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Tomato Exploration
Create tomatoes in 15-20 minutes using this fun and interactive lesson plan! Learners listen to a book about tomatoes (recommendations listed), and focus on the vocabulary word tomato. They count the syllables...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Radio Reception and Transmission
After reading about radio transmission, application, and the difference between AM and FM, small teams of engineers use a kit to construct an FM radio and then send and receive broadcasts. This is an ideal activity for middle school STEM...
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Interaction at a Distance
Students explore magnetism. In this magnetism lesson, students discover the purpose of different magnets. Students perform an experiment by testing the magnetism through different items. Students collect data on the experiment.
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Cooking with the Sun
Students explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day lesson has groups of students build and test a variety of solar cookers....
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Designing a Crew Exploration Vehicle
Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design instructional activity. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork,...
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Deal or No Deal
Young scholars play a game in order to memorize any set of facts. For this memorization lesson, young scholars play an adaptation of the game Deal or No Deal to help them review and memorize factual information. Young scholars also work...
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Lab for Truss Design and Testing
Students design and build their own truss. In this physics lesson, students calculate the forces and maximum load. They complete a full scale diagram of their design.
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Testing Carving Tools
Students onstruct an ancient bow drill and compare its effectiveness at carving stone to marks made by other tools. They perform a careful analysis of the performance of each tool.
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Learning Paragraph Structure Through Design
Students examine paragraph structure, the writing process, and then design a model for the process. In this writing skills instructional activity, students explore paragraphs using the SmartBoard. Students create a class T-chart about...
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Evidence of Photosynthesis
Hands on science is the way to go! Learners conduct a lab experiment to help them explain how plants make food through photosynthesis. They test for the presence of starch in leaves using iodine solution and identify the basic things...
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Sink or Float?
Young scholars predict and test different items to see if they sink or float. In this sink and float lesson plan, students predict whether an item is buoyant or not, and learn that size and weight do not matter when it comes to buoyancy.
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You are the Microbiologist
In this lesson, students demonstrate comprehension of basic lab techniques by properly using these techniques in preparing a laboratory investigation, demonstrate synthesis of prior lab experiences by solving a new problem using those...
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Juicing the Differences
Seventh graders investigate the vitamin C content of orange juice. In this chemistry lesson plan, 7th graders analyze the variables that cause result variation in their experiment. They design a new experiment to test variables in question.
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Prototypes and Model Designs
Fifth graders examine prototypes and model designs. In this engineering instructional activity, 5th graders build a prototype out of a deck of cards and test their design. Upon completion, students write a letter to an architect which...
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Creating the Ideal Cargo Boat
Students build boats out of clay to test the buoyancy of the boat in water. Students break into pairs and construct their boat to specific guide lines, then experiment with their boat in the water.
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Engineering in a Calculus Classroom
Students solve several differential equations. In this calculus lesson, students test their modulus calculation by testing different weights or beam lengths. They share their findings in class.
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Water Quality
Students play the role of scientists testing for water quality in the area. In this ecology instructional activity, students determine the water sample's pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and turbidity. They write a journal reflection...
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Acid Rain
Learners identify the causes and effects of acid rain. Using the internet, they research pollution sources in their local area and by collecting rain samples and testing the pH. In groups, they develop their own plan urging local...
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Exploring US Foreign Policy after WWII--The Cold War
Scholars explore U.S. Foreign Policy and Cold War ideologies adopted after WWII. They conduct Internet research on a topic or issue related to the Cold War Era, watch two films, and compose a time line and a multimedia presentation to...
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Rainbow Electrophoresis Lab
Students are introduced to the principles of gel electrophoresis. They practice loading gels and pipetting. In this laboratory activity, food color is separated into constituent pigments. The lab can be run with standard electrophoresis...
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World War I
Eighth graders examine the condition of the world from 1880 until the start of World War I. After watching a PowerPoint presentation, they discuss the causes and effects of the war and complete a study guide with a partner. To end the...
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T-Shirt Chromatography
Students study about chromatography, a process used to separate mixtures. They see that chromatography is used to detect, separate or purify different substances. This nice lesson results in a beautiful t-shirt for each student!
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Sit on It!
Students design and create a chair. Students look at current stool design and come up with a prototype from donated materials. Students then test their chair in various settings.
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Wind Tunnels
Pupils build a simple wind tunnel and test out 2 glider wing shapes at different angles of attack. They record results and their observations just as engineers do.