, rubber bands, and more to create a simulated oil spill and then clean it up. For this oil spill lesson plan, 3rd graders discuss what their cleaning process is like and how the oceans are effected...
Curated OER
Farming in the 1930's
Students research and conduct experiments with several types of simple machines. They examine levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, axles, wedges and screws and then consider the physics behind "Green Eggs and Ham".
Curated OER
Build a 3-d Plant Model
Third graders construct a three-dimensional model of a flowering plant. They examine the major plant parts and their basic functions. They demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences in the physical...
Curated OER
Learning in Cockroaches
Learners make scientific observations. In this stimulus response lesson, students make observations and collect data to determine if cockroaches can learn. A secondary purpose of this lesson is to provide learners with the opportunity to...
Curated OER
I Can't Take the Pressure!
Students explore the concept of air pressure. Using candy or cookie wafers to model how air pressure changes with altitude, they conduct an aluminum can crushing experiment, compare the magnitude to gravitational force per unit area,...
Curated OER
Plant Needs
Students explore the needs of plants. In this plants biology lesson, students work in groups to perform an experiment with tomato plants. Each group records observations in a journal, takes pictures, and interprets the results of...
Curated OER
A Bugs Life: Diary of an Insect's Metamorphosis
Students play games to learn about the life stages and metamorphosis of different insects. In this insects lesson plan, students discuss the life of insects, and then play matching, vocabulary, and memory games.
Curated OER
Koala Bear Exhibit
Students visit the zoo and study the koala bears. In this habitat lesson, students take a field trip to the zoo and examine the habitat of the koala bears. Students watch videos about koalas and consider the needs of the koalas....
Curated OER
Life Cycle Of Stars
Students analyze characteristics that indicate human life cycles, and then apply these observational principles to various NASA pictures of stars to synthesize patterns of stellar life cycles. They observe NASA images of stars at various...
Curated OER
Light
Fifth graders sit in their seats with the lights on and then the teacher turns off the lights. After their eyes have adjusted, they vote on what colors of construction paper are being held up. The lights are then turned back on and...
Curated OER
Frog and Toad Are Confusing
Third graders are introduced to the similiarties and differences between a frog and a toad. In groups, they compare and contrast them and identify distinguishing characteristics of each. They watch a video on the animals and answer...
Curated OER
Kirchhoff's Laws
In this circuit worksheet students study electronic circuits and how they get power. Students determine polarity and magnitude and work with Kirchoffs laws to answer 48 questions regarding circuits. Answers are revealed when selected.
Curated OER
What Tree is That?
Students examine leaves and the trees in their neighborhood that they came from. In this ecology lesson, students read the book, I Can Name 50 Trees Today, and discuss how a tree goes from a forest to a wood shop. Students find a tree...