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Alabama Learning Exchange
How Big Can a Bee Be?
Mathematicians analyze the relationships between surface area and volume. They conduct Internet research, conduct various experiments, record the data in a spreadsheet, and graph the results and compare the rate of increase of surface...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Sugar Crystal Challenge
Blow your learners' minds with a sweet lesson on nanotechnology that uses sugar to demonstrate the difference nanoscale surface area makes in dissolving and crystal formation. Plenty of supportive background information is read to...
Curated OER
Antacid Tablet Race
Students complete experiments to determine how rocket fuel is affected by surface area and temperature. They compare the reaction rates of antacid tablets. They discuss their results to complete the lesson.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Exploring at the Nanoscale
Nano-nano! Nanotechnology can seem like it's from another planet! After learning about this tiny technology, collaborative groups experiment with how smaller particles affect chemical reactions. They do this by immersing a whole and a...
Teach Engineering
Measuring Surface Tension
How do you measure surface tension? The fifth installment of a nine-part series is an experiment where young scientists use tubes of different sizes to measure surface tension. They calculate the average and standard deviation of the...
Santa Monica College
Introducing Measurements in the Laboratory
We use basic units of measurement to break down things and communicate clearly. The first instructional activity in an 11-part series teaches the proper way to measure various items. It starts simply with measuring the dimensions and...
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
Amazing Transpiration
Learners observe a leaf and discuss the way that water is released from a leaf through its stomata. For this water cycle lesson, young scholars calculate how much water leaves produce from a whole tree.
Discovery Education
Weathering Cubes
Weathering is not necessarily a result of the weather. Scholars conduct an experiment to explore the effect of surface area and volume on the weathering process. They create their own sugar cube rocks using the same number of cubes—but...
University of Wisconsin
Sizing a Rain Garden
Most appropriate if you are applying the entire unit to build a rain garden at your school, this installment involves calculating the area that will drain into it. Your garden planners will need data from previous lessons, so this one...
Teach Engineering
Surface Tension Lab
What constitutes a good soap bubble? In the second installment of a nine-part series, scholars apply their understanding of surface tension to soap bubbles. They experiment to determine the best solutions to use for the...
Curated OER
Attack of the Raging River
Students explore mass and volume. In this mass and volume lesson, students pretend to be on a hike and have lost their way. Students must cross a river get back on track. Students must use mass, volume, surface area, density, property...
Curated OER
Explore Surface Types on a Journey Around Earth
Students explore satellite data. In this technology cross-curriculum math and world geography lesson, students locate specific map areas using a microset of satellite data. Students use technology and math skills to determine percentages...
Curated OER
Wave Math
Students identify the different factors affecting the size and shape of ocean waves. In this math lesson, students calculate wave speed and wavelength given a mathematical formula.
Curated OER
Earthquakes: Sixth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Young seismologists learn more about plate tectonics with a set of pre-lab, lab, and post-lab lessons plans on earthquakes. After exploring how waves travel through various materials, sixth graders record their observations and...
Curated OER
Fuel Mystery Dis-Solved
Students describe how temperature and surface area exposure affect the rate at which fuel is consumed. They explain why engineers want to know about the properties of a fuel when designing rockets. They create a bar graph of result data.
Curated OER
Kites
Students build a kite while integrating math and science. In this kite building lesson, students construct a blueprint and apply mathematical formulas while constructing a kite. They use appropriate flight and kite terminology to...
Curated OER
Surface Area to Volume Ratio
Learners examine the surface area to volume ratio and how they relate. In this surface area lesson students complete several activities.
Cornell University
Scaling Down: Effects of Size on Behavior
Two activities explore the concept of size, especially small sizes down to the nano. Scholars practice determining volume, mass, and density and calculate exponential increases and decreases. They then predict and test the effect of size...
Curated OER
Break the Tension
Students experiment with the concepts of surface tension. They participate in a number of different experiments that introduce them to surface tension. They work in a small group in order to conduct these experiments.
Teach Engineering
Airplane Tails and Wings: Are You in Control?
Keep everything under control. The lesson plan, the 16th segment in a 22-part unit, provides a more detailed look at the parts of a plane, specifically the control surfaces. Pupils learn about the construction of the wings and the tails...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Sixth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Here is a set of pre-lab, lab, and post-lab lesson plans on plate tectonics. After completing the previous labs on volcanoes and earthquakes, sixth graders use the gained knowledge to explore plate boundaries and the movement of...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: First Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
A set of first grade geology lessons focuses on plate tectonics and movement of plate boundaries. During the pre-lab, learners experience three types of plate movement through a kinesthetic demonstration. The lab...
Baylor College
Measuring and Protecting Skin
Several subjects are addressed within the context of a science activity about the sun's ultraviolet rays. Elementary earth scientists consider protection of the skin with sunscreens (health), estimating and measuring surface area or an...