Curated OER
Flight Dreams - Folding into Flight
Combine measurement, following directions, physics, and art with one fun activity. Learners read a set of instruction to create three different kinds of paper airplanes. They measure, fold, and fly the planes, and record data and answer...
North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. For this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
EngageNY
Decimal Expansion of Pi
Develop a better understanding of the value of pi. Learners explore the area of a circle using estimation and graph paper. While continuing to estimate the area of the circle using smaller and smaller grids, the number pi emerges.
Federal Reserve Bank
Income Taxes
Most adults dread April 15 — tax day! Tax preparation can be intimidating even for adults. Build confidence by leading individuals through the process and then give them a scenario to practice. The exercise uses tax vocabulary to give...
Curated OER
Earth's Heavenly Treasures: Hummingbirds
Young ornithologists watch an informative video and use the Internet to gather data about the life, size, habitat, and migration of hummingbirds. The interdisciplinary lesson includes activities that target art, science, math, and...
Visa
Road Rules: Researching and Buying a Car
How do the loan principal, interest rate, and term all factor into a monthly car payment? Introduce your class to some of the key steps and considerations of obtaining a loan and purchasing a car.
PBS
Arguing over Area
With the help of the Area Officers and Perimeter Patrol, you learners will develop a better understanding of area and its relationship to perimeter. First, they view a video clip from Cyberchase, and then they visit a website to...
Kenan Fellows
The Newton Challenge
Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.
Curated OER
How Many Penguins Does It Take? Studying Carrying Capacity and Limiting Factors
How does a population's habitat determine the size of that population? Teach learners about carrying capacity and limiting factors with an engaging roleplay activity. Class members pose as a colony of penguins who must gather food amidst...
Curated OER
Aqua-Thrusters!
Students construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas - produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid tablet and water -...
Curated OER
Swing in Time
Young scholars examine the motion of pendulums and come to understand that the longer the string of the pendulum, the fewer the number of swings in a given time interval. They see that changing the weight on the pendulum does not have an...
Curated OER
Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...
Curated OER
Leaving on A Jet Plane
Students create an airplane by listening to directions. They also to measure the pieces for the airplane and compare and contrast their test flights.
Curated OER
Heredity Mix 'n Match
Students randomly select jelly beans that represent genes for several human traits such as tongue-rolling ability and eye color. Then, working in pairs (preferably of mixed gender), students randomly choose new pairs of jelly beans from...
Curated OER
Electricity: Will It Conduct?
Students build conductivity testers and investigate which solids and solutions conduct electricity. Working in groups, they predict which items will conduct electricity and record their answers on worksheets.
Curated OER
Popcorn Fractions
Upper graders explore fractions to determine a fractional part of a whole. They are given 30 pieces of popcorn and asked to divide it into halves, thirds, etc. Students practice representing the popcorn groups as a numerator and...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Origami Geometry
Origami is an excellent way to combine Japanese culture, art, and geometric shapes into one engaging instructional activity! Scholars begin by listening to the story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and learn the origin of...
Curated OER
Telling Time
Young learners participate in activities which help them understand analog clocks, and the vocabulary of telling time. They examine the values of the intervals of minutes and hours by making a human clock.
Curated OER
How Long is a Hot Dog? Weight, Weight! Don't tell me!
Primary learners participate in activities that help them explain how different things are measured. They create their own access number chart.
Curated OER
Fast Facts
Ever use the inner circle/outer circle method of learning? Placing learners in a stationary inner circle and a rotating outer circle, they roll a die and attempt to be the first to call out an addition or multiplication equation with the...
Curated OER
Square Roots Using a Carpenter's Square
Students calculate the square root of a given number using carpenter's square measurements. In this math lesson, students relate this method on the Pythagorean theorem. They answer practice problems after the exploration activity,
Curated OER
Investigation - Peg Race
Students explore time by comparing the duration of an egg timer with how many pegs they can put in a pegboard. They experience one on one correspondence, as they place a peg in the whole. Students discover estimation of time and number...
Curated OER
Student Costs Data Table
Learners compare and contrast two routes selected for a virtual field trip. They create a data table of educational activities, lodging, and meal costs using Microsoft Excel software.
Curated OER
Inverse (Indirect) Machines
Students observe relationships between quantities. Students complete activities for three different classes of levers. In groups, students build each type of lever. Students identify levers in their daily surroundings. Students observe...