NASA
Build a Satellite
Shake, rattle, and explore space with satellites. Engineers learn how satellites work before designing, building, and testing their own models. Groups engage in quality assurance reviews with colleagues to improve their designs, and the...
NOAA
Community Ecology and Sampling
Seamounts in the Coral and Tasman Seas are home to more than 850 different species. Groups explore hydrothermal vents, researching the organisms found there and their energy source. They also learn about seamounts, exploring their unique...
Virginia Department of Education
Passing Traits to Offspring
What makes each one of us unique? Lead your class in this exciting and educational activity as you uncover traits that show how each individual is different from another. Pupils explore facts about DNA technology and predict the...
Perkins School for the Blind
Testing the Strength of a Column
Columns have been used throughout the world because they are good load-bearing structures. Learners with visual impairments conduct an experiment to work through the design process as well as to understand this engineering phenomenon....
Purdue University
Design of Music Instruments for a Rock Band
Can you create a rock band? Scholars learn about the creation and transmission of sound in a hands-on STEM activity. First, they explore the transmission of sound using a tuning fork. Then, they must solve the problem of missing...
Purdue University
Simple Machines
What's the best way to use a simple machine to solve a real-world problem? Scholars construct their own simple and complex machines to explore the concepts of work and force. They discuss examples of simple machines they have found in...
Virginia Department of Education
Biotechnological Issues and Bioethics
Culminate a bioethics unit with the implementation of a activity that incorporates the Socratic method to encourage class feedback and participation. Pupils participate in a discussion on bioethics and morality, complete a...
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics...
Beyond Benign
Great Expectations Through Modification
Explore the changes genetic modifications make just to make it in our world. Scholars track the production of insulin over time and discover how genetic modifications make the treatment of diabetes possible.
DiscoverE
Action Figure Diver
Will your next buoyancy lab rise to the occasion? Make a splash with action figure divers! Teams of young physicists explore the relationship between mass and buoyancy by adding weights or balloons to achieve a diver that neither sinks...
DiscoverE
Design a Dome
Do domed structures have advantages over their less-than-spherical counterparts? Junior architects explore the pros and cons of domes through a design challenge. Teams work together to plan, sketch, build, and test domes created from an...
University of Minnesota
Phantom Limb
A phantom of neuroscience may leave pupils perplexed as they engage in an experimental lesson that recreates a phantom limb scenario. After experiencing the phenomenon, they choose a scientific question to explore further.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Classroom Activities: Stem Cells and Diabetes
How close are we to a cure for diabetes? It seems the cure which has a connection to stem cell research is a possibility! Learners explore the concept of stem cells with an engaging hands-on activity. A PowerPoint presentation provides...
Curated OER
A Good Foundation
Young scholars examine how regional geology affects bridge foundations. In this physical science instructional activity, students explore how bridge types are constructed for different purposes.
Curated OER
The Earth is a Changin'
Young scholars view examples of different types of erosion. In this erosion instructional activity, students discuss the different types of erosion and how erosion changes Earth. Young scholars explore erosion and the effect it has on...
Curated OER
You Are What You Drink!
Students explore water treatment systems. In this water conservation ecology lesson, students identify and explain several processes used for water treatment and define related vocabulary after listening to content information given...
Curated OER
Earthquake Formation
Students explore earthquakes. In this natural disaster and engineer career education instructional activity, students identify features of the earth's surface that increase the likelihood of an earthquake. Students use visual aids to...
Curated OER
Light It Up
Students study day-lighting and other types of light bulbs that are used for energy efficiency. In this engineering lesson students study the light bulb parts and the light wavelength.
Curated OER
An Uphill Swim
Students explore the concepts and engineering principles used in a canal lock system and apply those concepts to navigate a boat through a working model of a canal lock waterway.
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – What Killed the Seeds?
Most drugs used today come from nature, so the discovery of new ecosystems in the deep sea is exciting from a medical perspective. Scholars develop their own bioassay to test germination rates in seeds.
Curated OER
Submersible Designer
High schoolers work in groups to design, build, and test a submersible prototype. In this engineering lesson, students learn about the importance and design of submersible vessels and apply their knowledge by building one of their own....
Curated OER
Lesson: Can-Do Canoe
Collaborative groups work together with a variety of materials to design an eight-inch canoe that floats for at least three minutes. There is no direct instruction involved in this plan, just a list of materials and a procedure for...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Cast Your Vote
In a simple but unique lesson, youngsters learn about the history of voting systems. They then collaborate in groups to develop a new honest and consistent voting method. A class-wide poll is taken, evaluating the designs of other...
Teach Engineering
Exploring Acceleration with an Android
Small groups use rubber bands to accelerate an Android device along a track of books. They collect the acceleration data and analyze it in order to determine the device's velocity.