Colorado State University
If Hot Air Rises, Why Is it Cold in the Mountains?
Investigate the relationship between temperature and pressure. Learners change the pressure of a sample of air and monitor its temperature. They learn that as air decreases its pressure, its thermal energy converts to kinetic energy.
Colorado State University
What Is Energy?
Don't let the energy of your classroom falter! Explore the scientific definition of energy through play. A hands-on lesson focuses on the change of energy from one form to another.
Curated OER
Come On Down!
Begin with an introduction to famous deep-sea submersibles. Learners work in groups to gather information on different vessels and then share with the class. Each group then uses water displacement to help calculate the density of...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and lightning are so exciting! Your class gets to read all about it. This informational reading passage provides them with a scientific explanation of thunder and lightning. They read the passage, answer comprehension questions,...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Viral Lysis and Budding
How do some viruses spread so quickly, and why do they make us feel terrible? Answer these (and many more) questions through a simple yet impactful lessons. Pupils observe demonstrations that show the two methods viruses use to escape...
Curated OER
Lucha Music
Middle schoolers listen to four styles of Mexican music, and create percussion instruments which they use to play each style. Additionally, learners create Lucha Libre masks which are also a part of the colorful culture of Mexico. These...
Curated OER
Why Could the Hindenburg Float?
Tenth graders experiment with floating and sinking objects and heavy and light liquids, using correct terms, like density, to explain what happens. In this Hindenburg lesson, 10th graders watch a demonstration called the invisible...
Curated OER
Planets in a Bottle
Students experiment with yeast. In this environmental conditions lesson students test the viability of samples of yeast. Students investigate the effects of environmental conditions on the yeast.
Curated OER
Gas Laws
Students perform a series of experiments on gas laws. In this chemistry lesson, students analyze the relationship between temperature, volume and pressure. They create a poster summarizing all the gas laws.
Curated OER
Rotocopters
Students construct their own rotocopters to study flight. In this flight lesson students work in groups and complete timed trials of their rotocopters.
Curated OER
Launching a Defense; Understanding the Human Immune System
Students research online to answer and develop questions about immune system, create Powerpoint presentation to share information with classmates, and assimilate information into pictorial and/or graphical description of immune system.
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Students participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Students understand that air is densest near the ground....
Curated OER
Electrostatics
Middle schoolers examine ways positive and negative charges are attracted and repelled by watching teacher demonstrations, and complete activity sheet related to classroom demonstration activities to prove proficiency of knowledge of...
Curated OER
Bringing The Greenhouse Effect Down To Earth (CO2 experiment)
Students compare 4 different form of carbon dioxide and discuss the role that carbon dioxide has in the Greenhouse Effect. They then understand that the Greenhouse Effect is a naturally occurring event.
Curated OER
Temperature Changes Everything
Students determine the effect of temperature on the motion of particles. They study the difference between particles in a gas, liquid, and a solid and see how the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases can be explained by particle...
Curated OER
Temperature Changes Everything
Middle school chemists visit interactive websites in order to discover what happens to molecular motion when heat is added to matter. They conduct an experiment that demonstrates the expansion of matter with the addition of heat. A lab...
Curated OER
Weather in a Bottle
Fifth graders examine air flow, pressure, condensation and examine how to read a weather map. In this informative lesson students learn vocabulary then see how these terms can be applied by viewing a few demonstrations pertaining...
Curated OER
Matter
First graders are read a story about the various stages of matter with a focus on gases. Using a ziploc bag, they capture as much air as possible and discuss how it takes up space even though it is invisible. To end the lesson, they blow...
Curated OER
Octopus Lesson Plan
Children explore the life of an octopus. They listen to a story, answer prediction questions and share their prior knowledge of animals. Students observe the defense mechanism of the octopus. They create an imaginary defense mechanism...
Curated OER
CO2 and Air Pollution
Seventh graders observe and test for the presence of carbon dioxide gas. They compare concentrations of carbon dioxide gas and conclude high concentrations of carbon dioxide gas are unhealthy for human beings.
Curated OER
Bernoulli's Principle Lab
Learners are introduced Bernoulli's Principle and how it shows the relationship between fluid speed and pressure change. In groups, they participate in experiments in different processes in the industrial world. They share their...
Curated OER
The Gas Laws
A couple of gas law charts and the history of the gas laws constitute this presentation. Notes are included for the slide that illustrates how to perform gas law calculations. This is a simple collection, a visual aid enhance to your...
Curated OER
Electricity and Magnetism: From Fun to Function
Fourth graders experiment with electricity and magnetism and build an electromagnetic motor. In this electromagnetism activity, 4th graders use household objects to show electrostatics and magnets and compasses to show magnetism. They...
Curated OER
Colds and Germs
Students determine how diseases are spread from one person to another. They investigate the importance of hand washing to reduce the spread of common colds and other diseases. They listen to teacher read alouds and complete an inquiry...