Curated OER
Mirror Image
Why does practice make perfect? Give your class insight into procedural memory, where we learn to do new things — then continue to improve through repetition. By attempting to draw shapes while looking in a mirror, learners observe their...
Exploratorium
Skin Shield - Explore the Body’s First Line of Defense Against Pathogens
Make pathogens and the body's defense systems come alive for young biologists in a hands-on activity. Investigators model the skin's protection against infection by observing and comparing changes in a punctured tomato and an intact...
Brine Shrimp: Getting to Know a Salt Water Arthropod
Gather small observations of arthropods. Using brine shrimp, pupils observe the life cycle of arthropods. Learners set up saltwater aquariums and observe the brine shrimp over a three-week period. To finish, they compare and contrast how...
American Museum of Natural History
Trip Up Your Brain
Sometimes different parts of the brain disagree. See what this disagreement looks like using a remote learning resource to experience how brains often take shortcuts. Pupils complete the activity, observe their results, and then read...
American Museum of Natural History
Brain Power
Did you know it's possible to train your brain to work better? Learners use brain games to try to do just that. The games test vision and memory and give them the opportunity to improve their scores. The lesson works as an in-class...
American Museum of Natural History
Differentiate! The Stem Cell Card Game
Let the games grow. Groups play a card game to grow cells. Players start growing cells from stem cells to create specialized cells in the human body. Learners use full-grown cells from the human body to create stem cells in the lab to...
Aquarium of the Pacific
Think Like a Scientist
Scholars watch a video and meet a scientist who is studying sharks as she explains her observations about the sharks and provides her hypothesis to explain their behavior. Learners then act like a scientist as they watch an aquarium...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Utah Open Textbook: 7th Grade Science
Physical and biological factors affect everyday living. Scholars explore electromagnetic forces, motion, the rock cycle, and geological changes. They examine cells as the building blocks of life and how organisms reproduce using images...
National Park Service
The Young Naturalist
Beginning with a brief history of our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, then followed by a discussion of his interest in nature, young scientists take to the outdoors to locate and observe local plants and insects. Scholars return to...
Serendip
Structure and Function of Cells, Organs and Organ Systems
Cells of different organs have unique cell functions. Learn how cell functions vary depending on their roles in the body using an inquiry-based activity. Scholars analyze the cell structure to make comparisons to its functions, allowing...
Nuffield Foundation
Observing Osmosis, Plasmolysis, and Turgor in Plant Cells
Create the perfect conditions for osmosis. Young scholars use a microscope to observe plant cells exposed to distilled water or sodium chloride. They observe how osmosis creates turgid or plasmolyzed cells.
Scholastic
Opioids and the Overdose Epidemic
Learn about the opioid and overdose epidemic in America with an article that explains what opioids are, how they are used, and how they are abused. Learners discover the death rates associated with opioid overdoses and other factors that...
Indiana Department of Education
The Represented World: Communication—Packaging
Challenge your classes to design and market a new product. Collaborative groups use geometry skills to create packaging for their products. Finally, they plan a marketing strategy to present to a marketing specialist.
CK-12 Foundation
Skeletal System Joints: Appendages
The hundreds of joints in the human body fit into five main categories. A quick video explains the joints in the skeleton, which are often the most confusing. The interactive reviews each of the five types of joints and has scholars...
University of Minnesota
Neurotransmission Model
Don't lose your marbles — you'll need them for a activity on neurotransmission. Young scholars build a neurotransmission model using marbles, beads, rubber bands, string, and other elements. After studying specific neurotransmitters,...
CK-12 Foundation
Blood Types
Does your blood type matter? The video explains the four main blood types and the importance of knowing blood types when performing transfusions. The interactive reviews the information with a quick graphic organizer and questions.
CK-12 Foundation
Homeostasis
How much negative feedback does a body get daily? The interactive walks through one negative feedback loop, increasing body temperature. Then it challenges scholars to relate this to mechanical feedback loops and disorders that prevent...
University of Minnesota
Connect the Neurons!
Create a neuron frenzy as your pupils play the part of the neurons. An engaging lesson plan creates a human chain of neurons that pass cotton balls posing as neurotransmitters. Scholars learn about pre- and post-synapses as they complete...
University of Minnesota
Virtual Neurons
It's electric! Young anatomists use Virtual Neurons software to build, control, and analyze complex nerve circuits within the body. Colorful and packed with content, class members enjoy interacting with the nervous system at a personal...
University of Minnesota
Altered Reality
Fascinate young life scientists by showing them how their brain learns. By using prism goggles while attempting to toss bean bags at a target, lab partners change their outlook on the world around them, producing amusing results....
University of Minnesota
Sheep Brain Dissection
Bored with frog and earthworm dissections? Had your fill of fetal pigs? Anatomy young scholars will be intrigued by the sheep's brain, and you will be prepared with guiding questions, extension activities, and pictures as they dissect...
University of Minnesota
Dendritic Spines Lab
This is your brain on drugs ... literally! Your neuroscientists-in-training examine the evidence of drug use on the human brain and how neurons change their connectivity when altered by drugs. They then work together to create testing...
LABScI
The Digestive System: Where Does Food Go?
Would you believe that your digestive system stretches to five times your height?! Help your pupils to understand this relationship as they work through the laboratory exercise. The first instructional activity of a 12-part series is a...
Savvas Learning
"The Digestive Process Begins" and "Final Digestion and Absorption"
Want your class to digest text more thoroughly? Middle schoolers learn about the digestive system in the lesson and reinforce informational text reading skills through a variety of strategies. They engage in a close reading approach,...