It's About Time
The Mu of the Shoe
What is mu? Emerging scientists explore the coefficient of sliding friction, or mu, and apply its concepts as they complete activities in the interesting lesson. They measure the sliding friction between soles of their own athletic shoes...
Cornell University
Predicting Chemical Reactions
Prove the Law of Conservation of Mass through a lab investigation. A well-designed lesson plan asks groups to combine materials and monitor indicators for chemical reactions. Measuring the mass of the reactants and products allows...
Center for Math and Science Education
Solar System Launch
Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of the solar system,...
NASA
Supernova Chemistry
By measuring the wavelength, frequency, and intensity of electromagnetic radiation, scientists determine the temperature, density, and composition of far away items. Scholars rotate through ten lab stations using a spectroscope at each...
Teach Engineering
Efficiency of a Water Heating System
Tired of waiting for hot water? Groups of three determine the efficiency of an electric water-heating device. They calculate the amount of energy it takes to heat the water and the theoretical amount of energy required to heat the water....
Rochester Institute of Technology
Artificial Hearing
Your sense of hearing depends upon tiny hairs deep inside your ear and if you lose these hairs, you lose your hearing. Here, groups explore hearing through the decibel measurement of common sounds. As a class, participants discuss...
Curated OER
Draw an Inch, Walk a Mile
Students work in small groups to solve the problems presented. The main project, mapping the classroom, use these discussions to collaborate in creating a tangible demonstration of their understanding.
University of Wisconsin
What’s a Square Foot Anyway? Laying Out the Design Plan
Clever! Participants don square-foot cardboard shoes to mark out the rain garden plot that they have spent the last few weeks designing. In this way, they are practicing scale modeling as well! Note that this lesson is part of a unit,...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Making Sense of Sensors
Have small groups in your class construct working hygrometers as an example of the benefits of using sensors in engineering. This activity can be used during a weather unit when covering humidity or in a STEM activity as a preparation...
It's About Time
Effect of Lenses on Light
Optometry jokes just get cornea and cornea. Young scientists use a lens and light to create and measure focal points on both a note card and the wall. They then complete a reading passage and questions as homework.
National Institute of Open Schooling
Mole Concept
Learners explore atomic measurement in the first activity in a series of 36. Through readings, activities, and questions, classes review standard SI units, learn about Avogadro's constant, and use it to help them calculate moles. They...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Thick Is a Soda Can I?
The humble soda can gets the geometric treatment in an activity that links math and science calculations. After a few basic assumptions are made and discussed, surface area calculations combine with density information to develop an...
American Statistical Association
Armspans
Young mathematicians collect data on the arm spans of classmates. Then they sort the data by measures of center, spread, and standard deviation. Finally, they compare groups, such as boys and girls, to interpret any differences.
Baylor College
Body Strength
Your young learners will discover how muscular strength and endurance can increase with this truly hands-on activity! Beginning by writing an acrostic for the word strength, class members then engage in tracking their ability to squeeze...
Statistics Education Web
Double Stuffed?
True or false — Double Stuf Oreos always contain twice as much cream as regular Oreos. Scholars first measure the masses of the filling in regular Oreos and Double Stuf Oreos to generate a class set of data. They use hypothesis testing...
Teach Engineering
Bend That Bar
Bend it, but don't break it. Groups investigate the strength of different materials. Using a procedure in the seventh segment of a 22-part series on aviation, pupils determine how far a rod will bend. They determine the strength-to-mass...
EngageNY
Graphing the Sine and Cosine Functions
Doing is more effective than watching. Learners use spaghetti to discover the relationship between the unit circle and the graph of the sine and cosine functions. As they measure lengths on the unit circle and transfer them to a...
Statistics Education Web
Now You SeeIt, Now You Don't: Using SeeIt to Compare Stacked Dotplots to Boxplots
How does your data stack up? A hands-on activity asks pupils to collect a set of data by measuring their right-hand reach. Your classes then analyze their data using a free online software program and make conclusions as to the...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Scale Factor
Does doubling mean everything doubles? Learners adjust the scale factor between two rectangles. Using the calculated measurements, pupils investigate the ratios between the lengths, perimeters, and areas of the rectangles.
NOAA
How Do We Know?: Make Additional Weather Sensors; Set Up a Home Weather Station
Viewers learn about three different weather measurement tools in installment five of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build weather vanes to collect data on wind speed, barometers to determine air pressure, and rain...
EngageNY
Dividing the King’s Foot into 12 Equal Pieces
Apply, apply, apply! A measurement lesson applies a number of concepts to help learn a new construction. Scholars learn to divide a segment into n equal parts using a method that uses the Side Splitter Theorem and a method that applies...
It's About Time
A Running Start and Frames of Reference
Ttake learning to the next level! Individuals research inertial mass, a physical property of matter, and apply what they learn through a series of activities designed to stimulate the senses. They demonstrate Galileo's Principle of...
Computer Science Unplugged
Ice Roads–Steiner Trees
As an introduction to Steiner Trees, class members are challenged to find the shortest paths to connect multiple points. The teacher introduces the problem by showing how to connect three points. Groups then go outside and construct a...
Code.org
Bytes and File Sizes
A bite of bits. The first lesson in a unit of 15 introduces the class to the byte. Pupils learn about other standard units for measuring file sizes, develop an understanding of relative sizes and the kind of units used to measure...