Curated OER
Out of this World: Inquiry-Based Teaching
Connect classroom learning with real-life experiences by using photographs and data taken by the Mars Pathfinder.
Curated OER
Suited for Space
A fantastic instructional activity on survival in outer space should excite your learners! Pupils explore the challenges that living, working, and surviving in space elicit. They focus on the spacesuit itself; how it protects astronauts,...
Space Awareness
Investigating the Atmosphere - Air Takes Up Space
How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...
National Science Teacher Association
Middle School Sampler: Science
Focus on inquiry-based learning in your science class with a series of activities designed for middle schoolers. A helpful packet samples four different texts, which include activities about predator-prey relationships, Earth's axis and...
Space Awareness
History of the Universe
Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the expansive...
PHET
Measuring the Interplanetary Magnetic Field
Scientists need to figure out how to measure interplanetary magnetic fields, but the magnetic field of the spacecraft is interfering with their readings. Scholars attempt to solve the problem that has perplexed NASA scientists for years.
Curated OER
Plants In Space
In this biology worksheet, students grow corn plants in growth pouches as the control group in an experiment on plant growth in microgravity. Then they analyze any differences that occur between Earth-grown and space-grown corn plants.
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: From a Distance
Challenge your class with an amazing set of ideas that really put the project back into project-based learning. It all starts with a whole class research task. Each learner will look up and take notes on multiple facets of things that...
Core Knowledge Foundation
A Time for All Seasons - Spring
Celebrate the arrival of spring with this fun primary grade science unit. Engaging young scientists with a variety of hands-on activities and inquiry-based investigations, these lessons are a great way to teach children about seasonal...
PHET
Earth’s Magnetic Field from Space
Feel the pull of science! The final installment of this 18-part series is an application of everything learned in the previous high school lessons. Scholars are given a magnetic field map and must propose an arrangement of magnets that...
Curated OER
Farming in Space
Learners research, design, and run plant growth experiments online. They explore websites, design an experiment using an animation-based building block program, construct a soda bottle hydroponic production unit and a cardboard plant...
Curated OER
Space
First graders examine space in this unit of lessons. They create a KWL chart and write in their journals about space. They also examine the phases of the moon and identify the constellations.
NASA
Let's Investigate Mars
Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of Earth's nearest neighbor.
Curated OER
Make a Van Gogh-Style Self-Portrait
Learn by doing! Young artists try their hand at creating their own self-portraits in the style of Vincent van Gogh. This learning exercise contains a brief explanation of the essential qualities of van Gogh's art: complementary colors...
Science 4 Inquiry
Expanding the Universe
When Einstein first heard the theory of the expanding universe, he dismissed it as bad physics. Now scholars learn about the theory and how scientists prove it has merit. Through a hands-on simulation and videos, class members measure...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gorongosa: Making Observations Activity
Do you have young scientists wanting to make new discoveries rather than just completing the same experiments? Young scientists use their observational skills to identify animals and patterns in animal behavior. Through tracking...
Curated OER
Fostering Geospatial Thinking: Space to Earth: Earth to Space (SEES)
High schoolers locate and access data to help them with their science inquiry. In this geographical positioning activity students evaluate and compare data sets.
Curated OER
Landscape Painting
Third graders paint a landscape that demonstrates the illusion of space. In this visual arts instructional activity, 3rd graders paint a creek with reflections as the focus and include images showing foreground, middle ground, and...
Curated OER
Planet Impact!
An amazing information-packed lesson plan allows your space scientists to crash a virtual comet into Jupiter and learn how the angle, distance, speed, and mass influence the outcome. Click on "Back to the Lesson" to access the...
Curated OER
African Savanna Habitat Diorama Craft
Set the stage for a unit or lesson on the African savanna by creating a cute habitat diorama. Cheetahs, lions, zebras, and elephants are all present in a shoe-box-sized craft that requires your learners to color, cut, and paste. These...
Mascil Project
Circular Pave-Stones Backyard
Pack the lesson into your plans. Young mathematicians learn about packing and optimization with the context of circular paving stones. They use coins to model the paving stones, and then apply knowledge of circles and polygons to...
Curated OER
How Water Heats Up
Fourth graders conduct experiments heating water. In this inquiry-based early chemistry lesson, 4th graders use the materials given to experiment with the process of heating water. Students draw conclusions based upon their findings...
Curated OER
Questioning NASA
Space science and math collide in this inquiry that investigates launching times for antacid-tablet rockets! Upper elementary or middle school learners collect data as they launch these mini rockets. They apply concepts of place value...
Curated OER
Where in the World is Carbon Dixoide?
Students conduct experiments designed to detect the presence of CO2 by using a BTB that changes color (blue to yellow) in the presence of CO2. First, students experiment with the CO2 from combining vinegar and baking soda. In part two,...