After reading up on the history of sports racquets, engineering teams design and construct a racquet for batting a Velcro-striped ball at a target. Teams evaluate their design by aiming for the target three times each and answering...

Students experiment with varied balls to determine the bounce factor in centimeters. In this physics lesson, students experiment to find the height a ball must be dropped from the have the highest bounce rate. Students graph the results...

Fifth graders work in teams of four to measure the rebound heights of a tennis ball dropped from four different heights. They investigate with the bouncing balls to measure changes in the type of energy they possess.

Students explore the rebound of balls. In this energy conversion lesson, students explore the physics behind the rebound of various types of sports balls. Through the experimental design process using balloons, students investigate and...

High schoolers are introduced to the concept of circular motion. In groups, they participate in experiments to discover the law of inertia. They describe how forces act on objects during a circular motion. To end the lesson, they use...

This particular lesson was written by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, but density is a concept that you can teach at the beginning of the school year in your life, physical, or earth science classes. It would be fun to...

Learners make observations of a bouncing ball and study how it travels.  In this height lesson students complete a lab activity and describe and explain the motion of the ball. 

Make fitness fun at your school! A list of outdoor activities for a "Fun Through Fitness Day" could be helpful in planning your own version of this activity. The resource describes what one school district has done in general, but does...

Students investigate the properties of force and gravity and their effects on everyday life. In groups, they test various balls by bouncing them on different surfaces and observe the properties. In another activity, they test marbles and...

Students participate in an experiment to understand how robotic systems can estimate distances.  In this robotic ranger lesson, students measure the the time it takes for and object to move back and forth.  Students will use a...

Students share hypotheses about the variables needed to produce a collision between two moving objects. They simulate the impact of a moving object on an object that creates a spray of debris, and simulate a NASA Deep Impact study.

Students study concepts of energy and energy transfer. They look at how these concepts apply to musical instruments. They study the law of conservation of energy. They use the concepts studied in the lesson to design a musical instrument.

Eighth graders, after creating a Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting animal and plant cells, writing ten similes describing cell types, or drawing a colored diagram of a cell, list cell types as well as describe and label cell parts. They...

Students generate and choose specific skills and tasks to guide the work-based learning experience. They use the five steps to setting goals to help their goal planning to be more efficient. In addition, they view a Goals power point...

High schoolers study earthquakes and how sediment accumulations are used for past information on earthquakes.  In this earthquake instructional activity students interpret sediment cores and describe turbidites. 

Students investigate circular motion in two different activities. In the first, students observe the path of a rolling marble on a paper plate. In the second, students play a game of catch using a tennis ball inside a plastic bag. ...

Eighth graders listen to a teacher lecture and observe a demonstration of both potential energy and stored energy. After discussing the characteristics and examples of different types of energy, 8th graders make predictions and then...

Young scholars study cosmic rays and the energy behind them.  In this atmospheric lesson plan students complete a cosmic ray telescope project. 

Students explore physical education by completing a quiz in class. In this engineering lesson, students identify different ways engineering has made sports safer such as stronger padding and helmets, stronger equipment and smarter...

Students study how to calculate momentum, kinetic, and potential energy. They apply each form of energy to real world situations including demonstrations, watching videos, and designing a Power Point presentation. They investigate in...

Students hypothesize about the nature of falling objects, design an experimental test to answer the question using everyday objects, analyze data to form conclusions, and infer that mass does not affect the speed of falling objects. This...

Learners examine the method Galileo used to prove sunspots were actually on the sun instead of objects between the Earth and Sun.. They study the term foreshortening and assess its relevance to observation.

Pupils investigate the concepts and relationships of speed, displacement and time. They capture the serve motion of a tennis player via video or digital camera and analyze the speed of the ball and racquet head.

Eighth graders create their own experiements using toy trucks, cars or balls to measure the time it takes two of them to travel 5 meters, as well as at each 1 meter interval. They make use computers to make a time/distance graph and...