How do satellites communicate? What types of satellites orbit Earth? Discover and mimic the way satellites communicate between two points in a hands-on activity that has pupils using mirrors, flashlights, and marbles.

Bring balance to your lesson plans with an activity that asks individuals to solve one-step linear equations with inverse operations. Balance scales help learners understand the concept of isolating the variable.

That's some worksheet! A 10-page packet includes vocabulary words from each chapter in Charlotte's Web. 

Explore a basic pattern to practice writing expressions. In collaborative groups, learners examine a contextual pattern and write an expression to model it. The task encourages groups to describe the pattern in multiple ways.

Readers of Brave New World demonstrate what they remember of events in Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel by completing a 26-clue crossword puzzle.

The size of a nanoparticle is difficult for pupils to grasp. A hands-on experiment is designed to give your classes perspective. Learners analyze different sports drinks for the content of electrolytes as an introduction to nanoscale....

Don't let the resource blow you away. Scholars build airboats from basic materials and collect data on how far the boats move. They refine their designs taking Newton's laws into consideration.

Are you feeling the pressure? Let loose a little with a kinesthetic activity that models molecular motion in a closed space! The activity varies conditions such as volume and temperature and examines the effects on molecules.

Round and round in circles it goes! A hands-on activity has learners recreate a model of a convection cell. They watch as the difference in density of their materials creates a current.

Could you reinvent the light bulb? Scholars tap into their inner Thomas Edisons to build a light bulb prototype out of a jar and some wires. They see how long the filament wire glows in the jar (batteries not included) to measure their...

Watch out below! Future engineers come up with methods to ensure that a ball in a cup stays in the cup even after dropped from a given height. It might be prudent to include some kind of shock absorber in the cup. Parachutes are a good...

Water is a powerful force; harness it through watermills. The task at hand is to create a simple watermill that functions in flowing water for at least three minutes. Scholars work together in teams to design and construct such a...

Simulate soil sample assemblages. Individuals create soil layers in a cup. They then use straws to collect core samples from these layers. What information can they glean from the core samples, I wonder?

There's no spin needed to describe the usefulness of a dizzying resource! Using paper plates, DVDs, wooden skewers, and pencils, learners work in teams to create spinning tops. The longest-spinning top wins.

The Roosevelt family was one of the most influential and prominent political forces in the 20th century, leaving behind a wide-ranging legacy of conservation, progressivism, and economic growth. Learn more about President Theodore...

A sturdy beam made of foam seems like an oxymoron. Scholars design a 48-inch beam that can hold a one-pound weight. The beam should be sturdy enough so it doesn't bend too much. If it does, the egg placed underneath the beam will break.

If a ski lift had rockets, imagine how fast it would be! Scholars let their imaginations take flight as they build models for such a ski lift. Rather than using a rocket, though, they'll use a much safer balloon as the power source.

Let your creativity run wild. Scholars build a sculpture out of basic materials. These sculptures must be able to move in the wind (from an electric fan). However, they must also withstand the wind enough to not fall over—it's quite the...

Sometimes, taking things apart is more fun than putting things together. Groups of learners participate in a reverse engineering activity. They dissect a device of their choosing to see how it works—great hands-on learning from the...

A lever comes in handy when scholars build a launcher for a ping-pong ball. They test the launcher and redesign it to send the ball higher or to accommodate a tennis ball. This is the third lesson in a five-part unit.

Help young readers find, identify, and use their voices with a set of empowering activities based on Peter H. Reynolds' trilogy of books. Sky Color, Ish, and The Dot focus on recognizing moods and treating each other...

What is black and white and re(a)d all over? Class members build a table out of rolled newspapers. Pupils follow the design process to design, build, and test their paper tables in the second challenge in a series of five.

How many humans does it take to power a light bulb? The 10th part of a 25-lesson Energy Systems and Solutions unit has learners conduct an experiment to calculate power. They then use the results to determine how many classmates they...

You might not be able to learn through osmosis, but you sure can observe it! Scholars observe and measure osmosis using chicken eggs. They control for multiple variables to determine which variables have an impact and how the impact...