Colorado State University
Can Gravity Push Something Up?
How does a hot air balloon fly? An experimental lesson has scholars build a balloon from a garbage bag and monitor the movement of air. As the temperature of the air in the balloon increases, gravity moves the denser cool air down,...
Colorado State University
How Can I Turn a Solar Oven into a Refrigerator?
Whether you want to heat things up in science class or cool things down a bit, an intriguing lab's got you covered! Science scholars explore the principles of thermodynamics using a solar oven, then change the conditions to turn their...
Curated OER
The Same, But Different Part II
Learners characterize a physical change as something that changes to a different size, but retains its basic substance. They measure volumes using milliliters, and perform an experiment that proves that gases expand when hot and contract...
Chymist
Temperature
Three Dog Night isn't just the name of a band; it is also the way an Australian tribe, who used dogs to stay warm, would describe the temperature on a cool evening. After reading about many different ways of measuring temperature, the...
Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow? Discovering How Weather Patterns Affect Natural Cycles
For the warm-up in this cool climate instructional activity, you will need to click on "Mapping" and then "US Mapping" once you arrive at NOAA's "US Climate at a Glance" page. Earth science explorers realize that 2012 was a warm winter...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3
Identifying an author’s choice, especially choices that concern craft and literary devices, is a difficult skill to teach. Here's an activity that will make your job easier. The resource breaks down how to teach the skill to novice,...
Curated OER
Forest Ecosystems
Forests are briefly defined and broken down into four different types in this PowerPoint. Facts and photos are provided for each type, including: deciduous, tropical rain, coastal, and coniferous forests. This is a wonderful presentation...
Curated OER
Disposables and Deforestation
Ever think about the impact those cool disposable chopsticks have on the environment? Read about a group of students in Beijing who created a forest using nothing but tossed out chopsticks. Find out how this artistic endeavor is making a...
Curated OER
Semantic Feature Analysis Chart: The Outsiders
Cool! Do you ned a way to increase vocabulary development and study a story's characters? What a great idea. Use this semantic analysis chart to study new vocabulary and the characters that appear in The Outsiders. You could also use...
Curated OER
Egg Carton Buggy Mobile
Craft paper, string, and clean egg cartons are used to create super cute bug mobiles. Included are instructions and images to assist you in guiding your class through the process of making these very cool mobiles. The project would be a...
TED-Ed
A-rhythm-etic. The Math Behind the Beats
Your learners will dance in their seats as this talented drummer connects math to music in a short video clip. Clayton Cameron shows how math puts the "cool" in various genres of music, including jazz, hip-hop, pop, R&B, and others,...
Curated OER
Soccer: Receiving a Bouncing Ball
Students participate in soccer activities including juggling the ball, playing a juggling game in pairs, and having a volley game. After the volley game, they continue to practice soccer skills by playing Gaelic Football and having a...
Curated OER
Ups and Downs of Diving
Learners explore the science and sport of scuba diving. In this scuba diving lesson, students build Cartesian divers and observe their behavior under water pressure.
Curated OER
How Sweat Glands Cool Your Body
Students use water and rubbing alcohol to explain how sweat cools mammals' bodies. They write their findings in a journal. After a lecture/demo, students perform a simple experiment that demonstrates this phenomenae.
American Chemical Society
Temperature Affects Density
Different substances can have different densities, but can the same substance have different densities? Lesson explores the effect of temperature on the density of water. Extension idea connects the concept of how melting ice in lakes...
Curated OER
What's in a Name? Considering the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? After viewing a trailer for the film, Anonymous and reading Stephen Marche’s article “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare?” class groups read articles about the Shakespeare...
Curated OER
It Is the Little Things That Count
Third graders are introduced to the importance of warm-ups, stretching, hydration and cool-downs in exercise. They perform these activities and discuss any observations.
Curated OER
Gases, Liquids and Solids, evaporate, shape volume,
Young scholars conduct an online experiment to discover what happens to solids, liquids and gases in different temperatures. In this states of matter lesson, students get into pairs and work in a virtual laboratory to manipulate heating...
Curated OER
The Ups and Downs of It: Wind
Students explore the ways in which wind is formed and how it affects our weather.
Curated OER
Cool It! Comprehension: Chart 4
In these reading comprehension worksheets, students read chart 4 about fixing global warming and then complete several activities that help them understand the things that can be done to reduce the amount of energy wasted.
American Chemical Society
Heat, Temperature, and Conduction
How does heat move from one item to another, even when the items are in different states of matter? Pupils experiment with adding washers to hot water and adding hot washers to room temperature water to observe the heat transfer.
Curated OER
Computer Science: Temperature
Students conduct an experiment on heat transfer and how it works. They record the temperature in whatever environment is surrounding the container and run experiments that use at least two different ambient temperatures. Students...
Curated OER
How Heating and Convection Contributes to Natural Disasters
Students study the basics of heating and cooling and how it pertains to the earth. In this global lesson students read the Magic Tree House book then create a chart of their findings.
Curated OER
Phase Changes
In this phase change worksheet, students read about the particles in substances that speed up and slow down for substances to change phases. They answer eight questions about phase changes, the states of matter and how changing...