Field Museum
The Case of Darwin's Finches
One of the most striking pieces of evidence for Darwin's Evolution of Species was his observations of finches and how their beaks differed from island to island, depending on their primary food sources. So what would happen to the theory...
NASA
Soda Straw Rockets
Three, two, one, blast off to a better understanding of force and motion with this exciting science lesson! Beginning with a discussion about rockets and gravity, young scientists go on to complete a series of worksheets about net forces...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gorongosa: Making Observations Activity
Do you have young scientists wanting to make new discoveries rather than just completing the same experiments? Young scientists use their observational skills to identify animals and patterns in animal behavior. Through tracking...
Curated OER
Should Populations in an Ecosystem be Restricted?
Fourth graders experiment to determine how overpopulation effects ecosystems specifically plants. In this ecosystem activity, 4th graders conduct an ecosystems experiment after listening to Claire Daniel's, Ecosystems. They watch a...
Curated OER
Specific Heat of Metals
Students determine the specific heat of unknown metals. based on their hypothesis and design proposal. They analyze the findings of the specific heat of the unknown metals. Students complete this by questions, hypothesis, rationale,...
Curated OER
Chasing El Niño
Students view a video clip about the effects of El Nino. They work together to develop a question about weather folklore. They participate in an experiment that tests their hypothesis.
Curated OER
Pollution Assessment: Is Wood Lake a Good Lake?
Young scholars become aware of pollution in Richfield Minnesota's Wood Lake, identify sources of pollution in Wood Lake, learn to use variables, equations, spreadsheets and modeling software, and generate solutions for the problem.
Curated OER
Mobius Strips
High schoolers discuss the scientific method and construct their own Mobius Strips. They examine their Mobius Strip, and write observations and a hypothesis on how many strips of paper they have when they cut the strip in half length-wise.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Day the Mesozoic Died
While this is not the traditional, step-by-step lesson plan, it is chock-full of material that you can easily incorporate into your earth history unit. Its main purpose is to serve as a guide to using a three-part film, The Day the...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Kinetic and Potential Energy
A well-developed lab sheet guides physical science learners through an investigation of kinetic and potential energy. In small groups, collaborators discover whether or not the ramp height or mass of an object has an effect on the...
Curated OER
Spring Collecting and Identifying Bumble Bees
Students collect bumble bees in the field, record data, pin and label specimens, answer conclusion questions, and send specimens to research leaders for verification. They improve their ability to work in research teams. Students...
Curated OER
Taking an Animal Census Grades 3-8
Students comprehend the competitive, interdependent, cyclic nature of living things in an environment. They conduct an animal census in a designated research area over a six-month period to determine what types of species are present,...
Curated OER
How Many Drops?
Seventh graders hypothesize about the number of drops of liquid that can be placed on a penny before it spills over. They examine both the concept of devising a hypothesis and the idea of surface tension. They determine the difference...
Curated OER
What's Your Favorite Color?
Middle schoolers investigate the psychology behind color choices using two sites on the Internet. They complete a worksheet and construct an Inspiration file with the data from the charts. Then they form a hypothesis and test it using...
Curated OER
How Does Evolution Work?
Students pretend they are a scientist like John Endler in this Web activity. They visit his pools, from hypotheses, and test them out. In the process, the explore about natural selection and sexual selection. They are able to explain the...
Curated OER
MINI-UNIT on ELECTRICITY
Students identify hypotheses related to static electricity, to begin to test the hypotheses, to begin to develop conclusions related to observations, to demonstrate that like charges repel and unlike charges attract each other, to name...
Curated OER
Cancer as a Multistep Process
High schoolers analyze the causes of cancer from a genetic standpoint. They explain the increase in cancer with age and create a hypothesis for cancer development. They use the laws of probability as well.
Curated OER
Understanding Digestion
Students analyze data from their primary literature (textbook) and explore multiple
aspects of digestion by generating alternative or multiple explanations for questions posed during the lesson. This lesson includes a handout with a...
Curated OER
Ice Melting
Pupils design investigations to test various materials to prevent heat gain in frozen water. The task assess students' knowledge of scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection, measurement, graphing,...
Curated OER
Energy in Today's Global Society
Students explain how heat is used to generate and produce electricity. In this energy lesson students complete several activities that show them about the different fuels used for heating.
Curated OER
Cell Pizza
Students identify parts and functions of microscope. Students watch video, Cells and Life about cell parts with actual pictures and actual cells. Students discuss video and identify parts of the cells that animals and plants have in...
Curated OER
School House Rock! Science Rock
Students use common household and classroom objects to generate static electricity and study its effects. They discuss the video Science Rock CD called Electricity, Electricity. The video explains many things about electricity.
Curated OER
Weather, Migrations, and Plants
Young scholars research the effects of day-to-day weather on animal migrations, plant growth and other seasonal events. They consult maps, observe and record local conditions, keep journals and use their collected data check hypotheses.
Curated OER
Great Questions
Fourth graders research and create questions about a famous person. They create questions in a game format, create a computer generated brochure, and develop rubrics for their finished projects.