Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

Feet are neat! So, if you've already walked the path of examining animal footprints with your class, put them in the shoes of early humans! A well-designed instructional activity incorporates video, discussion, and hands-on learning to...

Students ask questions about the nature of science as they experience a 'Fossil Hunt'. They reconstruct a book that has been literally destroyed, just as the fossil record has been changed by billions of years of geological processes.

Eighth graders participate in interactive video teleconference with employees of NASA Johnson Space Center. Students visit inside of space station module, take video tour of Russian-built Service Module by Astronaut Bill Shepherd, visit...

Students combine the skills and concepts that they have developed to ask a simple question which can be answered on a Petri plate. They ask questions and design experiments for verification through collaboration with their classmates.

Sixth graders study the cosmos and their thoughts and feelings about the universe.  For this cosmic poetry lesson students create a venue where they can "safely" ask questions and discuss ideas. 

Students carry out the class weather study: recording, organizing and discussing data daily and keeping track of this work in their journals. They look for patterns and relationships in data, link these with what they know and with...

Student's recall from memory the steps in the scientific method. TSWBAT describe in detail the various steps of the scientific method. TSWBAT analyze a problem or situation and apply the steps of the scientific method to it.

Middle schoolers find examples of physical and chemical changes using the five Web World Wonders camera sites.

Ninth graders conduct experiments to determine what affects the rate of a pendulum's swing. Working in small groups, they identify an independent variable to study and create an experiment to test their hypothesis. When tests are...

Fifth graders recognize the need to follow the scientific method carefully and be aware of variables in experiments.  For this airplane lesson, 5th graders design and test an airplane, and complete a data sheet. Students retest five...

Young scholars explore light, and how it travels in straight path, recognize that light-sensitive chemical processes can be used to create images using light as catalyst, discover that light can be refracted by convex lens to focus...

In this acid rain worksheet, students read about acid rain from a leaf's perspective. They fill in the blanks with 9 terms to complete a paragraph about acid rain. They also are given 8 clues to complete a crossword puzzle. Their is a...

Students explore how to assess and weigh the risks and benefits associated with innovations in science and technology.

Young scientists investigate chemical and physical changes to the states of matter—gas, liquid, and solid—as well as solutions and suspensions with a variety of demonstrations, grand conversation, and an interactive quiz to check for...

Begin your states of matter lessons with a demonstration designed to introduce the concept that all matter has properties. Reinforce this concept through vocabulary exploration, and the creation of atom models; salt, water, and carbon...

Explore the properties of gases through one activity and two investigations in which super scientists observe the changes gas makes when encountering different conditions.

Here is part one of a two-part lesson in which scholars investigate the changing states of water—liquid, solid, and gas. With grand conversation and up to three demonstrations, learners make predictions about what they think will happen...

Ready, aim, fire! Launch to a new level of understanding as scholars build and test their own catapults. Learners explore lever design and how adjusting the fulcrum changes the outcome. 

Carbon dioxide is a very important gas; it is present in the air, used in cooking, and supports plant and animal life. Scholars investigate the properties of carbon dioxide with three different activities. They experience a color change,...

Here is part two of a two-part lesson in which scholars investigate the changing states of water—liquid, solid, and gas—and how energy from heat changes its molecules. With grand conversation, two demonstrations, and one hands-on...

Super scientists visit ten stations to predict, observe, and draw conclusions about the physical and chemical changes that occur when different states of matter—liquid, solid, and gas—are placed under a variety of conditions. To...

Can people really measure time just by using the sun? Scholars venture outside on a nice, sunny day to build sundials and learn how people measured time 600 years ago. The class builds two different sundials while gaining practice with...

This cross-curricular reading comprehension worksheet asks kids to read a short passage about gravity and then to answer questions about the article.