101 Questions
Styrofoam Cups
How many cups does it take to reach the top? Learners attempt to answer this through a series of questions. They collect dimension information and apply it to creating a function. The lesson encourages various solution methods and...
101 Questions
Coffee Traveler
Investigate the volume of irregular figures in an inquiry-based exercise. Presented with an irregularly shaped box filled with water, learners must predict the level of water when it is tipped on its side. The class can divide...
101 Questions
Toothpicks
Analyze patterns and build functions. Young scholars work on their modeling skills with an inquiry-based lesson. After watching a video presentation of the problem, they write functions and make predictions.
101 Questions
Dandy Candies
Package design is an economic necessity. Young scholars assume the role in an interesting inquiry-based lesson. Given 24 cubic shaped candies to package, they must determine the arrangement that uses the least amount of cardboard to...
101 Questions
Sticky Stickies
Don't let your classes get stuck on area calculations—grab their attention with an inquiry-based lesson! Scholars must develop a plan to determine how may sticky notes it takes to cover the surface of a door. They decide on the...
101 Questions
Sugar Packets
Depending on your eating habits, you just may not want to know the answer to the inquiry-based question! The task is to determine the number of sugar packets in one 20-ounce soda. Learners use nutritional information from the sugar and...
101 Questions
Thanksgiving Taters
What would a meal be without the taters? The question is, how long does it take to peel those potatoes? Given the rate of peeling one potato, scholars predict the time it takes to peel the bag. The twist is that the first potato was...
Baylor College
What Dissolves in Water?
One of water's claims to fame is as the universal solvent. Young physical scientists experiment to discover which materials dissolve in this special compound. You could never be more prepared for teaching this lesson than by using this...
Baylor College
There's Something in the Air
Clever! In order to compare indoor and outdoor dispersal rates for the movement of gases and particles through air, collaborators will participate in a classroom experiment. Set up a circular grid and set students on lines that are...
101 Questions
Domino Skyscraper
Can a domino knock over a skyscraper? An inquiry-based lesson asks learners to calculate the size of domino needed to topple the Empire State Building. Using specific criteria and a geometric model, they find a solution.
101 Questions
Foreign Subway Order
Subway orders are the same in every language, right? An inquiry-based lesson presents a Subway ordering board from an Asian country. Given an order, learners must determine the cost by comparing symbols of the order to the symbols on the...
Curated OER
The Bio-fuel Project: Creating Bio-diesel
Students investigate bio-fuel. In this investigative lesson, students create bio-fuel from vegetable oil waste. Students will analyze, predict, collect and synthesize data from their experiments with bio-fuel.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges
Curiosity Machine provides a free, high-interest STEM lessons for students. In this lesson, students will construct a stegosaurus tail that is capable of breaking through a piece of paper. Site includes process and tips to solve design...
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Make a Signal Horn
Build a signal horn to make low-frequency sounds that can be heard from far away in this STEM lesson. Use this interactive site to document your design process. Included on the site is a video explaining a possible solution to the problem.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Build a Bubble Switch
Curiosity Machine provides a free, high-interest STEM lessons for students. This challenge asks students to create a bubble maze where bubbles move through several on and off switches. This site includes a place for students to document...
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Engineer a Wind Powered Water Pump
With this design challenge, students can build a wind-powered turbine that can pump water up from the ground. This site contains tips to complete the design challenge as well as a place for students to document their engineering design...
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Build a Buoyant Catamaran
Could you use plastic bottles, popsicle sticks, and tape to Engineer a catamaran that can hold 15 ounces of cargo without sinking? Use this site for lesson plans, tips, and a place to document your process.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Engineer an Air Powered Spinning Machine
Engineer an air-powered spinning machine with this site. Site includes a teachers lesson plan, tips, and a place to document the process of creating this machine.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Engineer a Pneumatic Creature
Create a creature that uses air to create motion with this challenge. Site includes tips, lesson plans, and a place for students to document their design process.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Make a Pine Cone
Using cardboard, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and strings create a pine cone that opens and closes. This site contains lesson plans, tips, and a place for students to document their engineering design process.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Design a Microexpression Zoetrope
Build a zoetrope machine where you can animate a facial expression and the machine plays the animation back with this site. Site contains lesson plans, tips, and a place to document your design process.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Control a Microraptor's Flight
Using common household materials students are challenged to make a flying raptor and control its flight with attached strings. Site includes lesson plans, tips, and a place for students to document their process.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Make a Mechanical Leg
This website challenges students to make a ball and socket joint that mimics the movement of a human hip or shoulder. Using only a tennis ball, rubber bands, cardboard, and tape, students will construct this mechanical device. The site...
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Engineer a Balloon Helicopter
Can you build a balloon helicopter that can fly at least 3 feet from the ground? This site gives a lesson plan, tips, and a place for students to document their engineering design process.