Curated OER
Don't Slip!
Students measure, record, and graph the force of moving a block of wood along sand paper. In this friction lesson plan, students read a spring scale, collect data, construct a graph, and propose a model to explain how fiction works.
Curated OER
Displacement vs. Distance Worksheet
Displacement is a foundational concept for physics pupils. If they are having trouble discerning it from distance, this activity can help clear things up. The first page is essentially a piece of graph paper. It has a compass rose and a...
Perkins School for the Blind
The Germinator
How does a plant grow from a seed? Observe the process with a clever idea from the PBS television show ZOOM. Watch the video, then have your young botanists create their own germinators. The instructional activity described here is for...
Curated OER
Bubble Mania
Elementary schoolers practice measuring a soap bubble print. They follow a recipe to make a soap bubble solution. Pupils use the soapy solution to blow large bubbles with a plastic drinking straw until they pop leaving behind a circular...
Virginia Department of Education
Out of the Box
There's no need to think outside the box for this one! Scholars measure the length, width, and height of various boxes. Results help develop the formulas for the surface area and volume of rectangular prisms.
Curated OER
Math Mammoth End of Year Test - Grade 2
Assess your second graders with this end of the year test. Originally meant for home school, this assessment could also be used in a larger setting. Learners complete 35 problems based on their knowledge of the second grade math...
Virginia Department of Education
Mathematics Vocabulary Cards - Grade 2
Augment your math curriculum with posters detailing several concepts important to second grade math. Each poster features one math term from geometry, measurement, probability and statistics, computation and estimation, numbers and...
NASA
Rocket Wind Tunnel
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
Curated OER
Magnetic Levitation
A thorough investigation of magnetic levitation; this activity has four parts. First, physical scientists play with a wooden dowel and three disc magnets to review polarity and repelling action. Then they experiment with...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Albedo, Reflectivity, and Absorption
What is reflectivity, and what does it have to do with the Earth's climate? As reflectivity is measured by albedo, scientists can gather information on Earth's energy balances that relate to global warming or climate change. Budding...
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...
Mathed Up!
Angles in Triangles and Quadrilaterals
This short video show viewers how to connect the sum of the angles in a triangle to other angle measurements. Pupils determine the missing measures for angles involved with triangles and quadrilaterals. Class members then must explain...
NASA
Newton Car
If a car gets heavier, it goes farther? By running an activity several times, teams experience Newton's Second Law of Motion. The teams vary the amount of weight they catapult off a wooden block car and record the distance the...
Virginia Department of Education
How Many Triangles?
Something for young mathematicians to remember: the sum of any two sides must be greater than the third. Class members investigates the Triangle Inequality Theorem to find the relationship between the sides of a triangle. At the...
DiscoverE
Air-Powered Mini Rocket
Does the position of the clips make a difference? The activity provides directions to build and test a paper rocket. Pupils attach paper clips to the rocket in different configurations and measure the distance the rocket flies each time....
Mathed Up!
Stem and Leaf Diagrams
Order the data within a stem-and-leaf display. Pupils take data and create and ordered stem-and-leaf diagrams, including the key. Participants take their data and determine answers about the information. Class members then find...
NOAA
Through Robot Eyes
How do robots assist ocean explorers in collecting data and images? The final installment in a five-part series has science scholars examine underwater images collected by robots and identify the organisms shown. Groups then calculate...
Mathed Up!
Ratio
Practice makes proficient! Here, scholars practice their ratio skills to convert measurements while cooking. Nine problems make up a nine-page document equipped with clear instructions and advice for successful completion while working...
Science Matters
Earthquake Building/Shaking Contest
Japan is one of only a handful of countries that constructs buildings that are almost earthquake proof. The 13th lesson in the 20-part series challenges scholars to build structures to test against earthquakes. With limited materials and...
Cornell University
Resolution—Not Just for the New Year
Experiment with optical resolution using an inquiry-based lesson. Young researchers calculate fellow classmates' optical resolutions. They apply the information to understand the inner workings of optical instruments.
Curated OER
Introduction to Measurement
Students are able to observe and measure the variability in the length of the forearm and the length of the foot and to test a common belief of the foot is equal to the length of the forearm.
Curated OER
Measurement
Students investigate the relationship between metric length measurement and English length measurement units. They watch a demonstration of the use of centimeter and millimeter rulers before practicing using the Ladder technique to...
Curated OER
How Do Your Students Measure Up?
Students participate in a paper folding activity that has them create a ruler for measuring to the closest 1/16th of an inch.
Curated OER
Measurement Tools
Students understand the concept of how to use different measurement tools for specific purposes. Students take pictures of various objects that can be measured using a digital camera and then making a power point presentation.