Curated OER
Mark, Recapture, Sampling
Learners conduct a simulation to explore how scientists estimate the size of animal populations. They analyze a random sample and then extrapolate those results to a larger population. Additionally, they will apply the principals of...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Are All Plants Created Equal?
Photosynthesis requires energy and produces food, and cellular respiration produces energy and requires food. An interesting lesson analyzes the factors that affect the rates of photosynthesis and respiration. Classes spend one day...
Cornell University
Unknown Powders
Create a little scientific magic within your classroom! Learners mix powders and liquids and identify chemical reactions. Based on the reactions, individuals determine the identity of various powders.
Curated OER
Sorting Through Spiders
Students utilize their own drawings of spiders to analyze and sort the attributes that each student drew.
Curated OER
Honesty and Ethics in the Science Lab
Students complete a variety of lab and discussion activities as they are introduced to ethics and honest lab practices. They perform various biology, chemistry, or physics labs which test their ethical lab practices.
Curated OER
Classifying Candy I
Students explore the observable properties of matter. They develop two binary classification systems using concrete objects. based on two different properties of the concrete objects.
Curated OER
Collecting and Classifying Pollen
Students collect and analyze pollen from different species of plants. In small groups, they classify pollen according to shape, size and physical characteristics. They draw the basic anatomy of flowering plants and create a dichotomous...
Curated OER
Measuring Water Temperature
Students measure the temperature of three water sources. They collect data points every second for twenty five seconds for each sample using Lego Robolab temperature sensors, complete a worksheet, and analyze the data.
Curated OER
Science and the Scientific Process
Students investigate the characteristics of different soil samples. In this physical science lesson, students play the role of forensics solving a crime by matching soil from the suspect's shoes. They formulate a conclusion after testing...
Curated OER
You Gotta Have Heart
Ninth graders investigate the concept of relations and interpret graphs and tables. They analyze given data and look for a pattern to determine if the numbers represent a function. Students practice solving scientific word problems that...
Curated OER
Chefs of the Week
Students, as members of a team, are asked to prepare one meal to feed one person in a day. They analyze their meal and their daily menu for the nutritional content and explain this during an oral presentation.
Curated OER
Puddles and Soil
Students determine which of several soil samples (sand, soil, and slit) produces puddles, providing insight into the permeability of these different soils. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, collect,...
Curated OER
The Survey Says
Young scholars experience the development of statistical data. In groups, they construct a survey questionnaire for a target audience. Students produce the questionnaire, distribute it, collect it, and tabulate the data. Using EXCEL,...
Curated OER
Let the Sunshine in
Students collect and analyze data to study wavelengths of visible light. They cover Styrofoam cups with three different colors of sun filtering products and shine a lamp directly on the cups. They determine the most effective filtering...
Curated OER
Rolling Down Hill
Students perform an experiment, collect, and analyze data of a rolling marble down a ramp. They report results after they complete their experiment. Students are assessed in science and writing.
Curated OER
Crustal Sinking
Students measure the rate of sinking of a test tube into a beaker of "glop", representing a model of the interaction between the Earth's crust and upper mantle. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations,...
Curated OER
Eratosthenes And Radius of the Earth
Students calculate the radius of the earth. They use the method and data suggested by Eratosthenes. They investigate the interrelationships among mass, distance, force, and time through experimental processes.
Curated OER
Starch and Sugar Testing 1
Eighth graders determine the presence of starch and sugar in unknown solutions. This task assesses students' abilities to observe, record and interpret data, classify, generalize/infer, construct data tables, and identify sugar and...
Curated OER
Density of Minerals
Students determine the mass, volume, and density of two different mineral samples. Students show data and calculations as well as answer questions about the mineral identities.
Curated OER
Through Thick or Thin!!!
Students differentiate between high and low viscosity. Students collect, graph, and interpret data, then quantitatively measure polymer solids. Students experiment with a household example of an emulsion polymer.
Curated OER
Can you Find the Expression
Pupils collect data from measurements and weights for this experiment. In this algebra lesson, students analyze graphs they create form their data to find the expression representing the data. They label which graph provided the best...
Discovery Education
It's Too Loud!
STEM scholars investigate sound attenuation by conducting an experiment in which they compare the farthest distance that they can hear a sound with and without ear protection.
Curated OER
Bird Eggs
Learners perform an experiment with different types of bird eggs to determine what factors make them strong and able to stay on a cliff without rolling off.
Curated OER
The Great Jellybean Hunt
Young scholars explore natural selection and its influence on the populations to fine tune traits and characteristics. The acquisition of traits developed out of need is examined through a game played in class.