Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Growing Up With A Mission
New Horizons began its journey to Pluto in 2006. Ten years later, it continues its mission. In that time, scholars have surely grown, but how much more will they grow by the time New Horizons reaches its destination? Find out with an...
Baylor College
Body Mass Index (BMI)
How do you calculate your Body Mass Index, and why is this information a valuable indicator of health? Class members discover not only what BMI is and practice calculating it using the height and weight of six fictitious individuals, but...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third lesson in a series of four...
College Board
AP® Psychology: Teaching Statistics and Research Methodology
Psychologists use statistics? Scholars investigate the research behind the methodology of statistical analysis. Using hands-on practice, case-studies, and scatterplots, they complete various tasks to understand the very roots of high...
Curated OER
Elastic Recoil in Arteries and Veins
A lab in which high schoolers examine the difference between arteries and veins. Budding biologists will find out which blood vessel can stretch furthest, recording their data in a table then answering several questions evaluating their...
Intel
Forensics: Get a Clue
Although the methods are all scientific, forensic science was started by police officers rather than scientists, who relied on observation and common sense. Young detectives use many tools to solve crimes around the school in a...
Science 4 Inquiry
"Something Old, Something New..."
Young scientists learn about DNA replication through a video and model creation. They answer analysis questions before exploring the role of mutations and then complete a summative assessment.
NOAA
Lost City Chemistry Detectives
In 1977, scientists discovered hot springs in the middle of deep, cold ocean waters near the Galapagos Islands. Scholars research the chemical reactions that explain what scientists found at the Lost City. A discussion connects many...
Curated OER
Turn It Upside Down: Introduction to Computer-Aided Design
Students explore a computer-aided design program. Students chart out roller coaster design, computer graphics and architecture. Students focus on understanding the connections between mathematics, science, technology and innovation.
Integrated Physics and Chemistry
Law of Conservation of Matter
Does mass change during a chemical reaction? Demonstrate the Law of Conservation of Matter while encouraging class members to be creative with a two-part lesson. First, learners use Alka-Seltzer® tablets and water to demonstrate the...
Mississippi State University
The Five Senses
Your learners engage their five senses every day without knowing it. Help them identify their experiences and extend their understanding with a month full of lessons designed for the five senses. Kids focus on a different sense every...
American Chemical Society
Temperature Changes in Dissolving
Alia-Seltzer tablets cause a very obvious chemical change, but do they also cause a temperature change? Each class member explores hot/cold packs, discussing how these temperature changes occur. Groups then design and carry out their own...
Intel
Composting: Why Bother?
The first STEM lesson in a group of 10 explores composting. After discussing how to make a better tomorrow, classes are challenged to track garbage in their communities, visit a local waste management facility, and conduct a survey...
National Wildlife Federation
It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's...CARBON!
An interesting lesson takes pupils on a trip through the carbon cycle. A reading passage allows scholars to take notes and make choices about what happens to the carbon on its journey. This third lesson in a series of 21 discusses...
Curated OER
Riding on a Pendulum
A comprehensive resource gets fourth grade physical scientists making observations about the period of a pendulum and then applying knowledge to a playground swing. Through seven different stations, they will record observations and...
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth lesson in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with connections to the...
Curated OER
The Effect of Natural Selection on Genes, Traits and Individuals
Rotating through five stations, evolutionary biologists explore the question of how changes in DNA facilitate the changes in a population over time. High-quality, colorful cards of animals, skeletons, skulls, and DNA sequences can all be...
Personal Genetics Education Project
Genetics, history and the American Eugenics Movement
A poignant 20-slide show introduces high schoolers to the amazing accomplishments of genomics and raises the question of eugenics. This instructional activity is only for mature audiences, as it deals with rape and other sensitive...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Simple Suminagashi
Go ahead. Spill the ink! Combine the study of art, social studies, and science with a Suminagashi (spilled ink) activity that produces "unique and unreproducible" works of art.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Population Dynamics
Will human population growth always be exponential, or will we find a limiting factor we can't avoid? Young scientists learn about both exponential and logistic growth models in various animal populations. They use case studies to...
Cheetah Outreach
Population Change
Your youngsters become cheetahs in search of food, water, shelter, and space in a fun physical game that does a fantastic job of representing fluctuating species population based on resources available over years.
Norwich Institute for Language Education
Simple Machines
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.
Center for Precollegiate Education and Training
Buoyancy Boats
What did the sea say to the boat? Nothing, it just waved. An inquiry-based lesson starts with a simple concept on the Archimedes Principle and challenges pupils to make something out of clay that floats. Then, they design...
Towson University
Looking Into Lactase: Guided Inquiry
Milk does a body good ... unless, of course, someone is lactose intolerant. Pupils play the role of pharmaceutical scientists in a guided inquiry lab about lactase. Lab groups collaborate to learn more about lactose intolerance, how...