Curated OER
Physical Challenge Activity Cards and Parent Letter
In this study of physical challenges and inventions worksheet, students take a letter home to their families explaining that they will be studying the affects of physical challenges and inventions that aid people who live with them. They...
BioEd Online
The Skeleton
Don't be chicken to try a lesson plan that compares the anatomy of birds to humans. Read the background information so you don't have to wing it when it comes to the anatomy of a chicken. Prepare cooked chicken bones by soaking them in a...
Baylor College
Air and Breathing
Blow some bubbles and learn how living things need air in the eighth lesson of this series. Young scientists investigate this important gas by observing bubbles and monitoring their own breathing. A simple and fun activity that raises...
Curated OER
Insects A-Z!
Alphabet insects! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Get ready because your class is going to research insects that start with a specific letter of the alphabet. In small groups, they'll use the Internet and reference texts to locate...
NOAA
The Biogeochemical Cycle
The biogeochemical cycle ... no physics? The fourth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces the biogeochemical cycle by having pupils simulate movement between Earth's...
Wild BC
Greenhouse Gas Guzzlers
Teams of six to eight players imagine that they are driving in a vehicle and collect balls that represent carbon dioxide emissions based on their different activities. "Greenhouse Gas Guzzler" cards tell teams how many balls to collect...
ARKive
Adaptations to Arid Habitats
How do plants and animals survive in habitats with very little water? Explore arid ecosystems and the way their inhabitants have adapted with a activity and science experiment. After kids listen to a presentation about adaptation, they...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Making a Difference
After learning about the effects of water pollution, your class will discuss ways to make people in their community aware of the importance of water conservation. Then, your young environmentalists will write a letter to the local...
Intel
Designer Genes: One Size Fits All?
In this STEM group of 10 activities, lesson two focuses on the question, "Just because we can, should we?" when considering genetically engineered food. Classes hear a scenario and, as young scientists and geneticists, must determine if...
Google
Friends: Create a Company
Create a company, advertise it, and hope it grows. The seventh of eight parts in the Google CS First Friends unit challenges future business leaders to apply computer coding to create an advertisement for a company. After pairs come...
SF Environment
Pre-School Composting and Recycling!
You can never be too young to get involved in composting or recycling. Here is a lesson plan that has been made for the very littlest learners and it's all about the importance of conservation. They'll sort compostable and recyclable...
BioEd Online
Arm Model
Arm your young scientists with knowledge about anatomy as they build their own model of the elbow joint. Help them get a firm grasp on how muscles and bones interact to allow movement as they try different positions for the muscles on...
BioEd Online
Muscles and Bones: Nutrition
Got milk? Or almonds, sardines, or tofu? Calcium is important throughout life, but especially so for developing bodies. If teens do not consume enough calcium while they are growing, they are at a much higher risk of osteoporosis and...
BioEd Online
Muscle Fibers
What better way to learn about muscle than by dissecting one? Using cow muscle (beef), learners compare bundles of yarn to muscle fibers as they explore each. The supplemental reading about astronauts losing muscle mass in space and what...
Baylor College
Need or Want?
Even as adults it can be hard to distinguish needs from wants. Using pictures of common, everyday items, children make a pocket chart separating the objects they need from those that they want. Discuss their choices, explaining that...
University of Kentucky
The Great Spider Debate
Poor, misunderstood spiders! They are feared, disrespected, and detested by many people, yet they do so many positive things. A great addition to any insect unit, learn about some of the more common spiders, while hopefully dispelling...
Wind Wise Education
What are Wind Shear and Turbulence?
Let's go fly a kite. By flying a kite, class members observe the difference in air flow. The class notices the characteristics of banners tied to the kite string to determine where wind turbulence stops. Adding an anemometer to...
Savvas Learning
Let's Get Moving
Scholars examine, cut, paste, and sort 12 images featuring different types of movement in order to show what they know about energy—potential and kinetic.
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
Kenan Fellows
Half-Life
Scholars shake their way to understanding half-life with the help of candy. They observe and record which side candy lands on to graph the exponential decay in the fifth activity of seven integrating chemistry and algebra. Combining...
Florida International University
Counting FishStix
How do we count the fish in the ocean? An engaging instructional activity models how to estimate fish populations with observational surveys. Class members begin by studying the behavior of fish on the coral reef in the oceans....
Polar Trec
Permafrost Thaw Depth and Ground Cover
The thaw depth of tundra creates a positive feedback loop with both global warming and the carbon cycle. Scholars sort photos and develop a hypothesis for ground cover and permafrost depth. Then they review the data and measurements...
Colorado State University
How Do Long and Short EM Waves Interact with the Earth's Atmosphere?
Things are about to heat up in your classroom! A kinesthetic lesson asks learners to play the part of the gases in the earth's atmosphere and interact with the sun's radiation. The focus is to learn the impact of the increasing...
NOAA
Where There's Smoke, There's ...
A remotely operated vehicle approaching a volcano was engulfed by molten sulfur where the plumes of fluids contained the highest concentrations of aluminum ever recorded. This isn't science fiction or an April fools joke, though it did...