Curated OER
Fossil Formation
A fossil is worth a thousand words! Individuals craft their own amber fossil of an insect in addition to molds and casts of seashells. A third activity takes the lesson a notch higher: Learners measure stride lengths between tracks and...
Curated OER
Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Not many lessons on states of matter can hold a candle to this one! Junior chemists gauge the density of paraffin in both liquid and solid phases. They fill 60 mL syringes with different materials to experiment with compressibility and...
Curated OER
Topographic Maps
Your choice of hands-on topographic mapping tasks is provided in this resource. From actual map-making to viewing and interpreting stereographic photos, the activities are sure to succeed. To make the most of this lesson plan, you will...
Curated OER
Cells: A First-Hand View
In the first of two activities, your charges prepare wet mount slides of cork and bean sprout cells in imitation of Robert Hooke's historical investigation. An excerpt from his notes is included. Then, investigators compare animal cells...
Curated OER
Evidence of Heat Transformations
Earth, life, and physical science classes can all benefit from understanding heat transfer. There is not room enough to describe these seven exceptional laboratory experiments that explore conduction, convetcion, and radiation. Several...
Curated OER
Magnetism
This set of seven activities attracts physical science stars to concepts concerning magnetism. Pupils play with a lodestone, magnets, needles, and iron filings to understand magnetic forces, fields, and applications. If you are new to...
Curated OER
Sun, Spectra, and Stars
Get ready to spark interest in electromagnetic radiation! This resource shares nine indelible inquiries that you can choose from to ignite understanding of spectra and the relationship between light and heat. The assessments that follow...
Curated OER
Starlight
An introductory exploration of the nature of light is provided via activities and demonstrations. Science superstars observe various light sources, learn how to apply inverse square law, and practice using a light meter. Follow-up...
Curated OER
Limiting Factors for Populations
The "Bottled Bacteria" activity instructions are a bit unclear, but the remaining activities investigating limiting factors in ecosystems are well-written. Learners model the exosystem of a bear and a herd of deer. They set up a...
Curated OER
Oils and Plastic
Peruse the properties of polymers with your materials engineers, chemistry aces, or emerging ecologists. The inquiries in this resource include puncturing polyethylene plastic bags, dissolving polystyrene cups, creating a polymer...
Curated OER
Oxidation
For an introductory physical class, you can use these vivid activities to introduce learners to chemical reactions. Spontaneous combustion, melting and burning, tarnishing and rusting all are evidence that a chemical reaction has...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Acids and Bases
Investigating pH is intriguing, especially with these activities designed for an introductory chemistry or physical science class. Pupils use litmus paper to distinguish acids and bases and then make indicators from food products....
Curated OER
Factors that Affect Reaction Rates
Collaborating chemistry pupils observe that temperatrue increases the movement of dye throughout water, stirring increases the dissolving rate of sugar cubes, and concentration of solutions increases the chemical reaction rates. These...
Curated OER
Catalysts and Enzymes
Biochemists experiment with the oxothermic decomposition of hydrogen dioxide by adding manganese dioxide. They observe how pepsin enhances the action of acid on the digestion of egg white proteins. They use yeast to make bread rise. All...
Curated OER
Relative Positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun Over Time
Teacher pages for four different activities and three assessments are provided in this resource. Topics deal with how the sun's position and Earth's atmosphere affect the amount of solar energy reaching Earth's surface. The concepts and...
Curated OER
Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
Examine cyanobacteria cells as an example of prokaryotes and several other alga as examples of eukaryotes. Future biologists compare the two and notice the absence of nuclei in prokaryotes. These are classic activities for this purpose,...
Curated OER
Information Overload: Looking at News
How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...
Curated OER
Post-Colonial Writers Unit
How do cultural and historical background impact thought? To explore this essential question, class members view of portion of the film, The Passage to India, read an excerpt from The Magician’s Nephew, and Nissim Ezekiel’s...
Curated OER
The Original's Sins
Are history textbooks plagiarized? The New York Times article, “Schoolbooks Are Given F’s in Originality,” looks at this question and forms the basis for a lesson on textbooks and plagiarism. The very detailed plan includes resource...
Curated OER
Six Day War
Learn about the diverse perspectives involved in the Six Day War by having learners examine and annotate presidential speeches given by the three nations—Egypt, Israel, and the United States—at the heart of the conflict and producing...
Curated OER
Scale Drawings of Birds
Students create their own copies of Phoenix Birds using a grid system.
Stanford University
Voices of the Struggle: The Continual Struggle for Equality
As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....
Scholastic
Hillary Conquers Everest
If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...
Radford University
A Change in the Weather
Explore the power of mathematics through this two-week statistics unit. Pupils learn about several climate-related issues and complete surveys that communicate their perceptions. They graph both univariate and bivariate data and use...