Curated OER
Magnetism
Students explore physical science by participating in a class science activity. In this magnet attribute lesson, students define a list of scientific vocabulary terms associated with magnets and participate in hands on magnet activities....
Curated OER
Investigating Motion
Young scholars explore types of motion. In this motion experiment, students observe how objects move. Young scholars work in small groups to discover the laws of motion.
EngageNY
Graphing Quadratic Functions from the Standard Form
Use context to explain the importance of the key features of a graph. When context is introduced, the domain and range have meaning, which enhances understanding. Pupils use application questions to explore the key features of the graph...
Oklahoma State Department of Education
Narrative Prompt
Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...
Columbus City Schools
History Helps When It Comes To Plate Tectonics
Get ready to move, shake, slip, and slide with a well-rounded plate tectonics unit! The engaging resource includes everything you need to inspire eighth grade science scholars, from worksheets to demonstrations. Assess their...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Your class sets up a mini water cycle model to examine the process. Then they watch an animation, following a water molecule through the cycle. A well-developed lab sheet guides learners through the lesson and a PowerPoint presentation...
Curated OER
Circuit Lab
Students explore the properties of electricity. This lab shows students the need for a circuit in order to have a flow of electricity. It demonstrates Ohm's law, which relates voltage, current, and resistance.
Curated OER
Simple Harmonic Motion
Students study harmonic motion and its oscillation. In this simple harmonic motion lesson students demonstrate a series of regular oscillations and explain the theory behind the experiment.
Curated OER
WHAT HOLDS US TO EARTH?
Middle schoolers they imagine they are Galileo and try to duplicate Galileo's experiments and results.
Curated OER
Communications
Students incorporate different disciplines into this lesson. In this science lesson, students investigate the use of communicating without words, and how it is different than communicating with words. They discuss the pros and cons of...
Curated OER
Weight and Velocity
Students perform an experiment in order to determine how increasing weight affects the velocity of a truck and use the computer to compile their data.
Radford University
Rocket Quads
How high will it fly? Pairs build straw rockets and launch them at different angles and determine the height and horizontal distance of the flight path. Teams make conjectures about how the angle affects the measured distances and use...
Curated OER
Wig-wag Physics
High schoolers 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
Newton's Third Law
Students describe an everyday situation which demonstrates Newton's Third Law. They state Newton's Third Law;"Every action has an equal and opposite re-action, or every force has an equal and opposite force" in their own words. ...
Curated OER
Gyrocopters-Producing Rotary Motion
Students demonstrate rotary motion by practicing with gyrocopters. In this physics lesson students work in groups to construct a gyrocopter and explore how physics effect it torque and inertia.
Curated OER
Catapults!
Students work together to discover the relationship between the angle of catapults and the flight of different objects. They discover the heavier the object the more force is needed. They examine how engineers use this information to...
Curated OER
Newton Must have Been a Sports Fan
Students examine Newton's Laws. In this law of motion lesson, students observe Newton's three laws of physics demonstrated by the teacher. They apply other examples to Newton's first law of inertia.
Curated OER
Electricity Layered Curriculum
Students describe how electric charges exert forces on each other as well as compare the strengths of electric and gravitational forces. They distinguish between conductors and insulators. In addition, students examine voltage and...
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Students explore the physical properties of water. In this water lesson, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. There are 2 extensions for this lesson that one can access via the Internet links provided.
Curated OER
Principles of Flight
High schoolers explore the principles of flight. In this flight activity, students construct a model plane and investigate the forces acting on the flier. They will measure the thrust and calculate the stored energy.
Curated OER
A Model of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Ninth graders explain how a scanning tunneling microscope works. In this chemistry lesson, 9th graders construct atomic models and simulate how their images appear under the STM. They discuss the limitations of their atomic model.
Curated OER
Magnets
Learners investigate the magnetic attraction of different materials by observing a demonstration, and review the words "attraction" and "materials." Next they conduct exploration of a number of materials which have different properties...
Curated OER
Activity Two--Psyching Out the System (Student Page) Asking Questions, Using Clues
Students observe two-dimensional shapes and work on the challenge that what is observed is as important as what is not observed.
Students determine constructions, rules and connections.
Full references listed for further reading and...
Curated OER
Airplanes
Fourth graders experiment with gravity and lift by building paper airplanes. In this physics lesson, 4th graders compare the falling rate of a crumpled vs. flat sheet of paper. Then after class discussion and demonstration of Bernoulli's...