Space Race
Sensory Detectives
Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.
Curated OER
Physical Science: Solar Energy
Learners review and discuss how Solar energy and electricity produce light and heat. They create a photo/picture journal and include pictures taken during solar energy activities to a PowerPoint slide presentation.
Curated OER
Integrating the Craft of Writing into Physical Education
Incorporate writing into your physical education class. In groups, learners unscramble a list of words related to exercise and use them in their journal writings. Using their name, they write one word related to physical activity that...
Curated OER
Paper Suspension Bridges: You Want Me To Go Up There?
A few class periods will be required to complete this physics investigation with your high schoolers. There is an unavailable video written into the lesson plan, but there is plenty of material here to bridge the gap. Two terrific...
University of California
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science lesson, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over time....
Energy for Keeps
The Energy Times
Extra! Extra! Read all about past and present energy use in a classroom-made historical newspaper. Useful as a cross-curricular assignment between science, history, and language arts, the project is sure to get young journalists...
Curated OER
Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly
Youngsters listen to the story, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." After discussing the story, going over new vocabulary, and repeating the rhymes in the story, they study the parts of a fly. They finish by creating a fly on...
Curated OER
When A Car Coughs. . .
Budding scientists collect and compare particulate exhaust from four different vehicles. They discuss how cars contribute to air quality. To get the most mileage out of this resource, have learners complete the optional step 5, in which...
NOAA
Plankton
Dive into the world of plankton. The 17th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces different types of plankton. Young scientists then use what they have learned to classify...
Curated OER
Inquiry into Consumer Products
Students recognize different consumer products, found in and around the home, that have reactive or denaturing properties when used together. They explore chemical and physical properties of each product by identifying chemical formulas...
Curated OER
Changing Sugar
In this chemical and physical change worksheet, students use a sugar cube and observe its physical properties both when it is whole and after it is crushed. They heat the sugar cube and record 5 properties of the matter while being...
Curated OER
Investigating the Types of Energy in Different Objects
Students investigate forms of energy. In this physical science energy lesson, students work with a partner classifying household items according to the type of energy they have. Students complete a related worksheet.
Curated OER
Physical Principles in Living Systems
Seventh graders experiment with white light, plane mirrors, and curved mirrors in order to demonstrate the physical principles of living systems. In this physical principles lesson plan, 7th graders take 3 days to discover what happens...
Curated OER
Organic Compounds and Physical Properties
In this chemistry worksheet, students identify which has the highest boiling point, as well as the lowest. Then they identify which compound is least soluble in water and why. Students also classify each of the compounds listed on the...
Curated OER
What's in Wetland Soil?
Students examine the organic and inorganic components of soil. In this environmental science lesson plan, students identify the factors that influence soil formation. They collect soil samples, conduct tests, and analyze the results.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Balloon Astronaut
Design protection from high-speed particles. The STEM lesson plan highlights why astronauts need protection from space debris. Pupils use the design process to design, build, and test a spacesuit that will protect a balloon from a...
Curated OER
Shrinky Dinks® Palettes
Here is a fun and clever lesson for teaching physics classes how to calculate wavelength if given the energy and frequency data. On a worksheet, they compute wavelengths using a table of information that you provide. On a paper palette,...
Curated OER
The Birds of a Feather Flock Together
Fifth graders identify all parts of an egg, and explore their importance to the life cycle of a chicken. Learners compare all sorts of birds and place them in categories based on what they look like. This five-day activity effectively...
Curated OER
Water Alchemy
After reading "Aquatic Alchemy," an article about recapturing water for reuse when in space, your class will use calcium hydroxide or hydrated lime to purify cloudy water. Geared toward high school chemistry or environmental science...
NASA
Revising an Investigation
Write, edit, and then revise! The fourth lesson in a five-part series asks peers to provide feedback on research. Individuals then use the research to edit and revise conclusions and develop their presentations.
Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation
Greenhouse Gas Game
You will need to gather a number of tokens, bags, and other various game components in order to incorporate this activity into your curriculum. Different tokens represent carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Printable 8.5"x11"...
NOAA
Tides
Low tides, high tides, spring tides, neap tides, diurnal tides, semidiurnal tides, mixed tides ... just how many types of tides are there? The 10th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO)...
Curated OER
Science: Conditions for Slime Mold Survival
Students perform experiments to determine the nutritional needs and physical space requirements for slime mold to survive. After formulating hypotheses, they seal the petri dishes and set up the experiment along with two controls. ...
Curated OER
"The Emperor's New Clothes and Mahler's Ninth Symphony" Writing to Explain, Confidently and Efficiently, Even Physics!
Learners combine their study of physics with their study of best practices when writing to inform. They communicate with experts using e-mail before creating a brochure based on their study of universal gravitation.