It's About Time
Making Waves
Young scientists use Slinkys to better understand waves. After creating and measuring many aspects of waves, they complete a handout and homework questions. The resource also introduces the final project for the chapter, though it does...
It's About Time
Detect and Induce Currents
Young scientists recreate an 1820 experiment and build off of it to investigate how to detect and induce electrical currents. As a final activity, scholars answer questions in multiple formats.
Magic of Physics
Moving Toy Mechanisms
Who says playing around in class is a bad idea? Precocious physicists engage in building mechanisms that include cams, gears, pulleys, and levers using an interactive lesson. After completing toy tutorials about each topic, users build a...
Curated OER
What Do You SUBpose?
Submarines are the fous of this math and science lesson plan. In it, learners explore the world of submarines: how they work, and what they are used for. They engage in hands-on activities, watch video clips, and work in cooperative...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Call to Arms
How many simple machines does it take to make a robotic arm? An inquiry-based lesson explores that topic and challenges pupils to build a robotic arm that can stretch, turn, and more. A few questions help guide them in the right...
PHET
Iron Filings and Magnetic Field Lines
How do magnetic fields differ? Allow scholars to see the difference between 2-D and 3-D magnetic fields. They construct models of both and observe how they are similar and different. It is the fifth installment of an 18-part unit.
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...
DiscoverE
Build a Roller Coaster
Let the good times roll as young thrill seekers build a roller coaster on school grounds. Future engineers design and build a roller coaster from flexible tubing. The roller coaster is for a marble, so there will be plenty of room to let...
Serendip
Using Models to Understand Photosynthesis
Is your class in the dark about photosynthesis? Shed some sunlight on an important biological process with a thoughtful activity. After answering questions to help determine their level of knowledge, learners work with chemical equations...
NASA
Determining the Nature, Size, and Age of the Universe
Prompt scholars to discover the expansion of the universe themselves. Using photographs of other galaxies, they measure and then graph the size and distance of each. Finally, they draw conclusions and prove the universe is expanding.
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...
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...
Teach Engineering
Energy Storage Derby and Proposal
Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion, allowing the...
Fall River Schools
Parabolas Are All Around Us
Moving parabolas off of graph paper and into the real world is the task at hand in this detailed poster project. First, learners perform a cumulative activity identifying many characteristics of an assigned quadratic equation. Next, they...
NASA
Measuring Dark Energy
You're only 10 minutes late? Do you know how much the universe has expanded in those 10 minutes? Scholars graph supernovae based on their redshift and see if the results verify Hubble's Law. If it does confirm it, the universe is...
Savvas Learning
Let's Get Moving
Scholars examine, cut, paste, and sort 12 images featuring different types of movement in order to show what they know about energy—potential and kinetic.
It's About Time
The Electricity and Magnetism Connection
Magnets don't grow in fields, but magnetic fields are important to understand. The lesson covers the effect electricity has on magnetic fields. Scholars use a compass, magnets, and electrical wire to test magnetic fields and energy...
UAF Geophysical Institute
Carbon Footprint
Your young environmentalists can calculate their carbon footprint and discuss ways to reduce it with a worksheet about climate change. After reading a handout about what impact one's carbon footprint can have on the environment, kids...
Curated OER
Heat and Thermodynamics
This is actually a 10-day mini unit on thermal energy for your high school chemists. Every avenue is taken to get learners absorbed in heat: a pretest, a PowerPoint presentation, Internet exploration, demonstrations, lab activities, and...
Rainforest Alliance
Colombia Biodiversity
How diverse is the rainforest? How much more diverse is a rain forest than a temperate forest? Explore these focus questions in a lesson that explores the plants, animals, and insects in forests. After listening to a reading about...
Columbus City Schools
Geological Effects of Plate Tectonics
Don't get your classes all shook up about plate movement, instead use a thorough unit that guides learners to an understanding of plate tectonics. The lessons incorporate a study of the types of plate boundaries and their effects on the...
Space Awareness
Measure the Solar Diameter
Scientists could measure the diameter of the sun before they knew its distance. Scholars construct a simple mirror box to measure the diameter for themselves. They compare this measurement with the official size, listed in a textbook,...
Space Race
Sensory Detectives
Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.
University of Texas
Lives of Stars
Stars exist from a few million years to over 10 billion years, depending on their mass. Scholars perform a play acting as stars to learn about their different life cycles. They develop an understanding of many of the fundamental concepts...