DiscoverE
Zip Line Challenge
Harness the awesome power of gravity. Scholars build a zip line to transport a ping-pong ball. The challenge is to get to the finish line in under four seconds. At that speed, individuals better be sure to strap on the harness!
PBS
Zip Line
Slide all the way to the bottom. Using the design process, pupils create a carrier for a ping pong ball that will travel down a zip line. Learners test their carriers and determine solutions to issues they encounter to complete the third...
NASA
On Target
NASA's LCROSS mission is dropping a probe into a lunar crater. Groups design a system to travel down a zip line and drop a marble onto a target in the classroom. The groups then modify their designs based upon testing.
Curated OER
Zipping Through Our Solar System and Beyond
Launch your class on an exploration of the solar system. Learners construct solar system models to scale and get a better understanding of our place in the vast void of space. This is a great way for them to cement their understanding of...
Curated OER
Freezing Point Depression
Students create ice cream in a zipped bag and measure the temperature of a salt/ice mixture. They discover how salt lowers the temperature necessary to freeze ice to a solid (below 0'C).
Baylor College
What Makes Water Special?
Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...
NASA
On Target
Crash into engineering by sending a marble to land on a target by way of a zip line. Using a zip line, pupils put engineering design processes into practice by modifying a cup to carry and release a marble onto a target. Scientists test,...
Curated OER
Microbes
Microbiology beginners feed different sweetening agents to yeast and measure carbon dioxide production to estimate energy contained in each. They set the trials up in zip-top plastic baggies and then measure gas volume by water...
Curated OER
Chapter 6 - Practice Problems: Forces
Zip through 13 physics problems with force! Equations are printed in large text in the upper-right corner of the page. Pupils change friction forces, deal directly with Newton's second and third laws of motion, and name fundamental...
Just Health Action
Environmental Justice Matters: Mapping Environmental Justice Impacts (Part 1)
A case study of Seattle, Washington permits class members to compare and rank how different areas of Seattle are impacted by environment burdens. Groups investigate different zip codes, collect data on five categories, and color-code a...
Curated OER
Feed Sacks
Students discuss different types of foods that animals eat. After copying down a list of items that pigs eat, students gather the described food and place samples in a zip lock bag. They tell a friend what pigs eat and then share the...
Curated OER
If Anyone Can, Icon
Students investigate the use of zip code/city searches to locate local weather forecasts. They design icons to be used on a classroom forecast poster.
Curated OER
Moldy Food
Students investigate how mold grows on food. In this mold instructional activity, students review the food pyramid before growing mold on different foods in Zip-Loc bags. They create graphs that show how long it takes for mold to grow on...
Curated OER
Transfer of Motion and Force
Middle schoolers work in groups to discover how to move an object down a zip line. In this engineering design lesson, students find how to use a cup to move a marble, the most efficient way. Middle schoolers...
Curated OER
Keep that Zip! Nutrients: Zinc, Iron, Protein
Students explain the importance of zinc, iron and protein. In this biology lesson, students create a brochure containing information about the three nutrients. They share their brochure in class.
Curated OER
Cladistics Is a Zip...Baggie
Middle schoolers explore how the grouping of organisms based on their shared derived characters forms the basis of a cladogram.
Curated OER
ZIPPLY Delicious Ice Cream
Second graders explore states of matter when they change a liquid to a solid. Working students make ice cream in a zip-lock bag.
Curated OER
Graphing Changes in Weather
Students graph current temperature and weather conditions for three days. In this weather lesson plan, students go to the Weather Channel's website and look up weather for their zip code then graph the conditions and record the...
Project WET Foundation
Explore Watersheds
What makes a watershed? What are the natural and human features of a watershed? How do human features affect watersheds? Where can I find my local watershed? These questions are thoroughly explained in an informative watershed interactive.
Curated OER
Baggie Science
Students work in groups and observe chemical reactions inside zip-lock bags. They use all of their senses, except taste, to observe the reactions.
Curated OER
Soil Analysis
Learners examine zip lock bags of clay, silt, and sand to determine its origin. They rotate through stations to compare different soils and perform oil separation and Tullgren funnel tests.
Beyond Benign
Real Cats Wear Pink
Does your cat sneak up on you in the middle of the night? Maybe it would help if he glowed in the dark like Mr. Green Genes, the first fluorescent cat in America. In a fun and engaging lesson about genetic engineering, high school...
Beyond Benign
Green Chemistry, Biomimicry and Intermolecular Forces
Did you know plywood was invented around 3500 B.C.? It was also featured as something new and unusual at the 1905 World's Fair. Scholars complete an experiment with various types of adhesive. Then they read three case studies and...
Beyond Benign
Climate Change Chemistry
Assist your class with learning the importance of caring for our environment as they complete this fun-filled lesson on climate change. Individuals perform simulations related to greenhouse gases, atmospheric gases, and the overall...