Teach Engineering
Are We Alone?
Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...
Curated OER
Building Soil Nature's Way: Exploring decomposition and soil health
Students explore decomposition and soil health by creating their own garden. In this agriculture lesson, students build a "lasagna garden" with organic matter found in the area and plant perennials native to their region. Students are...
NASA
Erosion and Landslides
A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving activity. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...
American Chemical Society
Why Does Water Dissolve Sugar?
Did you know that if you wait long enough, the M on the outside of an M and M will float to the surface when submerged in water? Learners observe the sugar coating of an M and M while it is dissolving in water. They explain how this...
Colorado Unit Writing Project
Simple Machines
Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning in the...
Curated OER
Troublesome Towers
Students observe solids and identify parts that make up the surface area. For this geometry lesson, students calculate the surface are of solids and cones. They find polygons and solids in the real world.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
What is Groundwater? Our Underground Water Supply
Learn about the consequences of groundwater with a lesson about the different ways California handles water conservation and pollution. After reading a passage about the water table, learners apply what they have read to six...
Curated OER
Area of irregular Polygons: Historical Motivator - Lewis and Clark Adventure
Seventh graders find the area of irregular polygons. For this lesson on calculating area, 7th graders use the adventures of Lewis and Clark as motivation to learn how to calculate the area of irregular polygons.
Curated OER
Athletics Lesson 1
Students practice various distance and sprinting activities. For this physical education lesson, students complete a warm-up of stretching exercises and explore different ways of jumping. Students walk a trail briskly and then jog.
Curated OER
Exploring Area and Perimeter
Two young scholars are blindfolded and each receives a cardboard square, one with pompoms glued around the edge and one with pompoms glued all over the surface. They identify what they feel. The class discusses perimeter and area of...
Curated OER
The Wetlands
Fourth graders learn what a wetland is, where they can be found, and what types of plants, animals and characteristic are associated with the wetlands. They also participate in an activity to explore and enhance their knowledge of...
Curated OER
Water
Students conduct a series of investigations on the unique properties of water. In this general science lesson, students explain what causes water's surface tension. They explain the different stages in the water cycle.
Curated OER
Cell Replication
Students use Internet activities and videos to understand the types of cells, their membranes, and the way that they reproduce. In this cellular biology lesson, students use the Internet to view videos and complete activities. They...
Curated OER
Lesson 5: Untangling DNA
Students extract DNA from split peas. In this biology lesson, students research how chromatin form into chromosomes. They draw the stages and present their work in class.
TryEngineering
Nano Waterproofing
Does your shirt hate water? In the activity, future engineers observe the hydrophobic effect in fabrics. They brainstorm and test some ideas for waterproofing fabrics.
Teach Engineering
Will It Fly?
Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.
Teach Engineering
Scale Model Project
Try your hand at scale models. Scholars create a scale model of an object using a scale factor of their choice. As part of the project, they give presentations on their processes and calculations. This is the last installment of the...
Virginia Department of Education
Going the Distance
Estimate the value of one of the most famous irrational numbers. The hands-on lesson plan instructs classmates to measure the circumference and diameters of circles using yarn. The ratio of these quantities defines pi.
Las Cumbres Observatory
Calculating the Age of Solar System Objects
The number of craters on the surface of solar system objects has a direct correlation to its age. Learners use the concept to determine the age of several objects in the solar system. Using satellite images, they count craters within a...
New Class Museum
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Decoding Images and Vocabulary Activity
To better understand the work of Black Panther logo artist Emory Douglas, learners define literary devices. They define a series of words such as metaphor, simile, and assonance, then place an example of that device found in Emory...
It's About Time
Concentrating on Collisions
How important is momentum? Pupils investigate and apply the definition of momentum as they conduct analyses during a series of one-dimensional collisions. They infer the relative masses of two objects by carefully staging and predicting...
Achieve
Greenhouse Management
Who knew running a greenhouse required so much math? Amaze future mathematicians and farmers with the amount of unit conversions, ratio and proportional reasoning, and geometric applications involved by having them complete the...
Cornell University
Characterizing a Solar Cell
Young classes are sure to get a charge out of this instructional activity! Learners experiment with circuits of a solar cell. They practice determining current, voltage, and power for the circuit and maximize the voltage and current of...
Curated OER
New Boxes From Old
Students find the volume and surface area of a rectangular box (e.g., a cereal box), and then figure out how to convert that box into a new, cubical box having the same volume as the original. As they construct the new, cube-shaped box...