Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Identifying Materials by their Reflectivity

For Students 8th - 10th
In this reflectivity worksheet, students read about the absorption and reflectivity of light by different materials. Students solve 4 problems and determine the composition of given materials based on the amount of light reflected. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Much Land Does It Take To Produce Your Food?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students calculate the amount of land required to produce the food eaten by an individual for one year. They compare the amount of land required to produce animal versus plant products. Students visualize the areas of land calculated.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sand or Rock? Finding Out From 1,000 km

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students observe how measurements are made with different instruments.  In this remote sensing lesson students investigate the physical state of surfaces including the surfaces of the solar system. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Candy Reaction

For Teachers 6th - 9th
In this triboluminescence worksheet, learners use wint-o-green Lifesavers to observe a chemical reaction that gives off light. They break a lifesaver up with a hammer and make observations and they chew a lifesaver and make observations....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Applied Science - Physics Pre-Lab

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe the science of physics. In this Physics lesson, students observe examples of physics within their classroom. Students create a definition for physics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Measuring Calories

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students burn peanuts and marshmallows to determine the calories each contains. In this calorimetry instructional activity, students set up an apparatus with a ring stand and water in an aluminum can. They record the temperature of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Striking a Balance

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars simulate animals in a food chain. In this food chain lesson plan, students are identified as grasshoppers, frogs or hawks. Popcorn is spread across a lawn and young scholars are given baggies (stomachs) and colored sashes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What a Drag

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to reduce the impact of these forces. The equation that governs common frictional forces is introduced, and during a hands-on activity, students experimentally measure a...
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Properties of Metals

For Students 9th - 12th
In this properties of metals instructional activity, students read about the history of metal use and their properties. Students read about metallic bonding and answer three questions about bonding in metals.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recycled Vegetable Oil Powers Vans, Cars

For Teachers 2nd - 7th
Students share their knowledge about fuel sources, then read a news article about vegetable oil as a cleaner alternative to gasoline. In this current events and environmental science lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sun and Earth

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Students explore the sun, its structure, how big it is and how far away it is.  In this solar system instructional activity students complete a lab activity on dew point and weather.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Collecting the Rays

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate the affect shape has on the ability of a solar panel to collect sunlight.  In this collecting sunlight using a solar panel lesson, students determine which solar panel shape collects the most sunlight. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Do You Dew?

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students examine how the processes of condensation and evaporation occur. They describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and condensation of water on Earth. They give examples of the processes of evaporation and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Hot Is It?

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders use paper cups, black and white lining, thermometers and plastic wrap to conduct an experiment that measures the energy-collecting capacity of various colors. They graph the results.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

All The News

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students simulate newspaper critics in the topics of heat and temperature. They write a scientific critique of evidence and claims used in a newspaper article and research using KIE software. They write notes on the letter to the editor...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cooler in the Shadows

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students explore how the amount of sunlight and heat change in areas that are shaded.
Interactive
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PhET

States of Matter

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Water is the only molecule on Earth that can naturally exist in all three states of matter. The interactive simulation shows different molecules changing states of matter with the addition or removal of heat. Learners then see how...
Printables
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Global Climate Change

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Here is an extensive reading resource that addresses our climate change crisis. It thoroughly explains the greenhouse effect, related Earth cycles, and the history of climate change. Use it as part of the intended unit, published by the...
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

How Hot is Hot?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The lesson is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams and they must...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Earth's Atmosphere and Temperature

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.
Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Understanding the Greenhouse Effect

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Dive into the power of the sun with a two-part lesson. Budding scientists model the greenhouse effect in a hands-on activity, and then participate in a skit that explores the earth's energy balances and what really occurs in the...
Handout
National Institute of Open Schooling

Chemical Thermodynamics

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
All chemical reactions require energy. To explore thermodynamics, classes read and discuss its laws, exothermic and endothermic reactions, enthalpy in many forms, calculate enthalpy problems, and use Hess' Law to calculate enthalpy of a...
Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

South Pole Ice Cream!

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
How can you turn an ice cream activity into a scientific investigation? It's easy if you know ionic compounds, heat transfer, and the exothermic and endothermic process. Learners will explore the science behind freezing, insulation, and...

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