Royal Society of Chemistry
Green Plastics—Chemistry Outreach
How do green plastics reduce waste and environmental pollution? Budding scientists create and test a variety of compounds used in green plastics during an insightful experiment. Beginning with startling statistics and ending with...
Curated OER
Layer Cake Archaeology
Excavating cake? Why not! Kids spoon into some layers and artifacts during this tasty hands-on activity. The cake, a simulated archaeological dig, is the object of observation and discussion.
Virginia Department of Education
Igneous Rocks
High schoolers explore igneous rocks by observing rock samples and considering cooling rates and composition. The third installment of a five-part geology series culminates in an activity where learners use igneous rock...
Education Development Center
Choosing Samples
What makes a good sample? Your classes collaborate to answer this question through a task involving areas of rectangles. Given a set of 100 rectangles, they sample a set of five rectangles to estimate the average area of the figures. The...
Virginia Department of Education
Isotopes
Lead your class through the amazing world of isotopes as they investigate the various properties they contain and further understand their respective location on the periodic table. They explore half-lives and radioactivity as each...
Teach Engineering
Making Model Microfluidic Devices Using JELL-O
Nothing flows like J-E-L-L-O! In the final portion of a four-part series, pupils create scale models of microfluidic devices out of gelatin and bendable straws. They use their devices to test various flow rates in the delivery of...
Middle Tennessee State University
The Invention of the Telephone
All of the people in your class would agree that life would be different without the invention of the telephone! Study Alexander Graham Bell's most famous and influential invention through the primary source document of his...
Virginia Department of Education
Solution Concentrations
What happens when you combine 6.022 times 10 to the 23 piles of dirt into one? You make a mountain out of a mole hill. Scholars use dehydration to obtain percent composition and then calculate the molarity of the original...
K20 LEARN
Water We Going To Do? Floodplains And Watershed Management
How has human activity affected Earth's watersheds? An action-packed lesson plan, part of the K20 Center, examines water's ability to go with the flow regardless of what is in its path. Scholars build model watersheds, examine time-lapse...
K20 LEARN
Untwining And Intertwining: Chemical Reactions
What happened when the chemistry teacher told a bad joke? There was no reaction! A creative take on the traditional reaction types activity invites learners to draw their own conclusions about how compounds and elements combine. Groups...
Curated OER
Scale Activities
How do you put something as large as the universe in perspective? Use a series of scale experiments. Classmates collaborate around four experiments to examine the scale of the earth-moon system, our solar system, the Milky Way galaxy,...
Concord Consortium
Deformed Electron Cloud
Dispel the misconception that atoms are always little round balls! Illustrate changes in the electron cloud with an entertaining interactive. Pupils push and pull on the cloud by altering the charge on plates located on either side of...
Concord Consortium
Gas Pressure in a Syringe
Plunge into a gas pressure activity! Junior physical scientists manipulate a syringe to study the particle model of gases. The interactive invites investigations of particle movements in capped versus uncapped syringes.
Curated OER
Open Inquiry Using C. elegans
Ever wondered what motivates a roundworm? Introduce your biology class to C. elegans, a non-parasitic model organism that can help them understand behavioral stimuli. Paired pupils design an experiment to test the worm's reaction to...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Mass Changes in Chemical Reactions—Microscale Chemistry
What better way is there to introduce conservation of mass than a few simple experiments? Young chemists conduct two chemical reactions, take the masses of reactants and products, then compare their results to determine...
Colorado State University
Can it Really Rain Fish and Frogs?
You've heard of it raining cats and dogs ... but what about fish and frogs? It turns out, one scenario is much more likely than the other! Intrepid weather investigators examine the curious behavior of waterspouts using a leaf blower,...
K20 LEARN
Speedy Cat: Enzymes
Enzymes have a need for speed! What happens when they are forced to slow down? A well-rounded lesson plan from the K20 Center examines enzyme activity through role playing and a lab. Biology scholars work in teams and pairs to understand...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 5: Tracking Lion Communities
Researchers in Gorongosa National Park placed cameras there many years ago to understand what was happening with the lion communities that lived there. Little did they know, they opened a door to so much more! Inquisitive...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 4: Gorongosa's Food Webs
Who eats who in the savannas of Africa? Explore trophic levels with part four of an eight-part series of lessons focused around Gorongosa National Park. After young explorers identify animals using trailcam images, they construct a food...
Physics Classroom
Waves - Case Studies
What can your class tell about a wave just by looking at it? Using a simulation, physics pupils work through a series of case studies to determine the effects of speed, frequency, and density on waves. Part of a larger playlist on waves...
Curated OER
Wig-wag Physics
Young scholars make observations on the effects of a small, medium and large weight on the movement of a wig-wag apparatus. They use their observations to develop a generalized inference of the effect weight on movement patterns.
Curated OER
Mystery Boxes
Young scholars make observations about Mystery Boxes that their teacher has made up and describes the motion of the object inside the box and hypothesizes it's shape based on their observations.
Curated OER
Hey, Look Me Over!
Students make observations about mealworms using hand lenses, rulers, and cotton swabs. Students complete their own mealworm observation chart, then they share their observations with the class. This is one station out of five in an...
Curated OER
Snails
First graders investigate the organism known as a snail. They use snails to make observations of the body structure and the basic needs. The class is shown a chart and the teacher uses questions to induce student thinking. Then they...