Noyce Foundation
Granny’s Balloon Trip
Take flight with a fun activity focused on graphing data on a coordinate plane. As learners study the data for Granny's hot-air balloon trip, including the time of day and the distance of the balloon from the ground, they practice...
Virginia Department of Education
Exponents
Expand your knowledge of exponents with an activity that promotes critical thinking and comparison skills. Middle and high schoolers compare numbers written in expanded and exponential form and explain their strategies for solving...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Reflective Listening Skills
Do you ever feel like your conversation partner is just nodding along as you speak? Encourage teenagers to become reflective listeners with a short activity in which they form responses to assertive statements to reflect what the speaker...
NASA
Lost in Space: Bone Density
If you don't use it, you lose it. Groups work together to compare bone loss on Earth as opposed to bone loss in space. They determine the equations that model bone loss and make calculations to determine the amount of bone loss for...
NASA
Weightless Wonder
A video of the weightless wonder provides a setting for the math to follow. Groups analyze the graph of a quadratic function that models the path of the C-9 as it gives astronauts the experience of weightlessness. Using a graphing...
University of Georgia
Land Biomes Project
Challenge scholars to research a biome and create a presentation for the producers of Survivor to choose their ecosystem for the next season's show. The materials include outlines, worksheets, and grading rubrics for individuals as well...
NASA
Exercising in Space
Using the CEVIS space bike as a context, groups work together to calculate the settings required for astronauts to reach their necessary exercise. Pupils calculate the prescribed exercise settings and complete the last section, which can...
NASA
Ascent: 50 Seconds to MECO
All systems go! With a video and a Google Earth tour as background, pairs investigate two graphs. The graphs display acceleration vs. time and velocity vs. time of a space shuttle launch. Using graphing calculators, the pairs take a...
NASA
Space Shuttle Ascent: Altitude vs. Time
How long did it take to get to that altitude? Using a Google Earth file, groups explore a space shuttle launch. Using a calculator, groups determine the function that models the altitude/time data from an actual launch. With the model in...
NASA
Space Shuttle Ascent: Mass vs. Time
Set the stage for groups of rocket scientists to explore the change in mass of the space shuttle during ascent. Teams work together to graph actual launch data in order to determine the rate of propellent burn.
NASA
Suit Yourself: Fitted for Space
If he keeps this up, will he have enough air? After watching a video about spacewalks, groups of four brainstorm aspects of spacesuit design and present it to the rest of the class. Groups create mathematical models of oxygen use for two...
NASA
Spacewalking
Hold your breath. The video and interactive website introduce the class to spacewalking and spacesuits. Using oxygen data from two astronauts, individuals determine a mathematical model to fit the data. Using that mathematical model, the...
NASA
Rocket Wind Tunnel
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
Learning Seed
The Art of Listening
Conversation isn't just about talking. Help you class work on the important conversational skills with a lesson plan about listening. As youngsters practice making statements and asking attentive questions, they reflect on the way they...
Teach Engineering
Archimedes' Principle, Pascal's Law and Bernoulli's Principle
What do Pascal's law, Archimedes' Principle, and Bernoulli's Principle have to do with fluid mechanics? The included PowerPoint presentation provides the basic definitions and equations associated with the three. A set of homework...
Curated OER
Mass vs. Weight
Why do you weigh more in space? Each individual in your class explores this question and others as they determine the mass and weight of different objects using two types of scales. They perform conversions and discuss their results,...
American Chemical Society
Joseph Priestley, Discoverer of Oxygen
Do you want to hear a joke about nitrogen and oxygen? NO. We all know there is oxygen in the air and that plants produce oxygen, but how was it discovered? Scholars read a handout, answer questions, and analyze material in the...
American Chemical Society
Development of Baking Powder
Did you know baking powder can be used to treat acne, whiten teeth, and make sugar cookies? The lesson on the development of baking powder is ready-to-go with no preparation required. Through readings, pupils answer questions, complete...
American Chemical Society
Man and Materials Through History
From the start of the Industrial Revolution, it only took 147 years for someone to invent plastic. This may seem like a long time, but in the history of inventing or discovering new materials, this is incredibly fast. An informative and...
American Chemical Society
Norbert Rillieux, Thermodynamics and Chemical Engineering
The man who invented the earliest examples of chemical engineering was an American-born, French-educated, free man of color before the Civil War, and went on to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. There is something of interest for almost...
Millennium Schools
Lifestyle Chemistry
My name is Bond, Hydrogen Bond. Written for distance scholars working on chemistry at the high school level, the lesson includes eight weeks worth of material divided into six parts: substances you use, mixing it up, your skin, what's...
University of California
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science instructional activity, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over...
ReadWriteThink
Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
Commercial advertising—we can't get away from it, but do we realize just how often we are being advertised to? With this lesson plan, scholars analyze mass media to identify how its techniques influence our daily lives. Learners browse...
Math Warehouse
Theoretical Probability Activity
If you keep rolling a die, you'll roll a five exactly one-sixth of the time—right? A probability lesson prompts young mathematicians to roll a die 100 times and use the data to calculate empirical probabilities. They then compare these...