Curated OER
Energy Defined
Fourth graders complete activities to study the sources of energy and forms. In this energy lesson, 4th graders discuss the origin of energy and define it. Students participate in several experiments to further study energy including a...
Curated OER
The Connection Between Pigment and Light Colors
Students learn the procedure for mixing secondary colors from primary pigments and observe the results of mixing two primary colors.
Curated OER
Observations & Chemical Reactions
Students conduct a series of experiments in which they explore chemical reactions. They detect chemical changes by observing how physical properties change when two different chemicals are combined. They list and describe the reactants...
Curated OER
Let the Sunshine in
Students collect and analyze data to study wavelengths of visible light. They cover Styrofoam cups with three different colors of sun filtering products and shine a lamp directly on the cups. They determine the most effective filtering...
Curated OER
Taiko Drumming and Folktales - Activity 1
Students discuss how sound has been used throughout history and cultures, including present day in their own lives, through the study of Taiko Drums in this introductory lesson. Resource ideas are provided.
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Probes, Exploration and Application
Students examine the benefits of the space program to our life on earth. In this space exploration instructional activity students participate in a lab, answer questions and study radar mapping.
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Reading Food Labels
Students investigate the concept of phonemic awareness in order to help increase reading comprehension. The reading of food labels creates the context for the practice session. They pay particular attention to certain sounds that must be...
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Tune Up Your Ears!
Students discuss meaning of pitch, listen for different sounds in classroom, hallway, and outdoors, and listen to sounds played on piano and on computer to determine high or low pitch.
Urbana School District
Waves
What is a physicist's favorite part of sports? Doing the wave. The presentation covers longitudinal, transverse, surface, and standing waves. It includes in-depth information on frequency, wavelength, period, amplitude, reflection,...
Curated OER
Automated Vehicle Programming Design
Students design a program to make an automated vehicle perform a specific task. In this robotics lesson, students play the role of scientists competing to win a factory's contract. They present their algorithm to class.
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Family Bowling Night
Young scholars and their families visit a pretend bowling alley created in an activity room at school. They help their family members to bowl, set up pins and have fun without keeping score to engage the students and culminate the end of...
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Energy Transformations
For this energy transformations worksheet, students fill in the objects to a chart for which one would fit each energy transformation, and fill in the blanks to a chart about which energy transfer fits each object. Students complete 6...
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Electromagnetic Spectrum
Learners define electromagnetic radiation, list major categories and uses of electromagnetic waves, identify potential health risks with electromagnetic waves, and demonstrate understanding of Plank's constant by solving quantitative...
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Matter and Energy
Students explore energy by completing a science worksheet in class. In this principles of matter instructional activity, students define the vocabulary terms force, gravity, nuclear, and electromagnetic before reading assigned text about...
DiscoverE
My Friend Robot
Can you do better than a robot? Teams write instructions for a hypothetical robot to build a structure. They test their instructions by acting them out to see if they produce the desired structure.
Curated OER
Electromagnetic Wave Spectrum
Fifth graders examine electromagnetic wave spectrum. In this science instructional activity, 5th graders discuss the aspects of the electromagnetic wave spectrum and complete a worksheet identifying the parts of the spectrum.
Curated OER
Rat Round Up
Students build a device that captures and carries a pet rat safely back to its cage with out "harming" the rat or themselves. They build and experiment with wind-up or battery operated rat cat toys after predicting the outcome of their...
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Circle of Pong
Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.
Curated OER
Design a Bobsled
Students apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass and gravity as they design, build, and test mini-bobsleds.
It's About Time
Communication Through Space
If humans do find aliens, how would we communicate with them? An intriguing lesson walks through some of the challenges associated with this question. How long would a message take to reach a specific destination, what language should we...
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Free Up the Ketchup!
Students, in teams, use given materials and their knowledge of Newton's First Law to create a device that will remove a sticky ping pong ball from a 16-oz. cup (which represents ketchup stuck in a bottle.)
Curated OER
Motion Commotion!
Students explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.
Curated OER
"Voicing" - A Believable Account with "The Glory Fields" by Walter Dean Myers
Dr. Seuss and Walter Dean Myers team up to cover the topic of prejudice. Using The Sneeches (about the culture clash between star-bellied and bare-bellied Sneetches) and The Glory Fields (about a boy coming to America on a slave ship),...
Curated OER
Symbolism: Meaning beyond the obvious
Before exploring symbols in literature, show your class this PowerPoint to discuss symbolism and different, well-known symbols. Then, the viewers note what a variety of colors might symbolize before looking at different cartoons and...