It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...

Is everything really connected? Take your class on a walk outside, where they will make observations and write them down on a worksheet. Once they are back in the classroom, learners will work to determine if and how things like birds,...

How does the dirt get out of your drinking water? A hands-on activity introduces the use of flocculants to help clear solid particles out of water. The plan walks learners through the process of setting up an experiment that...

Primary learners participate in activities that help them explain how different things are measured. They create their own access number chart.

An excellent instructional activity awaits your young scientists! In it, learners are invited to explore the world of pulleys, levers, and planes; simple machines that make lifting heavy things much, much easier. They watch video, and...

Science is magic that works. Magical color-changing beads and a coffee can that follows voice commands are just two examples of magic tricks that rely on science. After completing a hands-on activity and an experiment investigating the...

Students explain basic principles of aeronautics such as gravity and lift. In this How Things Fly lesson, students visit the interactive, hands-on How Things Fly gallery at the Smithsonian. Students perform three experiments that...

A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete. 

First graders construct a KWL chart on sound. In this physics activity, 1st graders describe different ways to produce sound. They explain how sound waves propagate.

Third graders create aquariums or terrariums to explain how creatures depend on living and nonliving things.

Learners differentiate between current and static electricity, conductors and insulators, explain how energy is converted from chemical to electrical, measure voltage of batteries, collect data on voltage, and predict voltage of...

Proving microscopic structures exist is a difficult task. Learn how scientists did just that in the mid-1800s as they set out to identify the cellular structures related to genetics. The online lesson explains the collection of work that...

How fast does water cool? First fifth graders will draw a line on a graph that predicts how fast they think water can cool from boiling. Then they plot the actual data on the same graph to see if their estimate was correct.

Students identify how to classify living things. They classify various concepts including family members, kinds of clothing, numbers, shapes, and vocabulary words. They discuss how to classify various concepts and classify pictures of...

Emerging biochemists more fully understand the flow of energy in ecosystems as they explore the laws of thermodynamics and relate them to energy transfer in food chains. They also investigate heat loss from the human body and how...

Students study what a body system is, how they function and how the systems work in unison.

Is there such a thing as useful microbes? Get ready to perform experiments on applying microbes for wastewater treatment. The first installment of the three-part unit provides background information to prepare young engineers for two...

Do you have mole problems? If so, call Avogadro at 602-2140. The lesson starts with pupils working independently to solve for molar mass of ionic compounds. Then they learn to solve for percent composition and later perform an...

Students explore where electricity comes from and how it is used in their everyday lives. Through discussion and hands-on activities, they define electricity and explain how it travels to our homes. Students make informed choices based...

Don't be concerned that the title slide of this presentation mentions Virginia's Geospatial Extension Program; this slide show is very informative for any technology-focused curriculum when considering global information systems. It...

Hands on science is the way to go! Learners conduct a lab experiment to help them explain how plants make food through photosynthesis. They test for the presence of starch in leaves using iodine solution and identify the basic things...

Middle schoolers explain how our knowledge of the sky has been enhanced by telescopes. They make their own night-sky observations, diagram and describe what they see, and examine pictures taken by telescopes.

A fascinating lesson plan on states of matter is here for your young scientists. Dry ice is used to challenge learners preconceived notions about how solids work. They discover all sorts of interesting facts about states of matter from...

See the underwater world through a different pair of eyes! Middle school marine biologists identify deep-sea organisms by examining images taken by an ROV from the Okeanos Explorer. After determining what creatures lie beneath the...