Curated OER
Hovercraft
Learners assess human impact on water quality. They determine how the force of friction retards motion. Pupils describe and measure quantities that characterize moving objects and their interactions within a system: Time, Distance,...
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Forces and Motion
Young scholars are able to analyze gravity as an universal force. They are able to demonstrate ways that simple machines can change force. Students are able to determine how the force of friction retards motion. They are able to...
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Smooth It Out
Fourth graders describe how weather events such as hard rains and floods cause weathering of the Earth's surface and rocks. They distinguish between erosion and weathering, and comprehend that water and friction show similar results in...
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Ice Energy
Learners study the concept of ice energy. In this ice energy lesson, students observe what happens when salt is sprinkled on a piece of ice before following a recipe to make two types of ice cream. They note the difference in the two...
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Race the Track! Design Challenge
Students use the design process to investigate physical science. In this force and motion lesson, design a track to achieve a specified outcome. Students complete additional experiments with speed and distance. Students recognize the...
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May the Force Be With You
Students work in groups, they investigate how different forces act upon objects and how this information can be used in their day-to-day lives. They wrap the rubber band around the book. Students place the bo.ok and ruler on top of a...
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Setting's Effect on a Character's Actions
Do the actions of a character in a story change based on the setting the writer provides? Learners explore the concept of character action in relation to story setting by investigating the setting and events in the story Science...
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Newton's First Law of Motion with a Glider
Third graders examine, analyze, study and memorize Newton's First Law of Motion utilizing a glider to demonstrate the process. They state, sing, draw or enact an example/illustration of Newton's First Law of Motion in front of their...
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Newton's First Law of Motion with a Yo-Yo
Fourth graders are introduced to, summarize, analyze and memorize Newton's First Law of Motion and experiment demonstrating the theory with a yo-yo. They state, sing, draw, or enact Newton's First Law of Motion several times and with...
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Let's Outrage the Bull
Students study kinetic and potential energy. In this energy lesson, students in grades K-2 understand the differences between kinetic and potential energy. Students in grades 3-5 demonstrate that kinetic and potential energy. Students in...
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When Things Start Heating Up
Young scholars explore how and why heat is produced from things that give off light, from machines, or when one thing is rubbed against another. They participate in several hands-on activities designed to help them realize that heat is...
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Matter in Motion
Second graders examine matter, what it is and what the different states are. In this matter lesson plan students view The Magic School Bus Meets Molly Cule and answer questions.
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Snail Car
Students design and create robotic cars using Legos and the Robolab program. They hold a "snail race" where the slowest car that can be determined to be actually moving is the winner.
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Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
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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.
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Physics of Roller Coasters
Young scholars design a roller coaster and demonstrate their knowledge of Potential and Kinetic Energy. They determine the average velocity a given marble travels on their roller coaster and apply their knowledge of various measurement...
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Roller Coaster Physics
Students design a roller coaster that allows a marble to run the course as fast as possible. Students create an experimental roller coaster taking into account the steepness of the hills and the sharpness of the turns. Students use a...
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Interactive Notes-"Heat Transfer"
Students explore heat transfer. In this temperature and molecule behavior lesson, students view a PowerPoint while simultaneously performing experiments in which heat transfer is demonstrated. Students use cold beakers, ice cubes,...
BBC
Ourselves
Young biologists identify parts of the body, sort humans from other animals, and list the difference they see. Learners are split up into groups of three, and each group must find pictures in magazines of humans and other animals. They...
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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.)
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Magnet Circus
Students explore the properties of magnets by designing a device that can move as far as possible using only magnets to move it, and design a machine that will stay in motion for the greatest period of time.
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Exploring Buoyancy
Young scholars use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will...
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Freestanding Structures: A Tech Museum Floor Activity
Students attempt to design the tallest structure that they can with the given materials which are wooden dowels and rubber bands. They discuss the physics of their structure and how they would improve it the next time they built a...
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You Really "Affect" Me
Middle schoolers examine the effects of variables. They view a video which introduces the concepts, take part in an internet-based activity, then engage in a hands-on activity which allows them to practice what they have been studying.