New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 1
Work out your core, Common Core State Standards, through the first workshop in a series of 15 designed for educators. Inquiry-based activities designed for all content areas and grade levels explore the shifts to new standards,...
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 15
What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Ed Online: What Do Inquiry Based Lesson Plans Look Like?
Inquiry-based lesson plans are usually referred to as "facilitation plans," to help teachers remember their role as facilitator of learning, rather than fount of all wisdom. The notion also helps teachers structure lessons more loosely...
University of California
Understanding Science: Newton's 2nd Law: Inquiry Approach Lesson
For this lesson, students develop their own scientific experiment to test Newton's hypothesis that the acceleration of an object depends on the net force acting upon it and its mass. After completing their designed experiment, students...
Other
Duke: Center for Inquiry Based Learning
Duke University has established the Center for Inquiry-Based Learning. It serves to enhance math and science lessons. Click on Resources for good examples of Inquiry-based lesson plans.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Science Education Center
Various middle school science resources from the Smithsonian Institution.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Inquiry Page: Learning Begins With Questions
What exactly is inquiry-based learning? Use this website to learn more about this unique learning style.
Other
Terc: Online Science Athon: Find Out How Tall You Are
Create a Measuring Day at your school and teach your students how to use simple tools to gather, discuss and analyze their own data. This step-by-step lesson plan helps you design an unforgettable day for you and your students. Links to...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Sound: A Lesson in Length and Pitch
In this classroom guided inquiry lesson, students will rotate through five stations of various sound instruments to look at how length affects pitch. The five sound stations include: straw flutes, xylophone, water phone, palm pipes, and...
Other
Ward's Science: Speedy Energy
This is an interactive inquiry where students will investigate the speed of an object and the energy it exerts as it crashes into other objects. Students will understand that the more speed an object has, the more energy it has in a...
NASA
Nasa: Meteorology
Educator's resource guide to be used as a supplement to existing curriculum and to enhance the understanding of inquiry-based learning from both the educator/teacher's perspective as well as from the learner's perspective. Individual...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Digging Up Details on Worms: Using Science in an Inquiry Study
A lesson plan based on a study unit of earthworms, using the inquiry model to integrate scientific processes with literacy practices. Instruction plans, related resources, and standards are included.
BSCS Science Learning
Bscs: Invitations to Inquiry With Data Using Field Scope
Invitations to Inquiry are short instructional activities designed to help middle and high school students work with large data sets. Teachers and students use the interactive FieldScope platform to collect, visualize, and analyze...
California Institute of Technology
Infrared Zoo Lesson 3: The Invisible Zoo
How do biologists and zoologists use infrared technology to learn how warm and cold-blooded animals thermoregulate their internal body temperature? Have your students explore this phenomenon using this great lesson plan.
National Health Museum
Access Excellence Mysteries: The Mystery Spot
Here are a list of interesting interactive mysteries to go along with your science lessons. Students go through a short story and then try to solve the mystery. Topics include space, environmental issues, disease, and forensics. These...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: The American Red Squirrel an Outdoor Inquiry Lesson
For this activity, young scholars are presented with red pine cones that have been partly eaten by the American Red Squirrel, a fact that is not divulged to them at this stage. After a discussion of the possibilities, the class takes a...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Science Is a Wonderland
This is an inquiry lesson plan to teach students critical thinking skills. The student will learn through discovery what inquiry skills are and how they are used. They will learn how scientists use these skills in the scientific method...
Google
Google: Science Fair 2014
An online global competition where students can submit their science fair project. Projects are judged and scored to encourage students to use scientific inquiry. Site also includes a teacher section with lesson plans to help students...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Lip Balm Science
During this lesson, students will make three types of lip balm. They will then predict which lip balm they think will be preferred by testers and test that prediction by collecting data from testers who sample the lip balms. They will...
Other
University of Cincinnati: Project Step: Cell Structure and Function
Engaging, interactive instructional activity focusing on cells being the basic units of structure and function of all living things. Students will be able to explain the different roles of each structure and how they relate to each other.
BioEd Online
Bio Ed Online: Water
The Science of Water Teacher's Guide provides a number of inquiry-based activities for grades 3-5 (although it can be expanded for other grades). The guide contains science lessons that enable students to explore water, behavior of...
Other
Discovery Channel Na Escola (Discovery School Brazil)
This site is divided into three areas: Teachers, Parents, and Students, and complements one-hour educational programs offered by Discovery Channel Brazil. An interactive schedule allows teachers, students, and parents to find activities...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Inquiry Boards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Use these inquiry boards to help guide your lessons and take notes on various observations.
SRI International
Performance Assessment Links in Science: Ice Melting
A lesson plan for guiding students through a simple research experiment focused on transfer of energy is described for teacher administration and student explanation. Also includes a detailed rubric for evaluating student work.