Curated OER
Lesson #2 ~ Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
You might love this lesson, or you might not. Basically, high school scientists read through a script in which someone interviews a physicist, a biologist, and a chemist in regard to their use of nanotechnology. The names of the involved...
Curated OER
Rate Determining Step and Catalyst Activity
Students work in groups to stuff as many envelopes as they can in 3-5 minutes. They use an assembly line method. Envelope stuffing is compared to a chemical reactions. The idea of catalyst is considered, and students determine a way to...
Curated OER
Martian Colony Proposals
Ninth graders design a proposal for a Martian colony to be presented to a group of their peers. They review their knowledge of Mars. Students evaluate for themselves which of their classmates proposal best fits their criteria.
Curated OER
A Sea Turtle Experience
Students observe live green sea turtles and use their imagination to form questions about the animals. They present these questions to their teacher. Students then complete the activity sheets highlighting sea turtle biology and...
Curated OER
Benham's Disk
Seeing is believing! Or is it? With this simple experiment, young scientists can explore the concept of visual perception. Attach Benham's disk to a rotating appliance such as a hand drill; As it spins, the black lines appear to be...
Curated OER
ACTIVE TRANSPORT ACROSS THE PLASMA MEMBRANE
Students comprehend that energy is required to move substances across the cell membrane against the concentration gradient.
Curated OER
Active Wear
Students interpret and analyze data. In this middle school mathematics lesson, students conduct an experiment in which they investigate which solar collector, black, white, or silver, absorbs the most heat. Students examine the graphs...
American Chemical Society
Changing the Density of a Liquid - Heating and Cooling
During a unit on density, pupils ponder whether or not temperature affects this property. By carefully inserting blue cold water and yellow hot water into a room-temperature sample, they will see the answer. Make sure to have done the...
American Chemical Society
Curious Crystals
Crystals are more than meets the eye! Can learners tell them apart simply by observation? As they examine five samples with a magnifier, they find that appearance alone is not enough. This serves as an introduction to a mini unit on...
American Chemical Society
Dissolving a Substance in Different Liquids
Second of six lessons in a unit on dissolving, this one focuses on how sugar behaves in different liquids. Learners stir it into water, alcohol, and oil and make observations. This lesson can stand alone, but is best used as part of the...
American Chemical Society
Defining Dissolving
Physical science investigators mix sugar and food coloring into different cups of water and cooking oil to compare how the solid and liquid behave in each. As the introduction to this unit on dissolving, it is relevant.
American Chemical Society
Matter on the Move
Start this mini unit on matter out by demonstrating how food coloring behaves when placed in cold and in hot water. Then have the class experiment with warm water and soap film. Pupils will learn that an increase in thermal energy also...
Baylor College
Can Nutrients in Water Cause Harm?
Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...
California Academy of Science
Optimal and Sustainable: Renewable Energy Revamp
More than 100 cities around the world have shifted from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Scholars investigate a city wanting to make this switch, but needs help determining how to make the shift. Groups consider all options,...
Curated OER
How Big is a Gene?
Students model the size and structure of a bacterial chromosome. In this genetics lesson, students attempt to fit strands of thread into a gelatin capsule. They relate the activity to the coiling of DNA into chromosomes in a bacterium.
Curated OER
ABCs of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Students are introduced to the concept of hydrogen technologies through inquiry-based classroom activities.
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will also...
Curated OER
It's Rainin', It's Pouring
Students take a quick examine part of the water cycle, and the combined gas laws. The instructional activity lead them through the conditions necessary for cloud formation and allow them to create clouds in three different hands-on...
Curated OER
Salt Marsh in a Pan
Students create a model of a salt marsh to discover the impact of pollution and human activities on water-based habitats including bays and the ocean. They recognize the relationship between natural and developed areas. Students impact...
Curated OER
Preparing for the Weather
Students discuss hypothermia and recognize how insulation helps keep people warm. In this science lesson, students get into four groups and go to each activity. Students simulate what it is like to stay warm using shortening and ziploc...
Curated OER
Who's in my soil!?!...and just what do they think they're doing there?
Middle schoolers discover organisms that inhabit the soil, the beneficial an detrimental roles these organisms play, and the interactions between the organisms and their environment and other organisms. Students participate in four...
Curated OER
Surface Tension Grabbers
Students use the following quick activities to comprehend what surface tension is: 1. Fill a gas bottle with water. Place an uncentered burner screen over the bottle. Hold the screen in place with your finger and invert the bottle on...
Curated OER
Insulators and Conductors
Students conduct an experiment in which they create open and closed circuits. In this insulators and conductors activity, students review open and closed circuits and then get in groups to make both kinds of circuit. Students use a...
Curated OER
Using Color as Defense
Students explore mimicry and crypsis, participate in hands-on predator-prey activity, and practice calculating averages and graph results in histogram.