Curated OER
Fingerprinting Lab
Young scholars recover latent prints by iodine fuming, cyanoacrylate fuming, and dusting with powder, after a lecture/discussion on fingerprinting techniques. They each provide a fingerprint for identification by another student. A...
NOAA
Wet Maps
How do oceanographers make maps under water? Junior explorers discover the technologies and processes involved in creating bathymetric maps in part three of a five-part series designed for fifth- and sixth-grade pupils. The lesson...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hand Washing Experiment
An engaging experiment allows scholars to understand why the recommendation is to wash for 20 seconds with soap and water — while making them aware of their own habits!
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Diseases
During a cholera outbreak, scientists presented two theories; one theory was based on miasma and the other on germs and contaminated water. The lesson looks at the scientific process for finding the real culprit.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Don't Mess with Mercury (Lesson C)
The health effects of mercury exposure if the focus of the first of three activities about the properties of metals. Pairs research mercury to write, prepare, and share posters, articles, or PSAs with the class.
Cornell University
Sometimes You Behave Like a WAVE, Sometimes You Don't!
Electromagnetic radiation behaves like both a wave and a particle. Help classes explore this concept through a lab investigation. Young scientists create optical interference patterns on a glass slide using a carbon layer. They analyze...
Curated OER
Designer Colors, an Inquiry Approach to Flame Testing
Students investigate the spectroscopic colors unique to elements, and to use this information to create a specific color. They follow a detailed schematic to produce a spectroscpoe to be used in the testing.
Curated OER
Condensation Polymerization: Preparation of Nylon 6/6
Students participate in a lab activity in which they synthesize nylon 6/6, calculate the percent yield by mass, identify the polymer as thermoplastic or thermoset, and determine the melting point, density and end-product use of the polymer.
BioEd Online
Arm Model
Arm your young scientists with knowledge about anatomy as they build their own model of the elbow joint. Help them get a firm grasp on how muscles and bones interact to allow movement as they try different positions for the muscles on...
BioEd Online
Nutritional Challenges
Eating healthy can be a challenge, especially for people with special dietary needs. After learning about standard nutritional needs for adults, learners take on the role of a dietician and work together to create a menu for one of the...
Baylor College
The Heart is a Pump
Circulate this news: the heart is a pump containing one-way valves! Following the previous lesson on the external structure of the heart, learners now take a look at the inside. They use a three-color diagram to label a black-and-white...
Baylor College
What is Blood Pressure?
Find out how we describe the force created by the blood against the walls of the vessels in a heart-pumping lesson! As part of a unit on the heart and circulatory system, cardiology kids use a blood pressure monitor to find their...
Baylor College
Your Nutrition Needs
It takes some work to ensure you have a balanced diet, but once you know the types of foods that are good for you, it becomes second nature. In the sixth of seven lessons about energy and nutrition, learners create a healthy eating plan...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Leaf Litter Ecology Lab
Some organisms spend their entire lives in leaf litter. The third in a series of six is a great instructional activity exploring the community of leaf litter. Groups gather and then spread leaf litter over white paper and remove...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Nature Walk and Ecosystem Introduction
A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Food for Thought: Climate Change and Trophic Cascades
Learners examines the arctic food web with a short video about polar bears and an article about bears and warming temperatures. They design an arctic food web and discuss the trophic cascade that could come from climate...
NOAA
A Day in the Life of an Ocean Explorer
What's life like aboard an ocean exploration vessel? Junior oceanographers examine the important role of communication in ocean research in lesson two of a five-part series from NOAA. The materials introduce the class to life on...
NOAA
Invent a Robot!
Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...
Curated OER
Wetland Metaphors
Students describe the characteristics of wetlands and identify their ecological functions. They inspect items and use them to create metaphors about wetlands.
Curated OER
Human Body Lessons
Learners read "The Magic School Bus in the Human Body" and discuss the importance of maintaining a healthy body. They create a hinge and joint paper skeleton, follow the journey of a hamburger through the digestive tract, jump rope and...
Curated OER
The High Cost of Chemical Dependency
Sixth graders explore, analyze and study the effect and impact that humans have on the environment based on their choices as individuals, businesses and governments. They assess the balance between human activities and aquatic pollution.
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #1 - Solar Cell Inquiry
Give youngsters the components of a solar-powered electric circuit and turn them loose to figure out how to connect them in order for a light to shine or motor to turn. They compare energy output of a solar panel to that of a battery. On...
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #6: Solar-Powered Battery Charger
In a previous lesson, learners build an ammeter. That ammeter, or a pre-made one, is required in order to carry out this lesson. The objective is for lab groups to design a way to connect solar cells that can recharge a battery. Basic...