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
How Do You Make A Tornado?
Students create a tornado in a bottle. In this climate and weather lesson plan, students review basic information about tornadoes and thunderstorms. Students make a tornado in a bottle and write about what they learned from the project....
Curated OER
Let's Take a Rock Apart!
Students examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.
Curated OER
Aerodynamics And Me
Seventh graders design, construct, refine, and test cars that they build on the computer screen. They find the density of several objects using the techniques used to find volume. They measure various common objects to become more...
Curated OER
Bottle Rocket
Students construct and launch a simple bottle rocket. Working in teams, they construct a simple bottle rocket from 2-liter soft drink bottles and other materials.
University of North Carolina
Brainstorming
Did you just hear thunder? Nope, you heard the sound of another kind of storm—a brainstorm! A handout teaches writers about different kinds of brainstorming and provides options for them to try when beginning to write their own papers....
Virginia Department of Education
States and Forms of Energy
Energy is just energy, right? Explain various forms of energy to your young scientists by using an interactive experiment that contains common objects to demonstrate complex concepts. Pupils conduct experiments for radiant, thermal,...
NASA
Launch Altitude Tracker
Using PVC pipe and aquarium tubing, build an altitude tracker. Pupils then use the altitude tracker, along with a tangent table, to calculate the altitude of a launched rocket using the included data collection sheet.
PHET
Soda Bottle Magnetometer
Introduce learners to set of complete instructions that describe how to build a magnetometer that works just like the ones professional photographers use to predict auroras. The diagrams are wonderfully descriptive, and the written...
Curated OER
Impulse/Momentum Lab
Students investigate the relationship between force and momentum using motion detectors and sensors. In this physics lesson, students graph experimental results. They calculate impulse using the area under the graph.
Curated OER
Sars
Students discuss the Sars outbreak in 2003. In this biology lesson, students research the effect of the outbreak to the world. They create a public announcement about the topic.
Curated OER
Chemical and Physical Changes
Eighth graders investigate different gas behaviors. In this chemistry lesson, 8th graders describe how changing volume and temperature affect gas particles motion. They collect data and make a generalization about these variables'...
Curated OER
Measure for Measure: Weight and Energy
Students study the friction of a particular sport. In this weight and energy lesson students choose a sport and us the Internet to research it then present their findings to the class.
Curated OER
I'm Falling For You!
Third graders are introduced to the concept of gravity by observing different objects being dropped from a high point. In groups, they complete the same activities Galileo did and record their observations. To end the lesson, they...
Curated OER
Blow and Go
Students discover how air can move things by using their breath. In this physics lesson, students hypothesize then attempt to move a pencil 1 meter using nothing but their breath. Students record data from their experiment including...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics
Students identify that most of mountain ranges found on all major land masses and in the oceans are external reflections of tectonic movements within the earth. They identify that earthquakes and related phenomena are caused by the...
Curated OER
Balloons
Students explore the different types of balloons. In this materials lesson students can complete several experiments including building their own hot air balloons, making balloon animals and experimenting with static...
Curated OER
Fling It
Students investigate the best design using technology. In this science lesson, students construct a freestanding object with specific materials to be able to shoot a ping pong ball and a marshmallow. They have to adjust and...
Curated OER
Kinetic Theory
Students describe how molecules of the different phases of matter move according to the Kinetic Theory. In this chemistry instructional activity, students observe and participate in teacher demos. They give real world applications of the...
Curated OER
Egyptians as Engineers
Student design and build Lego vehicles that drag given amount of weight up an incline. They show how this demonstrates Egyptian methods of pyramid construction.
Curated OER
Designing a Solar Concentrator
Students design and build a solar concentrator. In this physics instructional activity, students evaluate their design and convince everyone why theirs is the best. They create a presentation and share it with the class.
Curated OER
The Science of Swinging
Learners learn how a pendulum works in the concept of an amusement park ride. In this pendulum lesson, students are introduced to Newton's first law of motion and how it works in an amusement park ride. Continuous motion and inertia are...
Curated OER
Jet Engine Magazine
Students explore physics by creating a magazine cover in class. In this flight lesson, students identify the motion and force that must be generated in order for a jet engine to lift off the ground. Students create a cover for a...
Curated OER
Astronomy
Students complete a unit of lessons on our solar system, its stars, and astronomers. They record information in a space journal, design constellations, define key vocabulary, observe the phases of the moon, and create a group planet...