Take a deep dive into Oregon's ecosystems, plants, and changes from the past to the future. Many hands-on activities in an environmental science unit delight scholars, including creating a field guide for a local park. The in-depth study...

You won't have to force your classes to complete these engaging activities! Through exploration, young scientists learn that force has both magnitude and direction. They draw force diagrams, investigate force models, and complete a...

How much does your class know about the relationship between climate change and carbon dioxide? Science scholars explore the nature of greenhouse gases and rising ocean temperature through demonstrations, research, and experiments. The...

Tiny particles can provide big learning opportunities! Middle school scientists explore the world of nanoparticles through reading, discussion, and experiment. Collaborative groups first apply nanotechnology to determine water...

Don't let the resource blow you away. Scholars build airboats from basic materials and collect data on how far the boats move. They refine their designs taking Newton's laws into consideration.

Shake up your lessons on earthquakes. A simple seismograph lets scholars record "earthquakes" in the classroom. These earthquakes occur when classmates drop balls from different heights. Young scientists measure these with seismographs...

Watch as your class makes the transition from pupils to researchers! A well-designed instructional activity has scholars pick a solar wind characteristic to research. They then collect and analyze official data from the LANL...

Silver: more than jewelry, it's also a natural antimicrobial agent. An inquiry-based lesson asks collaborative groups to design and implement an experiment to test this property. Using samples of silver nanoparticles and a strain of...

The incredibly shrinking meter—decimeters to centimeters, to millimeters, and now to nanometers! Learners may have a difficult time visualizing particles on a nanoscale. Help them see a little clearer using a well-designed lesson...

Here is a beautiful lesson on clouds designed for your 1st graders. Learners study three different types of clouds. They construct drawings of cumulus, cirrus, and stratus clouds. The Cloud Book, by Tommie dePaola is used to...

Junior biologists journey through the hiearchy of living things with these activites. Using a dichotomous key, they identify common algae, plants, and fish. They design their own key for a mixture of seeds and a collection of...

Students examine elastomeric polymers in a lab activity in which they design a bungee cord. Students must determine the tensile strength, percent elongation, and plot stress versus strain graphs for their experiments on rubber bands...

Given four suggested concepts, emerging electrical engineers research, design, and constuct a working device that willrespond to changes in the intesnisty or the direction of sunlight. This is a challenge for learners to rise to, as the...

Make science come in loud and clear. Pupils learn about how a speaker works by building one. The scholars first learn about electromagnetic fields by building an electromagnet. Using that knowledge, they build a crude speaker using a...

Just how powerful is erosion? Interested scientists learn how to identify the results of erosion with a series of lab activities. They move through stations to experiment with different types of erosion and then design and complete their...

Middle schoolers examine how the movements of bones are dependent on the interaction of pairs of muscles. They design and construct a prototype of an artificial limb using a syringe system, and determine whether water or air makes the...

Students are able to describe the principles of gravity. They name other places in the real world where we compensate for gravity. Students design a shock absorber with limited materials and explain how it works to protect an egg. They...

Students design their own experiments . They study the scientific method and determine what a testable question is. They distinguish between questions that are testable and those that are not. They identify variables, make and understand...

Students explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit.  In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop students...

In this interactive Internet  assignment, physical science investigators answer 11 questions about the atom, the subatomic particles, and atomic structure. They can click on "Reveal Answer" to discover if they are correct. They also...

Students dissect simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students gather simple machines from their home to dissect in class. Students investigate the working parts of simple machines and construct a machine based on the designs...

A project-based learning plan focuses on landscapes in the community. After identifying problems, such as dead trees or misplaced automatic sprinklers, learners design solutions, contact local organizations to fix the problems, and do...

Study the properties of soil and water absorption with a science activity. Based on a paragraph with background knowledge on sandy soil, silt, and clay soil, third graders choose which illustration represents a bottle full of sandy soil....

What animals are best suited for moving around a rainforest, or a desert? Design your own animal species based on a particular habitat, focusing on the characteristics it will need for optimal movement. Great as a group lesson or...