American Statistical Association
Exploring Geometric Probabilities with Buffon’s Coin Problem
Scholars create and perform experiments attempting to answer Buffon's Coin problem. They discover the relationships between geometry and probability, empirical and theoretical probabilities, and area of a circle and square.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Modeling Motion: Rolling Cups
Connect the size of a rolling cup to the size of circle it makes. Pupils view videos of cups of different sizes rolling in a circle. Using the videos and additional data, they attempt to determine a relationship between cup...
National Gardening Association
Migration Mishaps
Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...
University of California
Energy and Biomass Pyramids
Young scientists play tag as they act out the food pyramid in the ocean ecosystem. Energy circles pass from the smaller prey to the predators and at the end of the activity, a data chart and analysis questions allow pupils to apply their...
Curated OER
The Female Reproductive Organs
Students identify the female pelvic organs, understand the changes that occur during puberty, and learn what specific organs are involved in these changes. For this biology lesson plan, students learn the path of the human egg cell...
Curated OER
The Pure, The Mixture, The Unknown
Ninth graders participate in classroom discussions, demonstrations and hands-on laboratory activities about pure substances and mixtures with a focus on common household materials. They investigate: What is a pure substance? What is a...
Curated OER
Solids and Water
Students investigate mixtures made of water and familiar solid materials. They observe and discuss the changes that occur immediately and set the mixtures aside for a day. Finally, students observe the mixtures, note changes, and graph...
Curated OER
What Is the Matter with Water?
Second graders observe matter in all 3 states : liquid, solid and gas, in an ice cream soda. In teams, they are given ice and teams compete to be the first to melt their ice. Winner gets the ice cream soda. They draw examples of 3 states...
Curated OER
Clouds and the Weather
Fourth graders analyze the relationship of clouds and local weather. Students also observe and record cloud data and weather conditions daily as they research different cloud types. The data is analyzed looking for trends in daily...
Curated OER
Heat Up the Floating Plates
Eighth graders research the connection between the convection currents within the mantle of the earth and the moving of Earth's plates. A connection to lessons at previous grade levels on the rock cycle and important background...
Curated OER
Earth's Revolution and Rotation
Eighth graders investigate the regular motions of the sun, Earth and the moon and explain how these are related to days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles. They participate in an exercise where they explore the...
Curated OER
Aboriginal Peoples And The Universals of Culture
Sixth graders research specific features of a province or territory of Canada. In this Canadian history lesson, 6th graders identify aboriginal culture areas on a map, identify cultural features represented in their region, and...
Curated OER
The Physical Setting
Tenth graders examine chemical reactions. In this chemistry lesson students choose an investigation that they wish to perform based on their interest.
Curated OER
Electrical Conduction in Semiconductors
In this electronics worksheet, students explore the properties of semiconductors to complete 17 short answer and problem solving questions.
Curated OER
You Light Up My Life: Developing a Scientific Theory for What Fuels a Candle's Flame!
Students examine how candles work and how scientific theories are developed and tested. Students propose hypotheses about what is burning in a candle then perform tests in order to develop their scientific theory. After a teacher...
Curated OER
The Extinction and Rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
An incredibly thorough, and well-designed lesson teaches youngsters about the presumed extinction and rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas. Learners discuss the environmental factors that led to the birds disappearance....
Curated OER
The Same but Different Part II
Third graders experiment with beakers of water and balloons to measure the volume of the gas in the balloon. They determine ways to change the volume of air in the balloon which changes its size but not its physical state. By heating the...
Curated OER
Chemical Changes by Gems
Seventh graders observe that heat is produced when two substances are combined. They brainstorm how, and then experiment to find out which of two chemicals created the heat.
Curated OER
Seasonal Changes
Students examine wildflower data compiled from their student journals from the school year. They determine patterns of seasonal growth then use these patterns to predict patterns for missing data.
Curated OER
States of Matter: Liquid
Students work in a mini lab where they measure the temperature every 30 seconds for several minutes as water is heated. They are asked what makes liquid different from a solid. Students view a PowerPoint on the model of liquids,...
Curated OER
Physical Characteristics of the Troposphere
Pupils lexplore environmental trends in the troposphere- temperature, dew point, pressure and wind speed- by checking their hypotheses against data collected by weather balloons.
Curated OER
The Physics of Tools
Young scholars investigate the nature and work of simple tools and mechanics.
They explain how each simple machine can be used in real world applications. They explore levers, balance beams, windlasses, wedges, gears, ocarinas,...
Curated OER
National expansion of the United States (1815 to 1850), and its connection to local Illinois history.
Students discuss the importance of establishing the I & M Canal water route. They watch a video about the canal's history. They collect and write a personal migration story by interviewing a family member. They analyze trends and...
Curated OER
America the Beautiful
Students analyze the physical geography of the United States and how we have adapted to or altered the land to create the country we know today. Students complete maps with physical features, states and cities of interest.