Curated OER
Materials We Use
How can you tell if something is made out of wood, metal, or plastic? Kids use noise and visual cues to determine what various household items are made from. They then examine their toys at home and record the materials used to make...
Curated OER
Properties of Materials (with adjectives)
Help your students write descriptive lab reports! Designed for ESL students but useful for mainstreamed kids as well, the activity prompts students to think of substances that match twenty given adjectives ("salt" for "soluble," for...
Curated OER
Waste Aggregates and Material Properties
Students define specific waste materials that could be used as aggregate in concrete. In this aggregate and waste lesson plan, students brainstorm on how to incorporate waste in construction and define different aggregate materials.
Curated OER
One of Our Five Senses - Touch
The wonderful world of Oobleck is entered in order to awaken your learner's sense of touch! As a warm up, learners put their hands in mystery bags in order to identify things that are wet, dry, hot, cold, hard, soft, rough, and smooth....
It's About Time
The Mu of the Shoe
What is mu? Emerging scientists explore the coefficient of sliding friction, or mu, and apply its concepts as they complete activities in the interesting lesson. They measure the sliding friction between soles of their own athletic shoes...
Curated OER
DNA: The Genetic Material
The various experiments and processes that were completed in the 20th century to further our understanding of DNA are summarized here. There are wonderful slides to popularize the scientists who dedicated their professional life to...
Curated OER
Friction
Students explore friction as a force that slows moving objects, explain conclusions in terms of the roughness or smoothness of surfaces, relate results to predictions, and begin to know how to plan a fair test.
Curated OER
Texture - Bumpy, Wrinkled, Smooth?
Students study textures and identify textures using satellite images. In this texture lesson, students study various objects and define their textures. Students feel crayon rubbings and sort them into groups. Students use a book with...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Arctic Smorgasbord
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
Grand Erie District School Board
Model Cell Project
If you're finishing up a unit on cells, here's a great project to get kids collaborating and recalling what they've learned in a fun and tangible way. Small groups create plant or animal cells out of materials they have at home. They use...
American Museum of Natural History
Grow Rock Candy
The best way to study crystals is to make your own! A hands-on lesson shows learners how to make their own rock candy from household materials. While they watch the crystals grow, they discover their structure and can even eat their...
Biology Junction
Cellular Structure
The human body contains more than 200 types of cells, and plants contain many other unique types of cells. While a huge variety of cells exist, they appear to have very similar structures. A detailed presentation describes the structure...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
How Dry am I? Exploring Biomimicry and Nanotechnology
Help your classes feel like they can walk on water! An engaging inquiry-based lesson has young scholars experiment with different surface coatings. They make observations about their properties and how they relate to the surface tension...
Perkins School for the Blind
Tactile Journals
I absolutely love this idea. Children with visual impairments create tactile journals which describe an event from the previous week in an artistic way. They verbally describe one event from the previous week and then use a wide array of...
Curated OER
Texture Pumpkins
I love art and so do children of all ages. Your very youngest learners explore texture as they examine texture on their person, in their classroom, and then apply it to neat clay pumpkins. They roll clay into balls, flatten them out, and...
Curated OER
The Five Senses
Students participate in a scavenger hunt using their sense of sight. They bring various texture materials from home and discuss how things feel. Students identify the smells inside five jars. They discuss things they hear and why hearing...
Curated OER
Texture Sculpture
Learners explore a variety of everyday objects and group them according to their textures. They create a clay portrait, learning how to manipulate the material and tools to create different textures.
Curated OER
Away You Go
Students build Lego cars which have two different types of tire surfaces. They roll them down ramps that have both rough and smooth surfaces to determine how friction affects the car as it rolls.
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Factors Affecting Friction
Students investigate the effect of weight on normal friction or the friction due to surface roughness. They tell about the effects of contact area that occurs as a result of molecular attraction by looking at data on line graphs.
Curated OER
How Does Art Feel
Students examine a variety of textures, one of the seven elements of design. They experiment with various media and techniques to produce different textures. Then they produce two works of art, one using actual textured material and one...
Cornell University
Solar Cells: Juice From Juice
Unleash the power of ... blackberries! Science superstars create solar cells using the juice of berries or leaves of a citrus tree in an engaging lab. In addition to offering a plethora of resources, the teacher's guide gives background...
US Department of Energy
Go Far Cars Ramp: A Basic Ramp with Four Height Settings
Precise measurements make the job easier! One of the challenges when using an inclined plane for testing comes from pupils not using exact measurements. They often rely on books that slide or different ramp lengths when experimenting. By...
Texas Woman’s University
Patterns, Patterns Everywhere!
Not only is pattern recognition an essential skill for young children to develop, it's also a lot of fun to teach! Over the course of this lesson, class members participate in shared readings, perform small group activities, and complete...
Curated OER
Physics on the Playground
Learners investigate friction on a playground slide. In this force and energy lesson plan, students will predict, plan, and implement a scientific investigation to the problem; What materials will allow me to slide the fastest down a slide?