Discovery Education
STEM Camp—Urban Infrastructure
Build a bridge to learning in a STEM-aligned unit about urban infrastructure. Young engineers explore the many aspects of civil planning and design in a five-day unit. Content includes the challenging aspects of balancing building with...
Scholastic
STEM Challenges and Activity Sheets for Grades 6–8
From 3-D cities to building bridges, young engineers engage in innovative STEM challenges that promote brainstorming and collaboration. Learners take on the roles of different types of engineers as well as become familiar...
Curated OER
Asphalt Lab
Young scholars are introduced to basic engineering principles, road construction and material science. They explore how material properties and strength can be affected. Students become Civil Engineers by both creating Asphalt cookies...
Curated OER
Marshmallow Towers
Students explore geometry by completing a marshmallow activity in class. In this architecture instructional activity, students identify the jobs of civil engineers and architects while identifying different geometric shapes as well....
Curated OER
TE Activity: The Great Divide
Students simulate the distribution of nonrenewable energy resources using cookies. They determine how the world's growing population effects the equitable distribution of these resources. They look at how engineers work to develop...
Curated OER
Bridges
Students are introduced to the different types, designs and nature of bridges. They observe a historical look at the bridges in and around the Pittsburgh area through a video presentation. Connections are made between science and...
Curated OER
Flow Rates of Faucets and Rivers
Students work together to discover the flow rates of faucets and rivers. They relate their results to engineering and applied science concepts. They make predictions on the flow rate of a nearby river in their local community.
Smithsonian Institution
Watching Crystals Grow
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
Curated OER
Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
Curated OER
Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
Curated OER
Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Students bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. In this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
Curated OER
Under the Spell of Spiders
Learners examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Learners will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
Curated OER
"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black history,...
Curated OER
How Size Shapes Animals
Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...
Curated OER
Fossils Footprints Across Time
Learners examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil instructional activity, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil...
Curated OER
Hazard Mitigation: Bioterrorism
Students discuss different ways to spread infectious diseases. In this bioterrorism lesson, students model the rate of smoke emission using CalRoad software. They analyze the effects of airborne release of biological...
Curated OER
Minerals, Crystals, and Gems
Young scholars discover the relationships between minerals, crystals and gems. They bring in rocks that they find at home, in the schoolyard, etc. and examine them and attempt to identify them. They set up a classroom exhibit that...
Curated OER
Japan: Images of a People
Students learn the geography of Japan and its location in reference to the United States.
Curated OER
Lift and Drag: Principles of Flight and the Soaring Imagination
Students construct models of early gas balloons and gliders. In this balloon and glider lesson plan, students create models of early gas balloons and gliders, discover how the forces of lift and drag effect aircraft in flight, and put...
Curated OER
Building Bridges: Living in a Diverse Society
Students participate in various activities that help them build esteem, and explore racism. In this multicultural lesson plan, Students increase their awareness of, and appreciation for, cultural differences and similarities. This...
Curated OER
Spy on a Spider
Students view slides or live specimens to name and describe the distinguishing features of groups of arthropods, especially spiders and insects. They complete worksheets, observe webs and then search for and record where spiders can be...