American Museum of Natural History
Create a Compass
Historically, humans have used many methods of finding due north. Using a hands-on activity, learners create their own compasses. They then test their compasses in their neighborhood or to assist with stargazing.
NOAA
Make Your Own Compass
Scholars build a compass using a needle, cork, magnet, and a water-filled cup in order to locate the magnetic north and south.
K-State Research and Extensions
Water
How are maps like fish? They both have scales. The chapter includes six different activities at three different levels. Scholars complete activities using natural resources, learn how to read a map, see how to make a compass rosette,...
PEGAMES.org
Confusing Compass
This is a very simple PE game that can be performed indoors or outdoors, and will help your learners develop a sense of direction! If playing this game outdoors, identify north, south, east, and west, and consider varying the type of...
California Academy of Science
Which Way is North?
Who needs a compass to find cardinal directions? Just place a stick in the ground and record the movement of its shadow over the course of a day. Then, measure the shadow lengths in order to determine a north-south line. A simple...
NASA
Eclipse Activity Guide
Ever made solar s'mores? Or recreated the solar system using peanuts? Astronomers young and old investigate all things solar using a variety of activities. Explore how the sun works, types of light it emits, and methods of charting the...
It's About Time
The Electricity and Magnetism Connection
Magnets don't grow in fields, but magnetic fields are important to understand. The lesson covers the effect electricity has on magnetic fields. Scholars use a compass, magnets, and electrical wire to test magnetic fields and energy...
Teach Engineering
Drawing Magnetic Fields
Class members use a compass and several points to map out the magnetic field of a magnet. Pairs trace the magnetic field lines produced by a permanent magnet by positioning the compass in numerous spots around the magnet to view the...
Teach Engineering
Circuits and Magnetic Fields
Have your class use compasses to try to find the magnetic field around an electric current. Groups use the same technique to visualize magnetic fields as they did in the second activity in the series, but this time, the field is...
Teach Engineering
Visualizing Magnetic Field Lines
Magnetic fields might not be a field of dreams but they are useful. Class members observe the reactions of magnetic fields using a compass, iron filings in a paper container, and iron filings suspended in mineral oil.
American Museum of Natural History
Create Your Own Time Capsule
The corona virus pandemic is indeed a historic event. A time capsule activity permits young historians to document these days of social distancing, remote learning, and quarantine by collecting artifacts that capture what their lives are...
Aunt Annie's Crafts
Square Petal Envelopes
Imagine making square envelopes out of circles. Yep, all you need are paper, scissors, a compass, and some glue. Kids explore the possibilities of geometric shapes with this activity.
Parkwood Hill Intermediate
Map Skills Project
Young pupils develop their mapping skills and knowledge by designing their own islands, using geographic terms and physical features they have learned as features of their work.
Curated OER
Those Who Have Come Before Me
Class members are transformed into explorers as they work in groups to locate hidden items and map their journey along the way. They then leave clues for other groups of learners to follow, and ultimately discover how past explorations...
It's About Time
Electromagnets
Young scientists build their own electromagnet and test it by picking up paperclips. Analysis questions evaluate knowledge at the end of the activity.
Curated OER
Reflected Triangles
Your learners find and construct the line of reflection between a triangle's pre-image and its reflection image in this short activity.
Curated OER
Inscribing a Hexagon in a Circle
This activity is a follow-on activity to inscribing a square in a circle. The overall problem is more complex. It deals with geometric constructions, properties of triangles, and regular hexagons. The final part of the activity...
It's About Time
Taking a Ride on a Lithospheric Plate
Assist your pupils and broaden their horizons with several activities that determine the exact positioning of various communities over the globe. Pupils use data from the Global Positioning System to determine the position and rate of...
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Islamic Art and Geometric Design
After an overview of Islamic traditions and art, young artists create their own geometric shapes and patterns using only a straightedge and a compass.
Curated OER
Inscribing a Square in a Circle
Inscribing a square in a circle brings up a number of interesting geometry topics including triangle congruence and how to prove a quadrilateral is a square. This activity is followed up by finding the area of the square and determining...
Curated OER
T Points from Directions
Here is a lesson that starts with having geometers translate points using compass directions into an accurate picture of the problem. Then they must use their knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem or similar triangles to solve. This makes...
Province of Manitoba
The Outdoors Camping and Survival Skills
Equip young campers with the tips and strategies for a safe trip to the outdoors with a series of lessons. They learn how to start fires with and without firewood, keep warm in snowy weather, and purify water to make it safe for drinking.
Novelinks
Tuesdays with Morrie: K-W-H-L Strategy
Readers of Tuesdays with Morrie are directed to use a K-W-H-L chart to record what they know, what they want to learn, how they will find information, and what they learned about a particular topic related to Mitch Albom's book.
Exploratorium
Peripheral Vision
Life science learners discover the range of peripheral vision. They compare the angles at which they can detect motion, colors, and detailed shapes.