Curated OER
Groundwater Basics
Groundwater is an essential natural resource, not to mention a fascinating topic to study. Here is a series of twelve amazing lessons on the water source and how we use it in our daily lives. Concepts require higher math and physics...
Curated OER
Creating/Improving the International Space Station
Students research space and gravity and understand the difficulties humans have while on the International Space Station. In this space lesson plan, students listen to personal accounts of astronauts on videos and present designs to...
Curated OER
The Basics of Creature Connectedness: Biodiversity Diversions
Students study biodiversity. They participate in a scavenger hunt to look for presence of wildlife and connections in nature. They create a collage about Venezuelan biodiversity in small groups and present to the class. They write a...
Curated OER
The Physics of Flight
Students discuss how the invention of flight changed the way people live today. In groups, they compare and contrast the differences between weight, lift, thrust and drag. Using these principles, they create a glider and propeller with...
Curated OER
A Year (a Day or a Week) In My Life as a Shorebird
Students describe the basic life history of one shorebird common to their area. They use the writing process which includes brainstorming, rough draft writing, peer editing, and re-writing to create a factually and grammatically...
Curated OER
Windmill activity
Students explore how to build an efficient windmill design by taking into account how the lift and drag caused by the movement of wind can be used to make the blades of the turbine move. Through their readings, hypothesis and by trail...
Anchorage School District
Roller Coaster Project
Emerging engineers work in teams to design pipe insulation roller coasters for marbles that meet specific parameters. They are required to label along the track the areas where kinetic and potential energy are highest and lowest, where...
Curated OER
Up, Up and Away
Third graders are presented with the problem of: Do all liquids evaporate at the same rate? The lesson contains adequate background information for the teacher. They participate in a lab experiment in order to test the scientific...
Curated OER
How To Get Clear On Water
Tenth graders investigate different systems that are used to purify water. They have class discussion about the benefits and challenges that different countries would face with the implementation of the systems. Students explain the...
Discovery Education
Sonar & Echolocation
A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...
Curated OER
The Physics of Flight
Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...
Curated OER
Navigating by the Numbers
Students observe how math is important in navigation and engineering. They study how surveyors use math and science to calcute, count, measure, label, and indicate distances on a map. They estimate specific distances.
Curated OER
Buoyant Boats
Students design and construct a boat out of aluminum foil and a few other simple materials. The boats then be tested by floating them in water, then adding mass until they sink. They explore the various shapes of boat construction.
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Rocket Launch
Students consider constraints which contribute to the design of a model rocket. They begin to analyze a model rocket's design and flight. They must be very specific in their thoughts and discussions.
Curated OER
Inclined Plane and Pulley
Students describe how inclined plane and pulleys make work easier. In this physics lesson, students calculate work done and mechanical advantage of both simple machines. They collect data from the experiment and construct graphs.
Curated OER
Changes In Matter, "The Big Chill"
Third graders investigate why ice cream does not go through any chemical changes when it is exposed to physical changes. They describe the three states of matter in either written or verbal form. Then students experiment with ice cream...
Curated OER
Electricity: Series and Parallel Circuits
Fourth graders explore electricity and electrical circuits. They explore series and parallel circuits using Christmas lights. Students pull lights out of each strand of lights. They observe the results when the light bulb is pulled out....
Curated OER
School Temperatures
Students collect and record temperatures throughout the school. Using this information they compare and contrast the temperatures recorded from various spots throughout the school.
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Ecology - Biodiversity Lab
Studnents examine the degree of biodiversity that exists in one's everyday environment, in order to develop an understanding of how scientists classify organisms and to explain why biodiversity is important for living things.
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Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Students explore the three main forms of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. They examine concrete examples of each, using their five senses and "experimenting" to find differences in them. They find pictures of each, cut them out and past...
Curated OER
What's The Matter?
Fourth graders accurately describe various states of matter, Through experimentation, they change a variable to create a new state of matter. Students record their observations about the way matter is changed and the changes that occur...
Curated OER
Hazard Mitigation: Bioterrorism
Students discuss different ways to spread infectious diseases. In this bioterrorism lesson plan, students model the rate of smoke emission using CalRoad software. They analyze the effects of airborne release of...
Curated OER
Natural Selection
Young scholars practice calculating allele and genotype frequencies in the framework of a simple simulation using hard candy, calculators, and a worksheet. This lesson includes a three-page worksheet and an assessment question for...
Curated OER
Where Does Earth's Heat Come From?
Students try to determine how the Earth is heated by the sun and other sources. In groups, they identify the other sources of energy and discover why different parts of the world are heated differently during the year. They complete an...