California Department of Education
Waves and Music
Strike the right chord with a musical activity! Instructors provide a lecture on the mechanics of a pan flute. Pupils build their own pan flutes by using straws and calculating the lengths to create a scale. After cutting the straws to...
Curated OER
Riding on a Pendulum
A comprehensive resource gets fourth grade physical scientists making observations about the period of a pendulum and then applying knowledge to a playground swing. Through seven different stations, they will record observations and...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Pig Products
How do you feel about cloning? This issue is highly debated, so educate your class before they participate in a similar debate! Read a New York Times article related to the use of cloned pig organs for human transplants. Groups develop...
Curated OER
Notes on the Seasons
Students complete guided notes while learning about the earth's seasons.
Curated OER
Newton's Laws and Rocketball
Students investigate Newton's Three Laws. In this Newton's Law lesson, students write the laws in their own words. Students then do an experiment with a ping pong ball. Students drop the ball from a set distance and record their results,...
Curated OER
A Study of Vertebrates
Fourth graders investigate the characteristics of each vertebrate group. They take notes in a science journal, and in small groups create a HyperStudio slideshow presentation to present information about a specific vertebrate group.
Curated OER
Bringing Facts Into Science Fiction
Students develop a setting, plot and characters for a science fiction story based on current news themes, and then individually write drafts of the story.
Curated OER
Note Taking By Crayon
Skim a brief biography of Amelia Earhart with your class, and then assign groups of researchers one of four topics listed: Amelia's family life, important airplane flights during Amelia's life, turning points in Amelia's life, and...
Cornell University
Making a Battery
Don't be shocked when your class has a blast making their own batteries! Science scholars examine a dry cell battery, then design and construct a wet cell battery. The activity guides them through the parts of a battery, the variables...
American Physiological Society
Did I Observe it or Infer it?
Take the mystery out of inquiry! When young scientists learn to use their keen powers of observation to make smart inferences about a situation, they are well on their way to understanding what the scientific method is all about. Using...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Water from the Well
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California gold...
Space Awareness
How To Travel On Earth Without Getting Lost
Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Take a virtual trip with a geography lesson that uses longitude and latitude, the position of the sun, an astronomy app, and a classroom globe.
Curated OER
Exploring Seasonal Shadows and Sunlight
What can shadows tell us about the changing season? Over several months, astronomy learners record length and position of an outdoor object's shadow, such as a flagpole. They apply the data to a growing hypothesis and note the patterns...
Curated OER
Water in Earth's Hydrosphere
Environmentalists test stream water for temperature, pH, and turbidity. Each group shares their information and then the class makes an overall evaluation of the water quality. A slide show sets the backdrop for the teaching portion and...
Curated OER
Is That Legal? A Case of Acid Rain
Develop an environmental case study! Elementary learners discover how a case study is used as an analysis tool. The goal of this activity is to show pupils how techniques of persuasion (including background, supporting evidence,...
Curated OER
Take Your Time
Your class examines the ways that they spend time by evaluating their own schedules. They create a peer research survey to gather information about their various habits. They analyze the data and compare/contrast the activities of...
Curated OER
Superhero Science
Young scientist explore the various positions in the debate on stem cell research and then discuss these perspectives before formulating their own positions. They must research the topic and beliefs that others have. They will also look...
Curated OER
First You Take an Ecumene
Although this was written regarding Canadian agriculture, it can be used in any agriculture or environmental science class. Learners evaluate agricultural and economic activity maps and consider land use competition. Activities that get...
Curated OER
The Long and Short of It: Summarizing Important Details
Students practice their summarizing skills while listening to a brief biography of Amelia Earhart. Students take notes while the teacher reads the article and write a paragraph that summarizes the important events from Amelia Earhart's...
University of Texas
Matter and the Periodic Table Chemical Families and Periodic Trends
Is assembling the periodic table as simple as Tetris? Scholars arrange colored cards into a logical order and then make connections to the arrangement of the periodic table. Hands-on activities include adding trend arrows and analyzing...
EduGAINs
Go H2O! Investigating Residential Water Systems
Before your learners excuse themselves to get a drink at the water fountain, prompt them to think about where that water comes from. A middle school science instructional activity encourages groups to research their community's source of...
SRI International
Science of Water
Water is crucial to survival. Scholars gain an appreciation for water by reading about it, learning about its atomic properties, and investigating its properties through six stations in a lab activity.
National Wildlife Federation
Tree Detectives!
Trees may look pretty similar until you take a closer look. Young scientists use their observation skills to describe the difference between the bark, leaves, and seeds of different trees. They then use a field guide to identify local...