Leaf toughness can add to its herbivore appeal. Learns design an experiment to quantify leaf toughness and then perform their procedures. They follow the experiment with a set of questions that ask them to think about how leaf toughness...

Tracking area birds can tell a lot about an ecosystem. Learners use that understanding as motivation to observe and record bird populations in their area. They use journaling to store their information and ultimately choose one bird as...

It is a tangled web the ecosystem weaves. Learners begin an activity on ecosystem interactions by building a food chain and then a food web with yarn as a group. To finish, they research local environmental changes that may impact the...

There's no such thing as the perfect crime! Your class of sleuths are ready to investigate the trace evidence at a crime scene and compare it to a list of suspects. They use their investigative skills to record physical properties of the...

It would be a crime not to give the lesson a chance! An inquiry-based lesson has pupils assume the role of crime scene investigators as they make observations about shoe prints. They look for patterns in the prints such as distance and...

The force will be with you during an inquiry-based lesson focused on friction. Young scientists explore the effect of different surfaces on friction. They use rubber bands to measure the amount of force needed to move an object on the...

It's all about the material. Learners experiment with different substances as they try to keep an ice cube from melting. They draw conclusions by answering a set of questions about the types and amount of material that had the best result.

Blow classes away with a hands-on lesson investigating wind speed. Learners use common materials to design and construct anemometers. They then test their anemometers and collect data on the wind speed created by a fan.

Let there be light—or maybe not. Pupils learn about light pollution with an investigation of constellations. They create constellation boxes and experiment with different levels of light. Observations are then made about the lighting in...

It's a time of change. A hands-on activity engages young scientists in a lesson highlighting the change of seasons. They brainstorm indicators of season changes in nature and then look for them. Next, they record observations in a field...

It's cloudy with a good chance of learning! An inquiry-based lesson begins with an exploration of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials. Young scientists then connect their learning to the different cloud types as they take the...

Snap to it! Young experimenters use Snap Cubes to model how a larger object is created from a smaller parts. Using a guide, they rearrange their cubes to create all possible arrangements of four and five cubes.

Heat is a gateway to change. While exploring the properties of baking powder, pupils learn that some heat-related changes are permanent. Using an animation, the lesson uses chocolate chip cookies as an example.

It's heating up—and cooling down—in here! A hands-on lesson allows learners to experiment with melting and freezing butter to observe changes as a substance transitions between liquid and solid form. They also view an animation that...

We're not talking about the kitchen sink. Learners explore what types of objects sink and float in water in an inquiry-based lesson plan. With experimentation, they find similarities between materials that float and those that sink.

Believe it or not, it is possible for liquids and solids to get along! A hands-on lesson plan has individuals explore dissolving properties of candies in water. They complete an activity guide to record observations about different...