Curated OER
Play Doh Map of Your State
Students create a state map using Playdoh. In this hands-on state geography lesson, students work in groups to form a three-dimensional map of their state using Playdoh made at home following a (given) recipe. Students use four colors...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Nuts! Calculating Thermal Efficiency
Oh nuts! Do macadamias or almonds produce more thermal energy? Energy enthusiasts find out with this experiment. The objective is to demonstrate to your class how the chemical energy contained in foods can be converted into useable...
Curated OER
Let's Heat Things Up!
Students build and evaluate simple models to understand the greenhouse effect. They explore the role of increased greenhouse gas concentration in global warming, and the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves...
Curated OER
Three Clouds Activity
Students understand how clouds are formed. In this cloud lesson, students participate in three experiments to make clouds. Students complete activity sheets for each experiment.
Curated OER
Things Are Heating Up!
Third graders study how heat is produced from mechanical and electrical machines and human activities.
Teach Engineering
Nanotechnology and Cancer Treatments
Information on the biomedical use of nanotechnology, specifically in the detection and treatment of cancer, is the focus of a lesson that seems like it is out of a science fiction novel. Pupils learn about electrophoresis, which is used...
Teach Engineering
Solar Power
How much solar energy is available at my location? An engaging resource provides a presentation along with script to give the class background information on determining solar radiation. Pupils then work through a worksheet to estimate...
Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
Teach Engineering
Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Passive solar heating is a technology that's been in use for thousands of years. Here, elementary schoolers are exposed to this type of heating, the materials that are used in passive solar heating, and they study how engineers design...
Curated OER
Cooking with the Sun
Young scholars explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day instructional activity has groups of students build and test a...
Teach Engineering
Solar Power
Elementary schoolers discover how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings. They take a close look at some of the materials used: sand, salt, water, and shredded paper and evaluate the efficiency of each material. An incredible...
Curated OER
Motion Lotion
Students view a video to explain the meaning of friction. In a hands-on experiment using gelatin, students test the effects of lubrication on friction. They complete a worksheet imbedded in the instructional activity to describe their...
Curated OER
"Heat Transfer and Ice Cream!"
Students analyze earth science by creating a frozen treat in class. In this heat transfer lesson, students discuss how matter is transformed from solid to liquid and liquid to gas when energy is removed from the equation. Students...
Curated OER
First Aid Booklet
Learners engage in a hands-on activity to create their own first aid booklet. In small groups, students define the terms, using their own words, then use the dictionary to complete definitions for any remaining words.
Curated OER
Making Energy "trails"
Students explore ten different stations that demonstrate either chemical, kinetic, or mechanical energy. They examine the way energy is transferred during each station's hands-on activity. Stations include vinegar and baking soda,...
Curated OER
What Is Energy? Short Demos
Students engage in three short, hands-on, in-class demos which expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, students see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, they create paper snake mobiles to...
Curated OER
Warming by Freezing
Ninth graders discover the reasoning behind spraying water on fruit and seedlings in preparation for hard freezes. In this conceptual physics lesson plan, 9th graders conduct an experiment to measure the heat released when water goes...
Curated OER
Why Does a Puddle Shrink?
Fourth graders describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and condensation of water on Earth. They compare evaporation rates when the back of the hand and an equal area of a paper towel are moistened with the wet swab.
Curated OER
Energy Activities
Students conduct a variety of experiments related to solar energy, heating, cooling, gravity, physical insulation and wind. They consider how the experiments relate to energy and the consumption of energy and then participate in a class...
Teach Engineering
Human Power
How many humans does it take to power a light bulb? The 10th part of a 25-lesson Energy Systems and Solutions unit has learners conduct an experiment to calculate power. They then use the results to determine how many classmates they...
Curated OER
What’s That, I Can’t Hear You?
Students investigate forms of energy as well as light and sound. In this science lesson, students participate in hands-on activities that require them to evaluate how sound affects astronauts in flight. A video of this lesson being...
Curated OER
Cell Energy-Bubbling Plants
Students discuss the process of photosynthesis in plants and that oxygen is produced as a by product. They observe underwater Elodea plants "breathing" in a hands-on activity. After setting up the experiment, they observe the plant for...
Curated OER
A New Approach to Developing Images on Clay
High schoolers make story telling plates or tiles based on David Stabely's technique. They are shown slides of original work contemporary artists who are using nontraditional approaches to the clay surface. Students are shown work that...
Curated OER
Science: Daily and Seasonal Cycles
First graders use their observations to describe daily and seasonal cycles. through a demonstration using a suspended ball and flashlight, they determine the time of day in various locations. Next, 1st graders participate in a...