Rochester Institute of Technology
Artificial Lung and Diaphragm
She had a terribly busy day converting oxygen into carbon dioxide; now she just needs a moment to breathe. In the activity, scholars review the function of the respiratory system and discuss bioengineering's role in medicine/health and...
Curated OER
How Dense is Salt Water?
Young schoolers explore the concept of linear regression. They determine the mass and density of salt water. Pupils add salt to water and record the density as salinity increases, and perform a linear regression on the data to model the...
Curated OER
Is there Treasure in Trash?
More people, more garbage! Young environmentalists graph population growth against the amount of garbage generated per year and find a linear model that best fits the data. This is an older resource that could benefit from more recent...
California Mathematics Project
Model Solar System
The sun's diameter is 864,337 miles—challenge learners to create a scale model of the solar system that fits in your classroom. Scholars make conversions and work with scientific notation as they create the scale model.
Beyond Benign
Got Gas
How much gas does it take to drive around town? The class uses a variety of mathematical procedures to take a look at the use of gas for transportation. Class members use a different unit to determine the cost of driving a car as opposed...
Kenan Fellows
Density
Most scholars associate density with floating, but how do scientists determine the exact density of an unknown liquid? The third activity in a seven-part series challenges scholars to find the mass and volume of two unknown liquids. Each...
American Museum of Natural History
Solar System Scavenger Hunt
Scholars go on a hunt to locate objects that best fit the measurements to create an eye-catching scale model of the solar system.
Curated OER
Making Models of the Solar System
Students make several models of the solar system to learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes. Creation of these models will help them identify the planets by size, shape, color,...
Serendip
How Eyes Evolved – Analyzing the Evidence
Octopodes existed for hundreds of thousands of years before humans, yet our eyes share many similarities. Scholars analyze the evidence to determine if the evolution of eyes best fits a homology or analogy model. They discuss the issue...
DiscoverE
Build a Watershed
What's the best way to learn how watersheds work? Build one! Combining engineering, the water cycle, and ecology concerns, the activity is the perfect fit for an interdisciplinary unit. Teams construct a model watershed with simple...
Cornell University
Beam Focusing Using Lenses
Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...
American Chemical Society
Investigating the Line
Note that this activity is best paired with the preceding activity in the unit. In that activity, elementary physical scientists observed that the color coating of M&Ms® candies do not mix when dissolved off of the chocolate surface....
PBS
Adventures With The Fish Pond: Population Modeling
Build up from the previous activity where your learners charted the population growth and decay of a fish pond with M&Ms®. Have them look at the data from that activity and create a Now-Next, or recursive equations, to predict the...
Rochester Institute of Technology
Molecules and Fuel Cell Technology
A fuel cell is where the jailer keeps gas guzzlers. Scholars review chemical reactions, chemical bonds, and chemical structure in order to apply these concepts. Participants construct fuel cell kits, using electrolysis to run the car and...
Space Awareness
Navigating with the Kamal
Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...
New York Science Teacher
Planet Scaling using Extra Terrestrial Tools
Your class will use a set scale to convert diameters of planets to the model size, the diagram given to expand on the number of planets drawn as concentric circles, and examine the scale that would be needed to fit the larger planets on...
Science Geek
Covalent Bonding
When it comes to covalent bonds, sharing is caring. Presentation covers the octet rule with multiple examples, Lewis Dot Structures with an example, and resonance. Presentation is the first in a five-part series.
Space Awareness
Britannia Rule the Waves
Could you determine longitude based on measuring time? Early explorers used a longitude clock to do just that. Scholars learn about early exploration and the importance of the invention of the clock. Then pupils build their own longitude...
Adrian College
The Universe
Young scientists create a simulation of Hubble's law. Introducing the Big Bang Theory using balloons and a simple lab worksheet, scholars complete a data table and perform analysis.
Curated OER
Folds in the Earth
Ninth graders demonstrate the forces that cause folds in the earths crust by use of clay modeling. They demonstrate there knowledge of terminology and concepts related to Earths folding processes by a written or oral report on data...
World Wildlife Fund
Land of the Midnight Sun
From days of 24 hour sunlight, to endless nights that last for days, the Arctic is a very unique place to live. Examine the seasonal changes that occur in the northern-most reaches of the globe and the impact they have on the plants and...
Teach Engineering
Edible Rovers (High School)
Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...
Chemistry Collective
Chemical Potential: Staircase Demonstration
It's all uphill from here! Scholars examine the pattern of random particle motion up a staircase. The simulation shows how the linear increase in energy corresponds to an exponential decrease in particle concentration.
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
First graders examine different types of rocks and minerals. They create models of the rocks and minerals they find interesting. They discuss and explain three ways in which the earth changes.