American Chemical Society
Combustion and Burning
On Earth, a candle flame points up, but on the International Space Station, it forms a sphere. Young scientists practice their skills by recording observations before, during, and after a candle burns. Chemical and physical changes...
Curated OER
Classifying Plants and Insects
Art and science come together in a lesson based on Flower Still Life by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Learners classify plants and insects in the painting by color, leaf shape, size, reproduction, and season of bloom.
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth lesson in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with connections to the...
National Wildlife Federation
Quantifying Land Changes Over Time Using Landsat
"Humans have become a geologic agent comparable to erosion and [volcanic] eruptions ..." Paul J. Crutzen, a Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist. Using Landsat imagery, scholars create a grid showing land use type, such as urban,...
NASA
Packing for a L-o-o-o-ng Trip to Mars
Pack just enough to fit. Crews determine what personal items to take with them on a trip to Mars. Each team must decide what to take with them on a two-and-a-half year trip to Mars and whether their items will fit within the allotted...
Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Measure for Measure
How does your class measure up? Young scientists create a scale drawing of the JOIDES Resolution in a collaborative activity. The lesson incorporates mathematical principles with deep-sea exploration to focus on enhancing measurement...
NASA
Cleaning Water
Give young scientists a new appreciation of fresh, clean drinking water. After learning about the ways astronauts recycle their air and water, your class will work in small groups creating and testing their very own water filtration...
Wilderness Classroom
Ocean Life
Our oceans are composed of many complex relationships. Young oceanographers explore relationships between organisms, understand the world ocean's currents, and discover the effects of water pollution and how it behaves. There are three...
DiscoverE
Rubber Band Rovers
Get your learners interested in space exploration. Groups design space rovers using design software and then build prototypes of their designs. The farther the rovers can travel, the better. The catch? The rovers must be powered by...
NASA
Moon Power - Energy and Power
Be over the moon about finding a resource on lunar power stations. An interesting unit composed of 10 lessons has pupils first learn about the energy and power needs of a futuristic lunar colony. They design and build a lunar power...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Carbon Through the Seasons
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...
Space Awareness
The Intertropical Convergence Zone
Young scientists know it is hotter along the equator, but why is it also rainier? Through the process of completing two experiments and a worksheet, scholars discover the answer is the intertropical convergence zone. First, they...
NASA
Stellar Fingerprints and Doppler Red Shifts
Young scientists observe the spectra of elements and compare that to the Doppler effect. Hook scholars from the beginning all the way to the extension activities in this 5E-format lesson.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Analogous Models
What goes into a museum display? A secondary-level STEM project prompts groups to design a museum display for the Tech Museum of Innovation. They create an analogous, interactive model illustrating a science concept to complete the lesson.
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 9
Here's a workshop for teachers that rocks the academic world! Using earthquakes as a medium for instruction, educators learn about crosscutting engineering with science. Fun, hands-on, collaborative exercises encourage participants to...
Curated OER
Radiation Comparison Before and After 9-11
Using the NASA website, class members try to determine if changes could be detected in cloud cover, temperature, and/or radiation measurements due to the lack of contrails that resulted from the halt in air traffic after the attacks of...
Curated OER
Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System
Thoroughly written, this plan walks you through every detail of having your high school astronomers design scale models of the solar system. Complete instructions on building to scale, lesson procedures, and associated worksheets are all...
PHET
Features of the Sun
There are so many things to discover about the sun! Pupils discuss their knowledge of the sun, explore its features, apply their knowledge by labeling photographs, and then reflect on their learning by working in groups to draw and label...
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...
PHET
The Dynamic Nature of the Sun
In this second instructional activity of the series, pupils learn to observe similarities and differences in photos of the sun and record them in a Venn diagram. Then, small groups practice the same skill on unique images before...
Space Awareness
Meet Our Neighbors: Moon
Since a field trip to the moon isn't possible, bring the moon to young astronomers! Participants use everyday materials to create models of the moon and represent the features on its surface. The materials serve as a tactile as well as a...
NASA
Moon Phases and Eclipses
Starry-eyed astronomers draw different views of the Moon in order to introduce its phases. Then they experiment with a ball and a lamp to recreate the phases. A demonstration ensures every pupil understands the process, and the...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this lesson builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of the interiors of...
Teach Engineering
Incoming Asteroid! What's the Problem?
Oh, no! An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth!. Class members must rise to the challenge of designing a shelter that will protect people from the impact and permit them to live in this shelter for one year. In this first lesson...