Curated OER
Fall vs. Spring
Students compare fall and spring. In this seasonal changes instructional activity, students read the book Apples and Pumpkins and discuss the fall season. The students then read It's Spring and describe the spring season. As a...
Curated OER
Olympics (Grade 4)
Students research information about the current Olympic research. In this Olympic research lesson, students take a pre-test to determine their knowledge about the current Summer Olympics. They choose one of three areas to research and...
Curated OER
Smoke Signals
Students estimate the amount of money a non-smoking teen spends in a week, a month, and a year, and compare it with the expenses of a teen who smokes one, two, and three packs a day. They research other reasons that teens should not smoke.
Curated OER
Skateboard Disaster
Students conduct a hands-on experiment with collisions between two skateboards of different masses. They are introduced to the concept of conservation of momentum in collisions and consider how their observations might help engineers...
Curated OER
Build an Approximate Scale Model of an Object
Students create a model of an object of their choice using sketches that they have drawn. They study what a scale model is and how to construct one. They examine the uses for scale models and why they are produced.
Curated OER
Carve That Mountain
Students investigate major landforms (e.g., mountains, rivers, plains, hills, oceans and plateaus). They build a three-dimensional model of a landscape depicting several of these landforms. Once they have built their model, they act as...
Curated OER
Construction Technologies: Construct the Strongest Bridge
Students investigate how engineers use different types of bridges for different places. In small groups they design and construct bridges for three different scenarios, and answer a series of investigating questions applied to the...
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students design and construct a Rube Goldberg machine that accomplishes a simple task in at least ten steps. They view and discuss various Rube Goldberg designs, identify types of simple machines, and in small groups produce a schematic...
Curated OER
Planting Parts
Each student plants two lima beans in a plastic cup with a paper towel so they can be observed growing. The beans are misted with a spray bottle, and placed in a warm sunny area. Students view the beans each day for the next two weeks,...
Curated OER
What Are Your Human Rights?: Post World War II and Human Rights
Students define and discuss human rights, make lists of human rights they think everyone deserves, and create class list of ten most important rights. Students then translate formal language of Universal Declaration of Human Rights into...
Curated OER
With Liberty & Top Soil for All
Middle schoolers compare the basic needs of plants to the basic needs of democracy. In this democracy comparison lesson, students complete a worksheet on what happens to a plant that's not nourished. Middle schoolers draw a correlation...
Curated OER
Investigating the Relationship of Mass to Volume
Third graders explore the relationship of mass to volume. In this physical science instructional activity, 3rd graders participate in an investigation with a several materials and measure the mass and volume using scientific tools....
Curated OER
Students Press Law and Ethics
Students research the rights and the responsibilities of journalists in dealing with First Amendment issues. In this First Amendment lesson plan, students research the Alien and Sedition Acts and study the five elements of...
Curated OER
A Salute to American Symbols
Learners research American symbols. In this American History lesson, students listen to the story The Wall and discuss the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They also listen to One Nation and research an American Symbol to create a...
Curated OER
Getting to the Point
Learners determine location by using the technique of triangulation. They imagine that they are out in the wilderness and have come to the top of a ridge. How can one identify the ridge on the topo map? How can one figure out where you...
Curated OER
Dangerous Air
Students investigate how pollution is a global issue. They locate the countries affected by radiation from Chernobyl, sequence the progress of radiation transport from Chernobyl and plot the pollution points on a world map, and read and...
Curated OER
Do As the Romans: Construct an Aqueduct!
Learners explore how the Romans engineered and built aqueducts. They read a manual, explore the Construct a Roman Aqueduct online activity, and construct an aqueduct that will transport two liters of water across a short distance in the...
Curated OER
Floating and Falling Flows
Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Muscles, Muscles Everywhere
Students study three different muscle types and investigate the affect of space travel on astronauts' muscles. They examine how exercise has a positive affect on muscle both on Earth and in space while looking at engineers' roles in...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Oil Spill Cleanup
Students experiment by creating an oil spill and trying a number of clean up methods. They determine which methods are the least costly and most effective. They role play as an environmental engineer and as an oil company owner who must...
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
Walk, Run, Jump!
Students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. They compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space. They list the three types of...
Curated OER
The Mayan Empire
Students study vocabulary associated with the Mayan Empire; its art, daily life, inventions, and religious beliefs. They examine why the Mayan culture is considered to be one of the most advanced of the ancient civilizations by...
Nemours KidsHealth
Eating Disorders: Grades 3-5
Explore the idea of self-esteem through different mediums. Research what is needed for increased self-esteem: list three things one might do well in, take a photo of an activity where each student is performing well, and examine how the...