Teach Engineering
Swinging Pendulum
Get into the swing of things. Pupils use a pendulum to demonstrate the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back. After measuring the speed of a pendulum and compare it to the calculated theoretical speed, they determine...
Virginia Department of Education
Work and Power
Assist your class with correctly calculating the values for force, work, and power as they determine the amount various activities require. They gather data and participate in a group discussion to compare results upon conclusion of the...
Nemours KidsHealth
Eating Disorders: Grades 6-8
Raise awareness of eating disorders with a two-activity instructional activity with middle schoolers reading articles to gather background information and then create audio messages and advertisements that promote healthy self-esteem and...
Purdue University
Recycling Paper
Build an appreciation for the green movement by recycling your own paper! Learners participate in a STEM instructional activity by learning about the process of recycling paper and then designing their own models. Their ultimate task is...
Curated OER
All About Me: Measuring Height and Weight
Students take personal fitness inventories. In this personal health instructional activity, students take measurements of their heights and weights. Students record the data, calculate their BMI, and then chart their physical activity.
Teach Engineering
What a Drag!
Stop and drop what is in your hand! Pupils investigate how form effects drag in the 12th part of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups create equally weighted objects and determine which one falls the fastest by collecting data.
Teach Engineering
Rock and Boat
Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Building Ecological Pyramids
Looking for a fresh take on traditional food/energy pyramids? Conduct an innovative activity where pupils build their own! The lesson uses research data from Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique for a real-life safari touch. Scholars...
Curated OER
Terror in Space
Students view a video clip about the role of satellites in space. They examine the concept of center of mass. They participate in an experiment showing how altering the location of an object's center of mass can change its motion.
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
STEM: Lou-Vee Air Car
A comprehensive lesson on acceleration awaits your physicists and engineers! Two YouTube videos pique their interest, then sample F=ma problems are worked and graphed. The highlight of the lesson is the building of a Lou-Vee air car!...
Teach Engineering
Spring Away!
The last segment of the nine-part unit makes a connection between springs and linear equations. Groups hang weights from the spring and measure its length. Then, using the data collected, they calculate the slope to find the k-value of...
Curated OER
Gravimetric Determination of the Nonvolatile Content of Paint
Here are the instructions for leading your advanced chemists though the process of measuring the nonvolatile components in a sample of paint. No student handout is provided, so you may want to create one based on the procedure explained....
Curated OER
What is Air?
Young scholars investigate air by participating in a class experiment. In this matter measurement lesson plan, students identify air as a gas which consists of mass. Young scholars utilize a windsock or balloon to measure oxygen and...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Ocean Acidification: Whats and Hows
Open this lesson by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine organisms. They measure...
Discovery Education
Submarines and Aircraft Carriers: The Science of Nuclear Power
As physics masters view this presentation, they learn how nuclear power is used in submarines. They use Google Maps to plot a course through the ocean and calculate the time required for surfacing and traveling. They learn about fission,...
Curated OER
Density
Students find the mass, volume, and density of various objects. For this density measurement lesson, students observe how same-sized objects can have different masses, then use water displacement to find the density of each object and...
Curated OER
Fettucini Physics
Students design a structure capabl;e of holding a textbook. They demonstrate that the weight of a textbook is offset by the normal force exerted on the book by the structure.
Curated OER
Mr. and Miss Big Feet
Third graders experiment with gravitational force. In this physical science lesson, 3rd graders send matchbox cars off a ramp while changing the amount of weight attached to the car. Students record their data and discuss the results.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Build Your Own Mobile
Students inquire into how the center of mass is the key factor in designing cars. They construct an oddly shaped object and determine its center of mass. They find that engineers are able to predict how objects will behave while they are...
Cornell University
Chemical Reactions
Investigate the Law of Conservation of Mass through a lab exploration. Individuals combine materials to initiate chemical reactions. They monitor for signs of reactions and measure the masses before and after the reactions for comparison.
Kenan Fellows
Isotopic Pennies
Many people confuse atomic mass and atomic numbers. The sixth of seven lessons in a unit requires scholars to find the weight of different groups of pennies. Then, they must solve how many of each type of penny exists in a closed system...
Teach Engineering
Floaters and Sinkers
Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...
Virginia Department of Education
The Law of Conservation of Matter
The Law of Conservation of Matter can be complex for young scientists to fully grasp. Use this experiment to help simplify the process as pupils perform two experiments to determine mass: one that melts a substance and the other that...
Curated OER
Weights of Objects
High schoolers differentiate between the weights of an object on different planets. In this geometry lesson, students investigate different weights and graph their results as it relates to the different planets. They appreciate the...