Curated OER
Scaled Rubber Band Drawings
Students demonstrate the process of creating a scaled rubber band enlargement of a simple drawing. They observe and discuss a teacher-led demonstration, and create a scaled rubber band enlargement of simple drawings and their invention...
PBS
No Slip Grip
The force will be with you during an inquiry-based lesson focused on friction. Young scientists explore the effect of different surfaces on friction. They use rubber bands to measure the amount of force needed to move an object on the...
NASA
Newton Car
If a car gets heavier, it goes farther? By running an activity several times, teams experience Newton's Second Law of Motion. The teams vary the amount of weight they catapult off a wooden block car and record the distance the...
DiscoverE
Design a Catapult
Just this once, it's okay to throw things in class. Out of craft sticks and rubber bands, pupils build catapults to launch an object of choice. This can be a ping-pong ball, a marshmallow, or any other small item. As long as it hits the...
Curated OER
The Butterfly Project
In this project worksheet, students use rubber bands to enlarge pictures of butterflies found at the Butterflies of Illinois website.
Curated OER
Steep, Steeper, and Steepest
Fifth graders discuss ways to move large rocks. They relate this to building a rock garden, and the ways people might load boulders into a truck. Students discuss the use of a ramp vs. lifting the boulder straight up onto the bed of the...
IMAX
Hubble
Explore what it takes to service the Hubble telescope. In the set of three activities, groups investigate several aspects of the Hubble telescope, including robotic arms used during repairs, spacesuits, and extravehicular activity (EVA)...
Curated OER
Don't Slip!
Students measure, record, and graph the force of moving a block of wood along sand paper. In this friction lesson plan, students read a spring scale, collect data, construct a graph, and propose a model to explain how fiction works.
Curated OER
Plastics and Rubber: What's the Difference?
Students observe how to classify things into groups based on physical properties. In this plastic and rubber instructional activity students group and sort items to help them to better identify properties.
Curated OER
Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map activity to...
LABScI
Projectiles: Target Practice
Angry Birds prepared them, but now pupils must prove their skills with projectiles! Scholars test different variables to determine which ones impact the distance the projectile flies. The experiment provides connections to kinetic and...
Curated OER
Weighing In
Third graders use a Slinky, rubber bands, paper, coins and cups to experiment with weight and its relationship to gravity. They discuss their results and develop a consensus on conclusion statements derived from their experiments.
Curated OER
Multiplication: Determining the Weight of Multiple Objects
Seventh graders use their knowledge of multiplication and problem solving to determine the total weight of multiple objects. In this multiplication instructional activity, 7th graders weigh various manipulatives, record the weight, and...
Curated OER
Making a Mini Worm Habitat
Third graders create an earthworm habitat. In this worms lesson, 3rd graders construct a KWL chart about earthworms and research their habitat. Students create a mini habitat for their earthworms by using gravel, sand, cloth, and soil.
Curated OER
Desalination: Creating a Solar Still
To better understand how solar power can aid in creating desalinated drinking water, the class creates a model still. They will build a model of a solar still, make observations, and discuss how the process works. While the idea behind...
Curated OER
You Can Take the Pressure!
Students construct and use a barometer over a period of 1-2 weeks to investigate and predict upcoming weather from barometric pressure.
Curated OER
Experiments with Levers
Students investigate levers. In this simple machine instructional activity, students study levers and the mechanical advantage of using levers. They will collect data and illustrate their systems for eight different tests.
Curated OER
Weightlessness
Young scholars compare and contrast the terms "weight" and "mass". In this physics lesson, students observe an experiment in which objects are placed on a balance scale and weighed under different circumstances. Partners drop items and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students engage in a lesson that explores the concept of simple machines. They view a powerpoint media presentation and then are introduced to adult volunteers for the lesson. Each volunteer is at a station with a simple machine and...
Curated OER
Density and Buoyancy Lesson Plan
Young scholars investigate why some objects float or sink in water. In this physics lesson, students calculate the density of clay ball using a mathematical equation. They write a complete lab report about the experiment.
Teach Engineering
Super Slinger Engineering Challenge
How well can you launch a ping-pong ball? Small groups design launchers that can launch a ping-pong ball 20 feet into a target. The teams follow the engineering design process as they develop a solution that meets the design...
DiscoverE
Ocean Acidification
Combat ocean acidification with bubbles. Young engineers create a system that reduces the acidity of water. Dry ice in water helps simulate ocean acidity, and blowing bubbles into the water results in a gas exchange that neutralizes the...
Curated OER
Weather with Lewis and Clark: Then and Now
Fourth graders discuss how to accurately measure weather, gather materials in order to make instruments, and build weather instruments in which they measure and record different aspects of weather for a five-day period.
Curated OER
Hypothermia
In this hypothermia instructional activity, learners test room temperature water against outside wind and see what happens to a thermometer's temperature. Students follow 9 directions and answer 9 questions.