Rivers aren't just a place for animals to live, they also provide industrial transportation. The class will examine the Hudson River on a map, discuss all the commercial vessels that use the River to transport materials, then complete a...

Give your pupils a front row seat at the biggest light show in the sky this year! In addition to admiring the total solar eclipse, young astronomers can explain the phenomenon with a little help from an inquiry-based lesson. The focus of...

The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...

Students compare fish anatomy. In this teacher demonstrated dissection lesson, students compare fish anatomy to that of humans. They explore different fish and their unique properties.  There are 4 distinct activities which can be...

Learners explore the ecosystem and food chain by researching Pacific Salmon. In this fish habitat lesson, students discover the life cycle for salmon, where they spawn and what they eat to survive the harsh elements. Learners participate...

Stretch your teaching repertoire with an experiment on the elongation (stretching) and failure (break) of several materials. The point of the experiment is to design a composite material for chair webbing.

It might be silly to determine the creep rate of putty but groups will enjoy making different formulations of silly putty and playing with them to understand how the different mixtures behave. The second part of the activity has groups...

Learners examine an industrial disaster in India which affected the food for generations to come. In groups, they research the history of pesticides and place them into groups based on the type of pests they control. They partcipate in...

Students use a rapid method to render the bacterium Escherichia coli "competent" in order to uptake plasmid DNA. They also have growth on the plain LB plates by the untransformed cells (which serve as controls). Students perform a cell...

Students investigate a rapid method to render the bacterium Escherichia coli "competent" to uptake plasmid DNA. They demonstrate the phenotypic changes associated with transformation. They perform a cell resuspension from the...

Candy rocks! A sweet lesson offers a different take on the rock candy experiment. Groups use a supersaturated sugar solution to create rock candy. Pupils then add other ingredients to the solution to test their effect on the...

Using the Hudson River as the focus, learners discuss the difference between salt water and fresh water environments, analyze maps and graphs, and complete addition and subtraction problems. This lesson comes with a wealth of...

Read the story "Sunflower House,"  by Eve Bunting with your 2nd graders to investigate the relationships between plants and animals. They will discover how living things change during their lives by creating their own sprout houses....

Young scientists explore Earth elements by conducting an experiment. They define water vocabulary terms such as condensation and precipitation. In addition, they conduct a water experiment in which they build a terrarium, so they can...

Third graders investigate the events of geological time using a chart called a "Clock of Eras". In this geological events lesson plan, 3rd graders compare a standard clock to a geological clock. In addition, students consider periods...

Students examine the concept of reducing solid waste and how it relates to product packaging. They read about and evaluate the packaging decisions of two major U.S. corporations, develop a t-chart comparing the pros and cons of various...

Students define bioplastics and identify its uses.  For this bioplastics lesson, students compare and contrast styrofoam to starch peanuts after careful examination.  Students understand what biodegradeable means.

Students participate in an oil spill simulation and how to clean it up. In this oil spill lesson plan, students also calculate the cost of the clean up of an oil spill.

In this Sun-Earth system worksheet, students fill in blanks with the proper terms from a given list to complete a summary of the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. A major topic includes how solar storms effect the Earth and the...

Students design procedures for increasing the popping rate of a set amount of popcorn kernels. They propose and test a "secret" addition to the corn popping procedure which they expect would increase the popping rate and then write lab...

Students evaluate the pros and cons of a new approach to food, chemical, and drug testing. They read and discuss the Times article, 'DNA Chip May Help Usher In a New Era of Product Testing.'

Young scholars research modern addictions and create public service announcements about them. They research modern additions such as food, shopping, and video games.

Students use the Internet to research the history of Long Island Sound. In groups, they identify the sources of point and nonpoint pollution and how humans are impacting the area. After watching a video, they discuss the role of...

Middle schoolers develop procedures to explore the behavior of fish.  In this scientific experiment lesson students from a hypothesis, write a question, identify different variables and controls in their experiment.