Cornell University
Catapults
Ready, aim, fire! Launch to a new level of understanding as scholars build and test their own catapults. Learners explore lever design and how adjusting the fulcrum changes the outcome.
Cornell University
Bridge Building
Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.
Space Awareness
The Big Meltdown
Explore the world (our world) of melting ice caps. Why are these caps melting? What is the effect of melting ice caps? Dive into the ever-present issue of global warming with a resource that has learners looking at data and participating...
Curated OER
Using KidPix
Students discover how to use a software program known as KidPix. They create a slideshow noting the differences between rocks and minerals. They share their slides with the class.
Space Awareness
Oceans on the Rise
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
Earth Watch Institute
Entering Local Groundhog Data in an Excel Spreadsheet
Here is a cross-curricular ecology and technology lesson plan; your learners create spreadsheets depicting the location and number of groundhog dens in a local park. They research groundhogs and analyze data about where the groundhog...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Learners identify predator/prey relationships based on the food web of the tropical rain forest ecosystem and realize they need a food web for survival. In this food web lesson plan, students complete a role play activity being animals...
Curated OER
Earth Energy Budget Pre Lab
Students explore energy by conducting an in class experiment. In this climate change lesson plan, students conduct a water vapor experiment in a soda bottle. Students utilize graphs and charts to analyze the results of the experiment and...
Curated OER
Paper Towers
Students have the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They describe gravity as a universal force that pulls everything toward the center of the earth....
Curated OER
From Rags to (Paper) Riches: Explore Colonial Papermaking
Learners explore Colonial papermaking. In this Colonial America U.S. history lesson, students analyze two poems written in the 1690s about the Rittenhouse paper mill to learn about papermaking. Learners produce their own paper and...
Curated OER
Endangered Animals in Texas
Students research endangered animal in the library and on the Internet for information on its description, habitat, forces causing its decline, and programs to help it; students create slide show about the animal that contains a clay...
Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students construct and maintain a school garden. In this gardening lesson, students plan the construction of the garden by writing letters to local businesses asking for supplies and materials; students build the garden using their math...
Curated OER
The Monarch Butterfly Watch
Students explore monarch migration through the Journey North web site. In this butterfly lesson, students use the internet to identify a butterfly's migration pattern. Students write in electronic journals.
Curated OER
You've Got Rhythm
Students study the rhythm value of a half note, quarter note, whole note, and eighth note. They stamp a rhythm pattern and create a clay animation which demonstrates note value.
Curated OER
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Curated OER
Predicting the Future
Students examine how scientists predict the effects of global climate change. In this environmental science lesson, students participate in a discussion about using computer generated data to create climate predictions. Students examine...
Curated OER
Crops 2: What Plants Need to Grow
Students explore agriculture by participating in a plant growth activity. In this botany instructional activity, students discuss what types of plants grow in their local environment and what the plants need to survive. Students read...
Curated OER
Ziplock Chemistry
Students investigate various chemical reactions when creating mixtures in ziplock baggies. In this chemistry lesson, students will recognize various chemical reactions and cite evidence. Safety and assessment strategies are included in...
Curated OER
Race the Track! Shoot the Loop
Students experiment with a steel ball and matchbox car to find the effects of force and motion. In this force and motion lesson, students assemble a track, conduct experiments and record on a shoot the loop worksheet. Students change the...
Curated OER
Energy Adventure Scavenger Hunt
Students complete a scavenger hunt. In this energy lesson, students use various Internet websites to explore forms of energy, non-renewable sources, renewable sources, electricity, uses of energy and energy efficiency.
Curated OER
Sun and Earth
Young scholars explore the sun, its structure, how big it is and how far away it is. In this solar system lesson students complete a lab activity on dew point and weather.
Curated OER
US Patriotic Symbols: The North American Bald Eagle
Students research the North American bald eagle to determine if this bird's characteristics make it an appropriate symbol to represent the United States as a country. They debate the substitution of other bird species for the eagle.
Curated OER
Crystal Growing
Students explore the different phases of a crystal. In this mineral lesson students grow their own sugar crystals using a sugar recipe.
Curated OER
Pet Rocks
Students complete a variety of activities related to the physical characteristics of minerals. They classify and group candy, classify rocks and complete a Pet River Rock worksheet. Students try to guess which rock goes with each...