Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...
Curated OER
Are You Full of Hot Air?
Explore the concept of measuring and recording circumference. In this physical science and measurement activity, young learners blow up balloons, measure the circumference, and record the data on an interactive graphing website.
Teach Engineering
Energy Conversions
What energy conversions occur in the operation of a device? Small groups investigate devices and the energy conversions that occur. The groups create energy flow diagrams with added conversion processes for each of the devices...
Teach Engineering
Pill Dissolving Demo
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh that one is the fastest. The teacher demonstration is the second part of a four-part series. The class observes how different pill types dissolve in simulated stomach acid. They determine which one dissolves...
Teach Engineering
Fun Look at Material Science
Introduce materials science with a class demonstration. After showing a PowerPoint presentation on materials and their properties, instructors provide a ceramic tile, a Popsicle stick, a paper clip, and a plastic bag as examples of...
Teach Engineering
Energy Forms, States and Conversions
Even magicians can't make energy disappear. In a discussion-based instructional activity, young scientists learn about energy forms and conversions. They see how energy is neither created nor destroyed; it just changes forms. This is the...
Exploratorium
Oil Spot Photometer
Are these two light sources the same? Groups use a white card and a little cooking oil to create a photometer that allows for the comparison of two lights. The Inverse Square Law provides a way to calculate the actual difference in...
Curated OER
Literary Elements in Short Stories
Introduce your class to Glogster with this literary analysis lesson. At the end of your short story unit, they choose one literary element to apply to three short stories and make an online poster using Glogster. Samples are included. If...
Exploratorium
Motor Effect
The magnetic wire. Class members create a magnetic field by running electricity through a wire. The video included in the resource provides information on how this effect is used to make electrical motors.
DiscoverE
Tape Dispenser Challenge
Help your class get out of a sticky situation! Future engineers explore existing tape dispensers and then design a new system for dispensing tape. To put these systems to the test, they build and evaluate prototypes of their designs.
Kenan Fellows
Introduction to a Flight Computer
Keep your hands on the wheel—at all times! Scholars learn why pilots use a flight computer through a high-flying demonstration. Making calculations for speed, distance, or time is automatic if you know how to use a flight computer.
Discovery Education
Through the Looking Glass
Turning white light into colors only takes a little scientific know how! Young scholars create their own spectroscope in a hands-on activity exploring the properties of light. Using a diffraction grating, they discover how white light...
Discovery Education
Cushion It!
Sugar cubes, collide! Groups design protection systems using bubble wrap to protect sugar cubes from being destroyed by falling batteries in the STEM lesson. They consider how the experiment relates to collisions in real-world...
Curated OER
Electronics
Tenth graders continue with practical work and an introduction of work on fomers. They use hand tools and fret saws. Students continue work after a demonstration on the use of the vacum former. They discuss the precision required in...
Teach Engineering
Maker Challenge: Adding Helpful Carrier Devices to Crutches
Make breaking a leg a less troublesome experience. Groups brainstorm designs for crutches that have devices that help carry items. They build prototypes of their devices to test out their designs.
Code.org
Cleaning Data
"Clean the data!" "I did not know it was dirty." Introduce your class to the process of cleaning data so that it can analyze it. Groups work through a guide that demonstrates the common ways to filter and sort data. Pairs then...
Curated OER
Peer Review and Collaboration Using Chat Tools and /or Voice Recorders
Students use audio devices to record a text and have a peer edit it. For this peer review and collaboration lesson, students write a short text on a topic provided by the teacher. After recording their text the message is...
Curated OER
Interactive Fractions
Learners determine the common denominator of two unlike fractions. They practice adding fractions and finding equivalent fractions of numbers. They compare and contrast different types of equations involving fractions and construct...
Curated OER
Construction Worker Book
Students examine simple tools that are used in everyday life. In this construction worker tools lesson, students decide which tools should be used to solve the construction worker's problems in a manner that demonstrates the Simple...
Curated OER
Engineering - Solid Rock to Building Block
Students role-play as engineers designing wedge tools. They devise methods for shaping quarry rocks into pyramid blocks. Following a teacher demonstration, they use materials such as soap, clay, and foam for blocks and wood, plastic,...
Curated OER
Powerful Pulleys
Learners explore the building of a pyramid and how pulleys were used to change the direction of applied force. They demonstrate the mechanical advantage of using a pulley and apply it to modern engineering.
Curated OER
Move It!
Students observe a demonstration presented by the teacher covering different types of energy. They participate in an experiment where they study numerous physics vocabulary words and visit websites that demonstrate examples of these...
Curated OER
Writer's Notebook and Haiku
Students, after viewing various examples from students around the world, as well as writing in their Writer's Notebook, create, compose and revise a Haiku poem that sketches a "snapshot" or image in time. They incorporate the theme or...
Curated OER
Animal Habitats:
Students demonstrate knowledge of plants and animals within a habitat by dragging pictures into the appropriate habitat.