Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Making a PV Cell
Rise and shine! Class members collaborate to construct a photovoltaic solar cell with two semiconductor layers, as guided by this fabulous lab sheet. They test its output with an ammeter or galvanometer.
NASA
The Case of the Wacky Water Cycle
Join the tree house detectives in learning about the processes of the water cycle, water conservation, water treatment, and water as a limited resource.
Curated OER
The Preterite Tense
Focus on how to conjugate Spanish verbs in the preterite. You can use this webpage to inform your own lesson on the preterite, take a day in the computer lab, or flip your classroom and have pupils examine the page for homework. There is...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Electrochromic Polymer—Chemistry Outreach
From windows that tint themselves to OLED technology, electrochromic polymers are redefining our ideas about conducting materials! Introduce your chemistry class to the emerging trend with an exciting lab activity. Budding materials...
TryEngineering
Recursion: Smaller Sibling Pyramids
Get siblings to do your work. Scholars learn how to perform summations of arithmetic sequences in an innovative lesson plan. They use iterations, smaller siblings (tail-end recursion), and the divide-and-conquer approach.
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Water Wheel
Middle school scientists construct a working water wheel from an aluminum pie pan. Because of the sharp edges on the cut aluminum, this activity is for mature learners only. You could have your class compete to see whose wheel can lift...
Teach Engineering
Dress for Success
Dressing for success is not always about looking sharp. Sometimes it is about staying warm and dry. Present your class with an activity that challenges groups of pupils to design a layered material for blizzard conditions. The teams test...
TryEngineering
Fun with Sorting
Who knew sorting could be so much fun? Scholars participate in a sorting activity where they develop questions to place a list of numbers in order. They consider how these questions can be used as an algorithm.
Curated OER
Spaghetti Bridges: Student Worksheet
Here is a wonderful activity that allows young engineers to try their hand at designing a bridge out of spaghetti! The worksheet explains the activity and also provides a graph for keeping track of the results. Very good!
Teach Engineering
Automatic Floor Cleaner Computer Program Challenge
Have your class use the engineering design process to program a vacuum robot. Using computer engineering concepts, teams program an automatic floor cleaner to traverse designated patterns.
Geophysical Institute
Latitude and Longitude with Google Earth
Travel the world from the comfort of your classroom with a lesson that features Google Earth. High schoolers follow a series of steps to locate places all over the earth with sets of coordinates. Additionally, they measure the distance...
Curated OER
Computer Basics For Kids Worksheet
The computer can be a wonderful tool with so many applications. Third graders read a four paragraph procedural text to learn about: central processing unit, memory, input, output. They answer four fill in the blank and multiple choice...
Curated OER
Comparative Religions: Islam
Engage theologians through online text resources during this comparative religions activity. Designed to interact with the online Glencoe text World History, there are many free tools on this site that stand alone. Scholars read the...
Code.org
Functions and Top-Down Design
Let me break it down for you! Introduce your class to a way of breaking up a complicated task into its component pieces. Individuals draw a complex figure using JavaScript and then break it down to help determine the...
Teach Engineering
Above-Ground Storage Tank Design Project
The challenge: determine whether a tank will float. A design activity has groups work as engineering teams in order to determine the stability of given tanks and liquid contents. The teams need to determine the equations to...
Teach Engineering
Nanotechnology and Cancer Treatments
Information on the biomedical use of nanotechnology, specifically in the detection and treatment of cancer, is the focus of a lesson that seems like it is out of a science fiction novel. Pupils learn about electrophoresis, which is used...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Building a Parabolic-Trough Collector
Amateurs of alternative energy build a mini parabolic-trough solar energy collector and use it to heat water. Temperature is recorded over a three-minute period and the data is graphed and analyzed. Note that in order to paint aquarium...
Curated OER
Solving a Simple Maze
It is a-maze-ing how lost one can get. Teams reconstruct a simple maze and solve it. Participants create an algorithm that a robot would follow in order to solve the maze as well. The activity includes an extension directing pupils to...
TryEngineering
Solving a Simple Maze
Solve a maze ... from a robot's point of view. In the lesson plan, your scholars build a small, simple maze from cardboard and then find a route from the start point to the finish point. They write an algorithmic process that a robot...
Curated OER
7 Internal Messages
In this technology worksheet, learners compose e-mails that are meant to be shared on a closed system or network. The directions for each is listed.
California Education Partners
T Shirts
Which deal is best? Learners determine which of two companies has the best deal for a particular number of shirts. They begin by creating a table and equations containing each company's pricing structure....
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas: Lesson 3
Visual models support young mathematicians as they deepen their fractional number sense in this elementary math lesson plan. Using fraction circle manipulatives, children explore basic unit fractions as they develop the...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Nuts! Calculating Thermal Efficiency
Oh nuts! Do macadamias or almonds produce more thermal energy? Energy enthusiasts find out with this experiment. The objective is to demonstrate to your class how the chemical energy contained in foods can be converted into useable...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Cyberbullying—Alternate Lesson Plan
Should schools be permitted to punish young scholars for off-campus cyberbullying? After reading a passage that details statistics about cyberbullying and Supreme Court rulings about schools' ability to limit student speech,...