Curated OER
Stack It Up!
Students analyze and begin to design a pyramid. Working in engineering teams, they perform calculations to determine the area of the pyramid base, stone block volumes, and the number of blocks required for their pyramid base. They make a...
Curated OER
Constructions and Creations: Sturdy Structures
Have your class draw the plans and design a structure. Learners discuss and investigate the variables in the stability of a 2D and 3D model. They also consider how to add a circuit to the design. Afterwards, they present their work.
Curated OER
Hazards: Fourth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Learn about damage associated with earthquakes and materials that best withstand a quake. A lab engages class members in the experimental design and construction of sturdy structures that can endure various earthquake intensities. Groups...
Curated OER
Building With Triangles
Fourth graders use two different techniques to construct triangles with specific dimensions. They determine how to construct nets for three-dimensional objects focusing on those made with equilateral triangles. They are able to name the...
Curated OER
Make a Zoo
In this unit students work in groups to find out about an endangered animal species. They design a zoo enclosure for the animal and build a scale model. Together the class constructs a zoo! In the process of planning and building the zoo...
Curated OER
Inside the KAO
Students construct a 1/80th scale model of the interior of the KAO aircraft, or lay out a full-scale mock-up in their classroom or auditorium. they calculate the sizes of various sections of the cabin.
Space Awareness
Seasons Around the World
Why does Earth experience summer, fall, winter, and spring? Using an informative demonstration, learners see how the angle of the sun on Earth and the rotation of Earth determine the seasons. Scholars work in pairs to learn that the...
Teaching Tolerance
Identity Portraits
When you look at me, what do you see? Young learners answer this question by creating a portrait that reflects the identity of one of their peers. First, class members create interview questions. Then, they interview classmates to...
Curated OER
Dripping Wet or Dry as a Bone?
Students use a sponge and water model to explore the concept of relative humidity and create a percent scale. They define humidity and saturation, build a simple humidity/saturation model, collect, predict and interpret data, and create...
Curated OER
Earthquakes
Students inspect the causes and effects of earthquakes and examine how seismic waves travel. In this earthquake lesson, students determine where earthquakes happen and why, before determining how to build an earthquake resistant...
Curated OER
Weather with Lewis and Clark: Then and Now
Fourth graders discuss how to accurately measure weather, gather materials in order to make instruments, and build weather instruments in which they measure and record different aspects of weather for a five-day period.
Curated OER
Castles and Cornerstones
Students become familiar with the style of architecture of medieval times. In this architecture lesson, students design a model of a medieval castle including its cornerstone. Students understand scale in their representation.
Curated OER
Balobbyland City Planners
Learners create a mini city using proportions that fit a model human they construct using tin foil. They plan the city including a library, sports arena, living spaces, parks and businesses. When constructing the paper buildings, they...
Curated OER
Roller Coasters
Twisting and turning through the sky, roller coasters are popular attractions at amusement parks around the world, but how exactly do they work? Explore the physics behind these thrilling rides with an engineering design activity....
Curated OER
Pop Rockets
Students work together to design and build a paper rocket. They place a propellant in the contraption to make it fly. They discover Newton's third law of motion.
Curated OER
Crayola® Model Magic® Colored Courtly Characters
Students create a "Noh"-style mask, based on Japanese Noh theatre masks. They experiment with different colors of modeling clay and explore ways to show facial character.
Curated OER
Balanced Or Unbalanced
Learners use physical models and graphs in order to solve problems that have their origin in the real world that require algebraic thinking. The words are changed into equations and inequalities in order to be solved. This requires...
Curated OER
What's The Matter
Young scholars identify and describe the different stages of matter. In groups, the use lego pieces to represent the moving parts of matter. They use the internet to research the meanings of nano, micro and macro sizes. They also use...
Curated OER
Create a microbe
Learners explore viruses and bacteria. They construct three dimensional models of microorganisms recognizing size relationships by comparing the size of viruses with the sizes of bacterial cells.
Curated OER
Hover Above the Earth
Fourth graders build a balloon hovercraft, take direct measurements, answer critical questions, and make calculations using the data gathered in order to see the concept of acceleration as a change in velocity. They use a worksheet...
Curated OER
Eye From the Sky
Students are introduced to the concept of aerial perspective and scale. Students will use satellite technology to view their neighborhoods and sketch the area surrounding their schools. They will take part in a neighborhood walk to view...
Curated OER
A Human-Powered Vehicle for Trans-Glacial Transport
Students practice problem solving skills and experimental design. They build a vehicle that can traverse "glacial" ice capable of carrying a specific load and glide smoothly, creating as little effort as possible for the skier pulling...
Curated OER
Shadow Chasing
The students compare themselves and their shadows to various objects big and small. Students use their data to set up proportions to solve.
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...