PHET
Planet Designer: Retro Planet Red
What does the atmosphere on Mars look like? This fourth lesson in the series of five is designed for high schoolers. Scholars apply previous knowledge to add atmosphere to Mars in an online simulation. This comprehensive lesson includes...
NASA
Space Shuttle Glider
Your charges will enjoy putting together this model of the space shuttle and completing the three challenge activities described in the lesson plan. The worksheets embedded in the plan that pupils use to cut out their gliders are...
PHET
Planet Designer: Martian Makeover
Mars used to have liquid water, can you make it come back? Use the activity and simulation to understand why Mars lost its magnetic field, why atmosphere is important, and what gravity has to do with it. This is the third activity in a...
Curated OER
Comparison of Snow Cover on Different Continents
Students use the Live Access Server (LAS) to form maps and a numerical text file of snow cover for each continent on a particular date and analyze the data for each map, corresponding text file to determine an estimate of snow cover for...
National Energy Education Development Project
Introduction to Wind Energy
The U.S. produced enough wind energy in 2015 to power all of the homes in Alaska, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and...
Curated OER
Electromagnetic Energy and Its Spectrum
Your older elementary students investigate electromagnetic energy and the electromagnetic spectrum. They will observe 7 items represented in the electromagnetic spectrum and make a poster of all the things the items have in common. After...
Curated OER
Water Cycle Stories
Students explore the water cycle and associated phase changes. They predict what happens to the mass of an ice cube in a Ziploc bag, discuss and act out phase changes and diagram the water cycle.
Curated OER
Terminal Velocity
Students calculate acceleration due to gravity with the measurements of the period of a pendulum or measurements of the time for an object to fall from different heights. They observe and measure the effect of air resistance on the...
Teach Engineering
Incoming Asteroid! What's the Problem?
Oh, no! An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth!. Class members must rise to the challenge of designing a shelter that will protect people from the impact and permit them to live in this shelter for one year. In this first lesson...
Carolina Biological Supply
Aquarium Equilibrium Demonstration
Sometimes equilibrium is a difficult concept for a beginning chemist to grasp. Here is a demonstration that helps them to visualize what is happening at a molecular level. Using two aquariums and different sizes of beakers to transfer...
Tech Museum of Innovation
Analogous Models
What goes into a museum display? A secondary-level STEM project prompts groups to design a museum display for the Tech Museum of Innovation. They create an analogous, interactive model illustrating a science concept to complete the lesson.
Cornell University
Exploring Rocks and Minerals
Investigate the properties of rocks and minerals through a rockin' hands-on activity. Learners test rocks for various properties and, using a guide, attempt to identify different samples. They use various properties including hardness,...
Curated OER
All in the Family: Calculating Cousins
Students view pictures of distant "cousins" to humans. They place them in order by their distance from humans. Students receive a packet of six pages featuring graphics and a cousins summary page. They work in groups to complete 5 cousin...
Discovery Education
It's Getting Hot in Here
Class members engage in a STEM experiment and investigate how materials affect heating in a house by creating models of houses and using different top surface materials. They record the temperature inside the models and consider what the...
Teach Engineering
Clean it Up!
Harness the power of bacteria. Scholars see how using organisms that exist in nature can help solve human problems in the process known as bioremediation. They research and discuss several successful examples, such as using oil-eating...
Curated OER
Solar Sweet Tea
Students study the sun. In this heat energy lesson, students use the sun's warmth to make tea. They place a few jars with tea bags and water in the sun and discuss what the sun is doing to the water while they wait for the tea to brew....
NOAA
Journey to the Unknown
What's it like to be a deep-sea explorer? Tap into the imaginations of your fifth and sixth graders with a vivid lesson, the second part of a six-part adventure. Learners close their eyes and submerge themselves in an expedition aboard...
Curated OER
Shadow Trackers: From Photography to Writing
Learners explore the rotation of the earth. In this science lesson, students view photos of various places around the world. Learners conduct an experiment in which they can see how the earth's rotation creates shadows on the earth.
Curated OER
Seasons' Journey : Putting it All Together
Third graders complete a diagram of the revolution of the earth around the sun and write a one paragraph explanation of the factors that cause seasons.
Curated OER
Musical Plates
Sixth graders engage in a study of the plates and how they are part of the formation of the ever changing landscape of planet earth. They access web sites that have applications for observation and conducting different activities. The...
Curated OER
Soiled Again
Students propose and perform an experiment using the scientific method. The purpose of the experiment is to discern some earth materials or combinations of earth materials that best increases the pH of "acid rain". From the results of...
Curated OER
Biosphere
Young scholars examine the basic biosphere and its components. In this ecology lesson students complete several experiments including designing a system that is balanced to sustain life.
Curated OER
I'm Falling For You!
Third graders are introduced to the concept of gravity by observing different objects being dropped from a high point. In groups, they complete the same activities Galileo did and record their observations. To end the lesson, they...