Curated OER
Cold Hard Facts? What Inquiring Minds Will Know -- Inquiry-Based Ice Investigations
Students are introduced to the concepts of perimter, diameter, circumference and measurements. In groups, they complete two worksheets in which they determine if the ice dimensions make a difference in the way it floats. They discuss...
Curated OER
Children Actively Investigating Rocks and Minerals
Students follow directions to set up their own record keeping journal. As a class, they are introduced to the characteristics of crystals and identify three types of crystals they see in their everyday lives. They examine materials they...
Curated OER
Investigation: Evaporation
An evaporation investigation! This collection of slides walks future scientists through the process of setting up an experiment on how to speed up evaporation. The experiment is simple enough to use at the beginning of the school...
Curated OER
Career Investigators - Jobs of Family Members
Students investigate the concept of a job and how they can differ for each household. They examine a tool box filled with different tools and identify the types of jobs could be done with them. Then the teacher conducts a class discussion.
Center for Learning in Action
Investigating Physical and Chemical Changes
Super scientists visit ten stations to predict, observe, and draw conclusions about the physical and chemical changes that occur when different states of matter—liquid, solid, and gas—are placed under a variety of conditions. To...
K20 LEARN
How Did We Get Here? Native Americans in the United States
High schoolers imagine what their lives would be like if they had no access to potable water and watch a morning news show about the water situation on a Navajo reservation. Groups investigate the policies that lead to the lack of water...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 6
Are cattle prods beneficial for herding cattle, or do they cause more harm than good? Investigate Temple Grandin's claim about animal behavior with a instructional activity that focuses on pages 20-23 of the first chapter of her book,...
Curated OER
Discovering Japan Through Cooperative Research
Search a variety of sources to create a multimedia or book project about Japan. Learners use the independent investigation method to plan and conduct research about Japan. They use the information they discover to create a computer book...
Center Science Education
Investigating the Climate
What do graphs of atmospheric gases over time show us? Do they indicate that carbon sources and carbon sinks are not in balance? Up-and-coming meteorologists watch video clips, read information, and analyze data from the HIPPO...
Curated OER
Crime School Investigations
Students solve a mystery at their school. In this classifying lesson, students find suspects who committed the crime. Students categorize them into race, sex, and fingerprint type. Students show their results in graphs.
Curated OER
Independent Investigation
For this science worksheet, students write what they want to discover and identify what they feel will happen. Then they design an experiment and write the steps for it in the space provided. Students also create a data table or chart...
Curated OER
Loud or soft?
Send this cute activity home with kids, to increase family involvement. They'll consider what would happen if rice was bounced in a tambourine, and then they'll complete a sound activity by makings an instrument out of wax paper and a...
Curated OER
Name that plant!
What is a dichotomous key? When your kids ask, hand them a learning exercise like this one, to explain it. They use the key to identify four different trees, based on the budding twigs they've produced. Tip: Have learners extend this...
Curated OER
Nearsightedness
Examine the processes scientists go through to develop their conclusions. Using the internet, research the problem of nearsightedness and identify anyone they know with the condition. Discover the debate in the science world on this...
Curated OER
Coin Investigation: How Can You Use Tools?
Students, by exploring a simple investigation system, see how technology can allow people to extend their senses and "see" beyond the world of their natural vision.
Curated OER
Should US Officials & Health Professionals be Investigated for War Crimes?
Students explore ethical issues. In this human rights lesson, students read articles and documents related to torture used in government investigations and if medical ethical guidelines were adhered to. Students respond to discussion...
Curated OER
Don't Just Do It - Talk About It!
Students investigate a scientific problem while documenting their research with a video camera. In this scientific method lesson, students hypothesize over a science question and conduct an investigation to find an answer....
Curated OER
Pendulum Clocks
Students use string, wire, weights, and a stopwatch to build pendulum clocks. In this pendulum clocks lesson plan, students use the pendulum clocks to investigate weather, climate, force, and motion.
Curated OER
Mythbusters
Eighth graders watch an episode of Mythbusters and answer questions that arise in the video about the scientific process. In this Mythbusters lesson plan, 8th graders complete a scientific investigation based on the video.
Curated OER
Bounce Back Ball
Fifth graders work in teams of four to measure the rebound heights of a tennis ball dropped from four different heights. They investigate with the bouncing balls to measure changes in the type of energy they possess.
Virginia Department of Education
Heat and Thermal Energy Transfer
How does radiation affect our daily lives? Answer that question and others with a lesson that discusses radiation and its use in thermal energy transfer through electromagnetic waves. Pupils investigate vaporization and...
Curated OER
Absorbancy: What does it mean?
Define the scientific concept of absorbency as it relates to the properties of matter, then conduct an investigation. Learners answer several questions, then investigate the absorbency of several different types of towels. Tip:...
Curated OER
Be "Sun-sible" about Heating Water
Learners create a solar water heater. In this solar energy lesson, students conduct an experiment to determine which colors absorb more radiant heat. Learners investigate the relationship of heat loss to insulation. Students then create...
Curated OER
Advanced Art – Cultural Place-setting Still life
Upper graders view a series of films that depict rituals or celebrations as they occur in different cultural settings. They conduct a cultural investigation about one culture, brainstorm and research objects that have cultural or...