Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Wind Tunnel Testing
One of the factors that automotive engineers must consider is wind drag. The less wind drag, the more efficient the car will be. They perform many tests in wind tunnels, then refine their designs and test again. Using simple materials,...
Pingry School
The Periodic Law
Time to put the knowledge to the test! Young scholars take what they know about the periodic table and build their own from scratch. Using clues from 26 different elements, they place elements in a blank periodic table. The clues include...
Polar Bears International
Taking Action!
Motivate young scientists to stand up and take action with this environmental science instructional activity. To begin, the class works in small groups brainstorming actions that support the conservation of the earth before creating and...
Curated OER
Tools: Science Stations
Students explore technology by completing engineering activities in class. In this simple tools lesson, students utilize three science stations to perform tasks using a nutcracker, bottle openers, hammers and other tools. Students review...
Curated OER
Science and Careers
Students investigate how knowledge of science influences people in their daily lives, specifically in their careers. Students conduct interviews with an individual in a science or technology career as part of their research on the impact...
Curated OER
Science In Society
Fifth graders study diseases that are related to the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, both prescription and illegal. They determine illnesses that can occur as a direct result of the use of or inappropriate use of these substances....
Curated OER
Estimation Task
Upper graders practice their estimation skills by observing different objects then making their best guess without using measuring instruments. Young scholars are asked to estimate mass, length, volume, and area.
Computer Science Unplugged
Marching Orders—Programming Languages
Computers need precise directions to complete a task. Class members experience what it is like to program a computer with an activity that asks one pupil to describe an image while classmates follow the directions to duplicate the picture.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Water from the Well
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California gold...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Milk—How Sweet Is It?
Have you ever wondered why some people are lactose intolerant? Participants test simulated patients in a hands-on lab activity to find out! They learn about lactose intolerance by performing an experiment, analyzing data, and drawing...
It's About Time
Defy Gravity
Test the limits of gravity while encouraging full class participation with this thrilling lesson. Pupils investigate the meaning of work and how it is equivalent to energy. They explore the joule and apply it as a unit of work. They...
Curated OER
Assignment # 1: Merry-Go-Round Story
Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...
University of California
Artificially Selecting Dogs
Selective breeding has resulted in some novel and beautiful or useful dogs over the years. Using the American Foxhound as an example, genetics learners find out how and why they came about. Then, in small groups, they select breeds to...
Teach Engineering
The Grid
Upper graders form a "Presidential Task Force," and attempt to make recommendations concerning the future of the national power grid. After a teacher-led discussion which proves that our nation's energy consumption will soon outpace our...
Curated OER
Exploring How Rocks Are Formed
These lessons produced by the Illinois State Museum are quite good. In this one, third and fourth graders are introduced to the three basic types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. They perform activities which help them...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Free Speech
How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 3
Middle schoolers complete a writing assessment task to demonstrate their ability to craft a narrative based on a variety of informational texts. They view West of the West's documentary Magic Isle, read three print resources about the...
Baylor College
Using Food Labels
Help your class make sense of nutrition labels with the ninth lesson plan of this series. After explaining the different information provided on packaged food labels, perform an activity that demonstrates the amount of sugar in a single...
BioEd Online
Nutritional Challenges
Eating healthy can be a challenge, especially for people with special dietary needs. After learning about standard nutritional needs for adults, learners take on the role of a dietician and work together to create a menu for one of the...
Baylor College
Heart Rate and Exercise
Teach your exercise enthusiasts to read their pulse rate at the radial artery and multiply by four to calculate beats per minute. Learners perform a variety of activities, recording their heart rates after one minute of each. Though this...
Code.org
Practice PT - Tell a Data Story
Show your class how it all comes together. The last lesson in a unit of 15 has individuals take everything they learned in the data section to analyze the class-generated data. The pupils find a story they want to tell that appeals to...
Code.org
Practice PT - Encode an Experience
Encoding What I did Last Summer. Class members develop a way to encode a personal experience using a top-down approach to determine components and sub-components of their experience They then pick one portion of the experience and go...
CCSS Math Activities
Satellite
This isn't rocket science, you know. A performance task has learners use right triangle trigonometry to calculate distances from stations on Earth to a satellite. It also requires finding the distance between two stations along the...
New York City Department of Education
Chris’ Garden Dilemma
Make the connections between area, tiling, and multiplication. A performance task and associated unit presents the concept of area and makes the connection to multiplication. Pupils work through three major sections of instruction that...