Curated OER
BUS: The Future Begins Yesterday-Making Medicines
Your learners have all been to the drug store to pick up a prescription, but have they considered working on the other side of the counter? Discuss the potential career possibilities available to those interested in the pharmaceutical...
Skyscraper Museum
What is a Skyscraper?
Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first lesson in this four-part...
Skyscraper Museum
Designing a Skyscraper
Besides serving as awe-inspiring monuments of human achievement, skyscrapers are built to perform a wide range of functions in urban communities. The second lesson in this series begins by exploring the history of the Empire State...
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
Creating buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky is no easy task. The third instructional activity in this series begins with four activities that engage young architects in exploring the major challenges that are faced when...
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
The construction of skyscrapers is no simple undertaking, involving the careful coordination and planning of many different people. The third lesson in this series explores this detailed process by first teaching children about the main...
Carnegie Mellon University
Consumer Preferences in Lighting
What is a watt? This tongue-twisting, mind-bending question and others are answered through this lesson on the different lighting options available. With the support of a PowerPoint, teach your physical science class about units of...
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Introduction to Sailboats
The left part of the boat is called what? An informative instructional activity and accompanying slideshow presentation introduce middle schoolers to the terminology and parts associated with a sailboat.
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Sail Area Calculations
Do bigger sails mean that the sailboat goes faster? Middle and high schoolers compare sailboats, and learn that simply calculating sail area is not enough. A slideshow presentation demonstrates how to calculate the Sail Area to...
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Sailboat Design Requirements
Sailboat design requires more than a half-circle and triangle sketch. After viewing a slideshow presentation that outlines the requirements for sailboat design, learners draw a design, perform the needed calculations, and write a paper...
Messenger Education
Can You Hear Me Now?—Communicating with Spacecraft
Radio signals transmitted to Pluto take five hours to reach their destination! In these two activities, young scientists explore data communication in space. In activity one, pupils learn how data is gathered and sent back to Earth....
Facebook
Social Media and Sharing
Whether it's cute cat videos or pictures from an epic vacation, scholars love to check out what's happening on social media! But, how much sharing is too much? A lesson from a vast digital citizenship series poses some serious points to...
Facebook
Healthy Relationships Online
Chatting, texting, commenting—there are so many options for online communication! How do teens know what's appropriate? Social scholars collaborate to define the elements of a healthy online relationship during an activity-packed digital...
Microsoft
Final Independent Project
Finally ... the final project. As a culminating activity for the nine-part Intro to CS with MakeCode unit, scholars create a program within Minecraft that incorporates skills from the unit. They consider how to survive in the wild and...
Microsoft
Artificial Intelligence
There's nothing artificial about an informative lesson. The eighth of nine parts in the Intro to CS with MakeCode series focuses on artificial intelligence. Scholars learn how artificial intelligence is making its way into society before...
Microsoft
Arrays
Zoos are just elaborate arrays. Scholars learn the meaning of arrays and how to create them in Minecraft. Applying this knowledge, they write a program to create a zoo within the game's world. They also complete an independent project...
Microsoft
Functions and Parameters
Let's hope your program functions correctly. An informative and fun lesson teaches pupils about functions and parameters, both in the real world and in computer coding. A set of activities challenges them to apply their newfound...
Microsoft
Conditionals
The conditions are ripe to learn about conditionals. Young computer scientists consider conditionals in their daily lives, then apply their knowledge to computer coding. The fifth of nine parts in the Intro to CS with MakeCode uses...
Microsoft
Iteration
Learn to code, play, then repeat. The fourth of nine installments in the Intro to CS with MakeCode unit focuses on how to apply iterations in Minecraft. Scholars use the Agent feature and have it dance and build a farm.
Microsoft
Variables
You won't want to replace the resource with anything else. Future computer scientists use Minecraft to learn about variables in computer coding. They engage in several activities to master the variable code block, then apply it in an...
Microsoft
Events and Event-Driven Programming
Make the lesson an event to remember. The first of nine installments in the Intro to CS with MakeCode series looks at events and event handlers in computer coding. Pupils learn about cause and effect from an offline lesson, then use...
Microsoft
Coordinates
What are your coordinates? After learning about coordinate systems in the real world, scholars see how a three-dimensional coordinate system works in Minecraft. They write a program to produce a compass rose and conduct an activity where...
Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative lesson that's sure to get your charges fired up! In it, they use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. One caveat: the kits that each group needs to make their...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Water Chemistry
What are the issues surrounding water quality? Viewers of this short presentation gain information about the importance of clean water, the lack of fresh water, water contamination, and ways that engineers treat water.
Teach Engineering
Exploring Energy: What Is Energy?
...Then the water heater exploded like a bomb. Using a video of an exploding water heater, the resource presents the definitions of energy, potential energy, and kinetic energy to be used in later lessons of the unit.