Colorado State University
What Is a "Model"?
Model the transfer of energy during a typical 24-hour period. Young scholars use a game-like approach to learning the patterns of heat transfer through the day and night. Groups of four exchange different tokens as the energy...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
All of the gas giant's atmospheres consist of hydrogen and helium, the same gases that make up all stars. The third in a series of 22, the activity challenges pupils to make scale models of the interiors of planets in order to...
Messenger Education
My Angle on Cooling—Effect of Distance and Inclination
When exploring Mars, spacecrafts are exposed to 5-11 times more sunlight than when near Earth. Groups of pupils complete a hands-on activity to explore how distance and angle of the sun affect temperature. Through discussions, they then...
UAF Geophysical Institute
Carbon Footprint
Your young environmentalists can calculate their carbon footprint and discuss ways to reduce it with a worksheet about climate change. After reading a handout about what impact one's carbon footprint can have on the environment, kids...
Curated OER
The Mole
Students explore the concent of using the mole to solve problems related to counts small particles of matter. Students work individually and in groups to complete conversions of substances from moles to matter.
Curated OER
Characteristics of Energy
Students explore Earth science by completing energy worksheets in class. In this energy forms lesson, students identify and define a list of energy vocabulary terms and a K-W-L chart. Students view a matter video clip in class and...
Curated OER
One Plus One Makes New
Students discover the properties of matter and how they change when composite materials are produced. In this informative instructional activity students write up a question and procedure to an experiment then analyze and draw...
Curated OER
Converting Metric Units and Prefixes
Students investigate the length of various objects. In this measurement lesson, students convert one metric unit to another. They explain the importance of a uniform system of measurement.
Curated OER
Allowing Students to Explore Simple Physics and Marketing in English Class
Scientific method, linear measurements, friction, inertia. Imagine learning scientific vocabulary in an ELA class. Before researching and developing a presentation about simple machines, class members build a common, but decidedly...
Virginia Department of Education
Charles’ Law
Searching for a relatively interesting way to demonstrate Charles' Law? Here is a lesson in which pupils heat air inside a flask and then cool the flask to quickly cool the air. They make observations about what occurs during the...
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
What is the Water Cycle? Activity A
Hydrologists create a concept map about how water is used and a sentence strip defining water and describing its unique properties. Small groups work together to fill a small milk carton and compute the mass of water inside. The next...
Curated OER
Matter and Energy
Students participate in a small group read aloud of the short story, "Cerium" by Primo Levi. They answer several questions about the story and then relate the reading to a lecture on Kinetic theory. After the lecture they apply the...
Curated OER
The World (With an emphasis on the United States)
Fourth graders recognize the different continents. They are introduced to longitude and latitude and how to find locations using these measurements. This series ends with an emphasis on the fifty states of the United States and their...
Curated OER
Clean Air: Our Health Matters
Students learn about the human respiratory system. In this pollution lesson, students identify the parts of the respiratory system and what happens to them when they breathe in polluted air. Students learn about the importance of...
Curated OER
Science: How Solids Become Liquids
Second graders discover how matter changes from one state to another by observing melting ice cubes. They decide on means to warm the ice and predict what will happen. Students record how long it takes for the cubes to melt.
Curated OER
Matter Matters
Second graders listen to a teacher read aloud introducing a unit about how water changes state. They investigate the state of water as it changes from a solid, to a liquid to a gas.
Curated OER
Chemical Formulas Unit-Day 4
The purpose of this lesson involves reviewing nomenclature and molecular
formulas as well as introducing naming molecular compounds and identifying acids. The students investigate and understand how conservation of energy
and matter is...
American Chemical Society
Crushing Test
Solidify understanding of the properties of crystals by crushing them to compare hardness. After some class discussion, a procedure is planned, and then small groups go about making observations as they crush five different crystal...
Curated OER
Constancy and Change
Second graders identify three forms of matter- solids, liquids, and gases with 100% accuracy. They observe what happens when they try to put two kinds of matter into the same space and conclude that solids, liquids, and gases occupy space.
Curated OER
How a Liquid Changes to a Gas
Second graders identify three forms of matter- solids, liquids, and gases with 100% accuracy. They observe water evaporating from an open container and water evaporating and condensing in a closed container. The students assess that a...
Curated OER
Force and Motion
Students experiment with force and motion. For this force and motion lesson, students test gravity using a variety of objects. Students rotate through a series of stations which use force, motion, friction, and inclines. Students predict...
Curated OER
Nanoscience and Sunscreen
Students use the topic of sunscreen to explore the "issues related to size and scale" as energy and matter interact. They compare the visible opacity of different substances to their ability to block ultraviolet radiation.
Curated OER
Somethin' Sweet
Students make their own candy. In this science lesson plan, students observe how molecules interact with each other in physical changes and observe how the addition of heat can cause molecules to interact and form new molecules in...