Illinois Valley Community College
STEM Activities for Middle School Students
Use STEM activities within the class to provide connections to concepts. The resource includes activities that range from working with buoyancy to building rockets and launching them. Other activities involve the engineering design...
NASA
Ripening of Fruits and Vegetables
How long do fresh foods last in space at the International Space Station? Which foods perish quicker than others? How can astronauts preserve their foods to make them last longer in space? Young scientists test the rates at which...
Curated OER
Estuarine Currents
Students experiment observing a demonstration on models of density-driven currents which are typically found in an estuarine system of water flow. They compare/contrast water temperature and salinity to the formations of estuarine currents.
Curated OER
Sea and Ice Salinity
Learners conduct an experiment. In this salinity lesson, students learn about sea ice, why it is important and how changing amounts can affect the sea. Learners conduct an experiment to find out the effects of salinity on the...
Curated OER
Crazy Chemistry Lesson Plan
Students study water molecules, cohesion and surface tension. For this molecule cohesion lesson students create chemical reactions that cause a balloon to inflate and another one that results in soap suds.
Curated OER
Drought
Students gain knowledge about the impact of drought in agriculture. They investigate soil types, water flow, and various erosion conditions which occur during a drought and see how farming practices changed after the 1930's.
Curated OER
Weathering
In this weathering worksheet, students investigate the effects of water and acid on limestone. They form a hypothesis for both and experiment to find the results.
Curated OER
Combating Corrosion
Study corrosion on bronze statues with a hands-on lesson. As pupils place a penny in water with salt, they observe the changes in the penny throughout a period of a week. They then analyze the pre-conservation and the...
Curated OER
El Nino
Students recognize that El Nino is caused by changes in the atmospheric and ocean content. They conduct a simple experiment, visit websites and create a class poster using individual storyboards.
Curated OER
Somethin' Sweet
Students make their own candy. In this science lesson plan, students observe how molecules interact with each other in physical changes and observe how the addition of heat can cause molecules to interact and form new molecules in...
Curated OER
Cake Batter Lava
Students examine how lava flows change the landscape. In this lava lesson students complete a lab activity where they create a lava flow using cake batter.
Curated OER
Early Earth History
In this earth history worksheet, students answer 12 questions about geological time, the eras of Earth, the changes taking place in early Earth and the life present during the eras. They also answer 2 questions about the Paleozoic Era.
Curated OER
Glaciers and Icebergs
Students conduct an experiment on glacial scraping. In this glacial scraping lesson, students create a small glacier in a plastic cup. Students remove the cup and scrape the glacier across wood and note the markings. Students then make...
Curated OER
Stronger Hurricanes
Students explore hurricanes, the factors that contribute to them, and the role warmer sea surface temperatures may have on them. They perform experiments to observe energy transfer. Students explore the possible causes and effects of...
Curated OER
Coral Bleaching in the Caribbean
Young scholars use authentic satellite data on the NASA website to determine when the sea surface temperature meets the criteria to induce coral bleaching.
Curated OER
Glacier Climbing
Students discuss glaciers and the current distribution of glaciers around the Earth. They create simulated glaciers using cornstarch, shoeboxes, water, and pebbles.
University of California
Plankton
Plankton: so much more than just a SpongeBob character. Three different activities have kids looking at both phytoplankton and zooplankton in pictures, as well as collecting their own samples (depending on your access to a saltwater...
Space Awareness
The Thermal Layers of Oceans
How much does the sun heat up a lake or ocean? Scholars use a cup and a strong lamp to investigate the heat transfer and thermal layers in the ocean to come up with the answer. They collect data and graph it in order to better understand...
Colorado State University
What Is a "Model"?
Model the transfer of energy during a typical 24-hour period. Young scholars use a game-like approach to learning the patterns of heat transfer through the day and night. Groups of four exchange different tokens as the energy...
Curated OER
Correlation Chapter 1
Students compare ways in which people form different cultures think about and deal with their physical environment and social conditions. They identify examples of change and recognize examples of cause and effect relationships. Students...
Curated OER
Is Global Warming Affecting Hurricanes?
In this hurricane worksheet, students use data charts showing the number of hurricanes and the severity of these hurricanes to determine if global warming is causing an increase in hurricanes. This worksheet has 2 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Water and Land 207
Students examine maps of different projections, mathematically calculate distortions, and note the advantages and disadvantages of each map. They study the different maps and transfer the map to graph paper.
Curated OER
Great Glaciers!
Seventh graders study the earths surface and how changes happen to it. For this glacier lesson students complete a lab activity to see how glaciers form.
Curated OER
Heating the Atmosphere
Students construct a thermograph for maximum and minimum temperatures for the 2-week period. They illustrate how the earth's atmosphere is heated by convection and conduction currents and evaporation of water.