National Park Service
Same Colors, Different Flavors
Who says getting to know your neighbors has to be difficult? The first resource in a three-part series creates an engaging project that teaches your scholars about Canadian culture. A question-and-answer format takes place via e-mail and...
Concord Consortium
Leap Years and Calendars
How many birthdays do leap year babies have in a lifetime? Learners explore the question among others in a lesson focused on different calendar systems. Given explanations of the Julian, Gregorian, and Martian calendars, individuals use...
Mathed Up!
Surface Area
Surface area is the sum of the parts. Given the measurements of different prisms, pupils determine their surface areas. Individuals find the area of each surface and figure out the surface area by finding the sum. The video, part of a...
NASA
Feel the Noise
Can you hear it now? Young scientists experiment with sound waves using metal objects and string. They strike metal objects while they hold them and as the objects hang from a string to compare the sound. They discover that sound travels...
Let's Drum!
Let's Drum!
Here's a group of exercises designed to introduce a group or class to the rhythm, as well as the basic sounds of a drum, bass and tone. Individuals investigate different types of drums and form drum circles to practice traditional rhythms.
Balanced Assessment
Fermi Number
A fermi number is a rough estimate of a quantity that is difficult or impossible to measure. Individuals design a process for making an estimation of a given scenario. For example, they determine a plan for estimating the number of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Identifying Quadratic Functions (Vertex Form)
Pupils calculate the equation of a quadratic in vertex form from a specific graph and determine an equation that would fit the description of a parabola. The final question determines the individuals' understanding of the signs of the...
Concord Consortium
Spring and Mass
Here's a resource with more bounce for the ounce! Engage your physical science class with an interesting interactive that allows individuals to perform tests with a mass attached to a spring. Participants can customize the scenario by...
101 Questions
Bottomless Mug
How much coffee can you actually drink? An intriguing lesson has learners consider an advertisement for a bottomless mug of coffee. While considering the price of the mug, they analyze different scenarios to determine the cost-saving...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle and Cancer
How does cancer begin, and why can it get so out of control? Curious young cytologists use an interactive resource to study the cell cycle. After reviewing the background information, individuals go step-by-step through the process of...
Kenan Fellows
Dinner Party: Using Pattern Trains to Demonstrate Linear Functions
Nothing fancy here ... just your run-of-the-mill Algebra party! Learners explore the patterns of linear functions while designing seating arrangements for a dinner party. Comparing the number of tables to the perimeter of the combined...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Leaf Chromatography
Pigmentation of leaves is important in plant processes. Scholars use chromatography to create a better picture of the pigmentation in an assortment of leaves. They share their results to make comparisons between different plant species.
Health Smart Virginia
Stress Management - Doctor Disease
Doctor, doctor, help me please! As part of their study of the correlation between disease and illness, middle schoolers take on the role of doctors. They rotate through 10 learning stations, read about patients' symptoms, and write a...
Cheetah Outreach
Habitats
Explore six different habitats—wetlands, rainforest, savannah, desert, city, and cultivated land—to determine which habitat factors (food, water, shelter, and space) are high, medium, or low in each. Learners also use maps of Africa to...
K12 Reader
Different Perspectives: The American Revolution
Prompt your young historians to hone in their reading comprehension skills by considering the fascinating perspective that Rudyard Kipling offers in his poem, "The American Rebellion", which provides an alternative perspective toward the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Kinds of Nouns
With so many different kinds of nouns, it can be hard for young learners to keep them all straight. Help clarify this important part of speech for your class with this series of worksheets which clearly addresses the difference...
National Park Service
Fitting In
Birds help other birds find food? Scholars are placed into one of five groups of different birds. Each group then "feeds" on letters of paper in a field and gather five pieces per person. As each group plays, more food is exposed,...
Concord Consortium
Dissolving Experimental
Why does like dissolve like? While in many cases opposites attract, the same cannot be said for chemistry! Solution scholars take an up-close look at the dissolving process with a customizable interactive. The resource allows users to...
Concord Consortium
Ceramic Forces
Why are bricks more likely to break than bend? Young science scholars peer inside a ceramic block and examine the effects of downward force at the molecular level. Learners can apply three different levels of force before observing their...
101 Questions
Coins in a Circle
Round and round you'll go! Learners watch as different-sized circles fill with coins. They collect data and then make a prediction about the number of coins that will fit in a large circular rug.
101 Questions
Can-struction
Can you solve it?! A New York City art challenge involves making sculptures from cans. The task is to determine the number of cans used in the engineering award-winning sculpture. Scholars consider the patterns in the different layers to...
Concord Consortium
Betweenness IV
Challenge your classes to think between the curves. Given two function formed by the combination of two exponential functions, individuals must write three functions in which all values would lie between the given. The question is...
Annenberg Foundation
Placing Artifacts in Time
Can history distort the true story behind famous people? Scholars analyze the many faces of the Native American Pocahontas. Incorporating technology and historical thinking skills, they uncover the many different sides to the Pocahontas...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Measure the Diameter of the Sun
Measuring the diameter of the sun may get a little heated, but using an indirect approach can help individuals keep their cool. Learners use the reflection of the sun to measure how long it takes for it to move one diameter. Using the...