The pocket mouse can be light brown like the sands of the desert, or dark brown like the volcanic lava flows that are interspersed throughout New Mexico's Valley of Fire. It seems that predators have weeded out light colored mice in this...

A multi-faceted lesson immerses AP biologists into the world of the stem cell. Using PowerPoint presentations, you introduce your class to diabetes and the possibility of finding cures through stem cell research. Online animations and...

Incorporate reading strategies, math, research, and the scientific method into one lesson about water conservation. After reading a story about a landlady trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment, learners develop a...

With the global temperature on the rise, the effects of climate change are starting to be seen. However, many people have a difficult time conceptualizing the long-term effects, such as sea levels rising. Given an easy and effective...

Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...

Just because you can, should you? Reflections on the ethics and limits of medical research are prompted by a reading of excerpts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, viewing of clips from the 1931 film, and examining sections of the online...

Ideal for your electricity unit, especially with middle schoolers, this lesson plan gets engineers using multimeters in electrical circuits to explore the relationships among voltage, current, and resistance. Older learners may even plot...

Here is a tasty challenge, especially for middle school engineers: design a container that meets mass and volume criteria, and will safely transport a tortilla or potato chip through the mail without damaging it! Mostly, this is a crisp...

Get kids' heads spinning by challenging them to design a top that will rotate for a minimum of 10 seconds without leaving a 30-cm circle. Groups of learners collaborate through a planning stage, testing stage, and evaluation stage. Some...

Use the accompanying presentation and colorful technology sheets to introduce your class to the 10 different energy technologies. Connect kids to an interactive computer tool that allows them to combine different types of power...

What effects do temperature and carbon dioxide levels have on the zooplankton of Antarctica? This concluding lesson plan in a short unit on climate change and the ocean helps environmental scientists answer these questions. After...

Open this lesson by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine organisms. They measure...

Amateur seismologists explore Earth's earthquakes in real time using a variety of map styles and parameter selections.

Greek alphabet letters are used to represent words or values in science and math. Keep a list on hand to refer to while working through calculus or physics problems.

Six color posters are included, one for each step of the scientific method. Each step in the process is named, and three points to remember or questions to ask are also included to stimulate thinking.

Physics stars design mobiles that demonstrate rotational equilibrium. They take measurements and solve related equations for force by graphing, substitution, or determinants. This is a well-developed lesson plan, complete with student...

A couple PowerPoint presentations are used to stimulate discussion about the perspectives of different countries on the issue of energy consumption. Afterward, they play a game in which each team is assigned a country, considers its...

After a lecture about how the first industrial revolution triggered the path to climate change, your environmental studies class discusses what the impacts are. In a culminating activity, they get into groups and identify countries on a...

Rotating through five stations, evolutionary biologists explore the question of how changes in DNA facilitate the changes in a population over time. High-quality, colorful cards of animals, skeletons, skulls, and DNA sequences can all be...

A well-written lesson plan, second in a series of four, gets high schoolers exploring how the Antarctic food web is impacted by climate change and the associated melting of polar ice sheets. It begins with a PowerPoint presentation about...

One of the most striking pieces of evidence for Darwin's Evolution of Species was his observations of finches and how their beaks differed from island to island, depending on their primary food sources. So what would happen to the theory...

Designed to accompany the 13-minute video The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes, this handout serves as both a viewing guide during the video and an analysis of how the adaptations of the icefish might help treat...

After reading about the history and recycling of paper, creative crafters collaborate to think of a new process for making recycled paper. A complete teacher's guide and student worksheets are included. There is no written procedure for...

Does the human body evolve as quickly as human culture? With a stellar 15-minute video, explore the trait of lactose intolerance. Only about 1/3 of human adults seem to still have the enzyme lactase and therefore, the ability to digest...