Curated OER
Rocketry in Motion
Students investigate why a balloon flies in one direction as air escapes in the opposite direction, which helps them understand the nature of rockets and fireworks. Individually and in teams, students conduct research to create a...
Curated OER
Charting Seasonal Changes
Students research the Earth's patterns of rotation and revolution, create a chart and graph of these patterns and use them to explain the causes of night and day and summer and winter.
Teach Engineering
You Are There... First Flight
Glide into the study of flight. An engaging lesson has scholars research information on the Wright brothers. They develop props and produce a recreation of the first flight at Kitty Hawk. They then report on the event as if they were...
Curated OER
Pangaea Puzzle: Exploring the Tectonic Forces That Shape the Earth
Sixth graders follow in the footsteps of early scientists as they put the pieces of Pangaea back together and discovered the forces that create the variety of landforms and sea-floor features of our Earth.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Super Spinners!
Students make spinners to investigate rotational inertia, rotational speed, angular momentum, and velocity. They make two sets of spinners that have different mass distributions and shapes. They complete a worksheet while experimenting...
Curated OER
Mars: Off the Charts--Until You Put It There
Students explore the night sky and make illustrations which are shared in class the next day. Distinctions are made between the stars and the planets and views of the constellations for the season are made available. The work of early...
Curated OER
Gravity, Forces, and Inertia
Students participate in assessments involving gravity, forces, and inertia. They select from a menu of options assessments they would like to complete including worksheets, drawing posters, watching videos, creating crossword puzzles,...
Curated OER
Elements Of Biology: Evolution
Students study the theory of evolution and examine why it is so controversial. In this biology lesson students view a video on evolution, research the theory of evolution on the Internet and complete an essay.
Curated OER
Learn to Build a Rocket in 5 Days
Students explore physics by participating in an engineering activity. In this rocket lesson plan, students define a list of scientific vocabulary terms such as "re-engineering" and "trade-off." Students identify the rocket creation...
Curated OER
States of Matter Mini-Unit
Students identify he phases of matter (solid, liquid, gas), and why they take place. They comprehend what a physical change is and what a chemical change is. Students know the difference between a Mixture and a Solution.
Curated OER
Electric Current and Circuits
Compare the drift speed of conduction electrons in a current-carrying wire to the signal speed of changes in current. They also distinguish between DC and AC and describe how AC is converted to DC.
Curated OER
Exploring the Celestial Neighborhood
Ninth graders study the origin and organization of the solar system. They investigate the Earth's place in the system and how planetary motions explain natural phenomena observable from Earth.
Curated OER
Looking into Eratosthenes' Radius of the Earth
Pupils, in small groups, research Eratosthenes and his calculations of the Earth's radius. They write a summary of the person, the experiments and his calculations to determine how accurate Eratosthenes was in his estimations of the size...
Curated OER
Origami Flight: The Physical Setting
Sixth graders investigate the forces that move certain objects. In this physics lesson, 6th graders design and create paper flying objects using origami methods, which they practice flying in different conditions. Students record and...
Teach Engineering
Energy Systems
Is electricity created in the outlet? Using posters of several energy systems, collaborative groups identify and describe the parts of their systems. The groups also look at the environmental impacts of the systems and present their...
Curated OER
Swinging Pendulum
Middle schoolers engage in an activity which demonstrates how potential energy (PE) can be converted to kinetic energy (KE) and back again. Given a pendulum height, students calculate and predict how fast the pendulum will swing by...
Curated OER
Olympic Training Center
Students decide on an activity like running, swimming or skating for a performance analysis. They have friends or family members videotape them as they exercise, then review the video to see how they can improve their performance.