Early Childhood Learning and Knowlege Center
My Body My Senses
In a comprehensive unit of activities, learners explore the five senses. Youngsters discover the many different body parts and their functions that allow humans to have sense of sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. The best way to...
Aquarium of the Pacific
States of Matter: Making Ice Cream
Who knew that learning about the states of matter could taste so sweet? This fun hands-on lesson captures the attention of learners as they use what they know about solids, liquids, and gases to create their very own batch of ice cream.
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion, and...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Seed Dispersal and Plant Migration
There are five methods of seed dispersal. They include gravity, mechanical, animal, water, and air. Scholars study seed dispersal in lesson five of the series of six. Through discussions, hands-on analysis of different seed types, and...
Science Friday
Capturing Carbon Dioxide
Why don't we just capture carbon dioxide in the air and store it somewhere else? A hands-on lesson allows scholars to explore a complex concept. First, they will create a carbonated beverage, and then they will determine if liquid...
University of Minnesota
C. elegans and Alcohol
Investigate experimental design through a hands-on exploration. A creative lesson allows learners to design an experiment to monitor the effects of alcohol on the C. elegans worm. After conducting the experiment, individuals analyze...
It's About Time
Atoms and Their Masses
Are atoms too small to be isolated? Answer this question and more as you provide young chemists with the tools to conduct a hands-on activity demonstrating atomic mass. Pupils explore the mass of copper and aluminum, compare Dalton's...
It's About Time
Special Relativity
According to Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, time moves slower when you're working. That's not quite what it says, and in a hands-on lesson, pupils learn the actual theory. Scholars plot the half life of muons, then compare it...
Discovery Education
Through the Looking Glass
Turning white light into colors only takes a little scientific know how! Young scholars create their own spectroscope in a hands-on activity exploring the properties of light. Using a diffraction grating, they discover how white light...
It's About Time
The Water Cycle
Explore the water cycle with a hands-on earth science activity that prompts pupils to measure the amount of water normally transpired by plants. After they describe the flow of the water cycle and provide examples of how human activities...
Curated OER
Reflection and Refraction
What is a prism? A place for light waves that commit minor refractions! The thorough resource includes three hands-on investigations covering light reflection and refraction; mirrors, lenses, and images; and optical systems. Subject...
Curated OER
Designing a Germination Experiment - Part 1
Students experiment with seeds and germination. In this natural science lesson, students discuss the stages of germination. Students engage in a 4 part hands on science activity to view the process of germination.
NASA
Things Are Not Always What They Seem
Science is magic that works. Magical color-changing beads and a coffee can that follows voice commands are just two examples of magic tricks that rely on science. After completing a hands-on activity and an experiment investigating the...
Science Matters
Thermal Energy Flow in Materials
The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth lesson in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal energy. Scholars build...
American Chemical Society
Energy Foundations
Only 10 percent of an incandescent bulb's energy is used to create light; the remaining 90 percent is heat. In the unit of activities, young chemists examine energy through hands-on activities, videos, discussions, and readings. Scholars...
Biology Corner
Pipe Cleaner Babies
Ever been told you have your father's eyes? How did it happen? Young biologists get a hands-on experience in meiotic gene expression with a fun pairs-based activity. Participants use pipe cleaner chromosomes with trait beads to make...
K-State Research and Extensions
Crystal Shapes
Of quartz I love geology! The chapter offers five activities at three different levels. It features hands-on activities that cover crystal shapes, cleavage and fracture, hardness scale, specific gravity, and mineral identification....
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Drug Adherence and Resistance
The FDA approved more than 25 drugs to treat HIV—and often people must use them in combination. One of the largest challenges with these medications happens due to patient error. Class members use an interactive to learn about drug...
Wild BC
The Greenhouse Effect: Warming the Earth Experiment
First in a two-part lesson on the greenhouse effect, this lesson involves a classroom demonstration of the phenomenon, and a lab group experiment with color and absorption. Although there are easier ways to demonstrate the greenhouse...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
PBS
Breaking it Down
After challenging themselves to correctly choose the form of erosion and length of time required for a given landform to develop, earth science class members model mechanical and chemical weathering with various lab demonstrations over...
Broward County Public Schools
Force and Motion
Get the ball rolling with this upper-elementary science unit on forces and motion. Offering over three weeks of physical science lessons, this resource is a great way to engage the class in learning about simple machines, friction, the...
Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning
CSI: The Experience - Family Forensics
Forensic scientists depend on their observation skills to analyze evidence down to the molecular level. Middle and high schoolers practice making observations and predictions with a series of crime scene activities, which includes a...
Curated OER
Unit 1: Water is Life: The Heart and Science Behind this Phrase
Water, water, everywhere — but will there be enough to drink? Check out these detailed lesson plans to meet NGSS water cycle and CCSS literacy standards in your science classroom. Learners do a close reading of a challenging, poetic text...