What goes into a museum display? A secondary-level STEM project prompts groups to design a museum display for the Tech Museum of Innovation. They create an analogous, interactive model illustrating a science concept to complete the...

Context makes everything better! Groups use real data to create models and make predictions. Classmates compare an exponential model to a linear model, then consider the real-life implications. 

Elements don't have fingers, but they have fingerprints! An interactive simulation gives young scientists the opportunity to study orbital changes of an atom and the corresponding spectrum reading. They realize how each atom has a...

Don't lose your marbles — you'll need them for a lesson on neurotransmission. Young scholars build a neurotransmission model using marbles, beads, rubber bands, string, and other elements. After studying specific neurotransmitters,...

How does the Earth continually repair itself? Explore the answer to this question, and others, with a unit on plate boundaries and interaction. Pupils classify the types of movement at plate boundaries and identify the...

Tiny particles can provide big learning opportunities! Middle school scientists explore the world of nanoparticles through reading, discussion, and experiment. Collaborative groups first apply nanotechnology to determine water...

Students explore the reaction rates of an enzyme-mediated reaction through experimentation. In small groups, they use everyday objects to demonstrate the effects of environmental variables on enzyme function. Students graph and...

Combat hate online by bringing it into the light. Begin by giving learners a quiz, then lead a discussion based on the issues the quiz brought up. As a class, develop strategies to confront online hate. Assign different venues to groups...

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.

As a star ages its composition, size, and temperature change. Using an interactive simulation, learners explore these changes over the lifetime of a star. They see the change in temperature and luminosity graphically and a visual...

Students create a biosphere using the computer program SImEarth. They work in small groups to create "Daisyworld" in which they model aspects of the Gaia hypothesis. They form a question to answer and choose variables to investigate in...

Explore the connection of surface area to bonding within atoms. Learners complete lab investigations to model changing surface area with different sizes and concentrations of atoms. A flour fireball demonstration follows the labs to...

Class members engage in a STEM experiment and investigate how materials affect heating in a house by creating models of houses and using different top surface materials. They record the temperature inside the models and consider what the...

Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...

High school classes can use manipulatives too! Offer hands-on, interactive lessons that venture away from the typical day in your algebra class. Young mathematicians will be involved in collaborative learning, visual...

Model expression division using online manipulatives. Learners drag C's representing a term into equal groups. Guiding questions help them see their groups as the division of the term.

Watch the damage from a forest fire in this interactive simulation activity that challenges learners to estimate the burn area using different approaches. Learners are given a worksheet to track the different burn patterns and practice...

Students describe and review the stages in the water cycle. In groups, they build their own models of the water cycle and demonstrate where the water goes in a closed system. They answer discussion questions after the experiment to end...

What do your vital signs tell your doctor? An engaging hands-on lesson has your learners monitor their own lung capacity, blood pressure, and heart rate. They then connect the vital measures to the workings of the circulatory and...

Since you can't go to the comet, bring the comet to you. Young scientists build models of comets using everyday materials and then participate in a simulation of the interaction between the comet and other bodies in the solar system....

Dive into a lesson on marine ecosystem interactions. Individuals learn about and devise a marine food web. The resource provides organism cards and pupils use article resources to discover interactions before modeling them in a food web.

Students review the characteristics of acids and bases. They examine the structure of an amino group and compare amines to ammonia. They work together to develop the concent of polymerization.

Create a model to study a microscopic phenomenon. The seventh of 12 lessons uses an egg (without its shell) to represent a cell membrane. Using different solutions, learners explore the concept of cell diffusion. They monitor...

Students explore space science by creating a planetary model in class. In this solar system lesson, students identify the many planets and moons that make up the solar system and decide on one entity in which to research. Students create...