Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Guess What Benjamin Franklin Did!
Students research Ben Franklin's inventions. In this invention lesson plan, students see the relationship between a need and an invention. Students will engage in a class discussion, read a handout, and play a match the invention to its...
Curated OER
Three Little Pigs and Heat Transfer
Students use the Internet to research the ancient practices of building structures and to help them recognize what building materials serve as good conductors and insulators of heat. They build a structure using straw bale walls.
Curated OER
Phil's Garden of Good
Students read "The Rainbow Fish" and discuss how the fish benefited by giving others. In this sharing lesson, students prepare plants and letters for senior citizens. Students present their letters and plants at a visit to a senior...
Curated OER
Not Just a Bag of Beans
Students determine the types of natural selection and variation that exists in a population, using beans.
Curated OER
The Dinosaur Diner
Students explore the food chain. In this dinoaur lesson, students identify charactersitics of an omnivore, carnivore, and herbivore. Students sort dinosaur picture/word cards into groups by their eating characteristics. Students also...
Curated OER
Using High School Students to Teach Biology to Deaf Elementary Students
Students teach Biology concepts to elementary students, in particular deaf students, by traveling once a month to the elementary classroom with activities / lessons that have been selected and prepared by the older students.
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Grasshopper Mark and Recapture (GMR)
Students estimate the density of a population of insects (grasshoppers) at a given life cycle stage in a given type of habitat.
Curated OER
The Physics of Sound: How We Produce Sounds
First graders construct a KWL chart on sound. In this physics instructional activity, 1st graders describe different ways to produce sound. They explain how sound waves propagate.
Curated OER
Route 66
Young scholars research the Internet to locate information about the Route 66 Festival. They focus on the history of the route in Illinois and create a web page of information.
Curated OER
A Microscopically Enormous Look at Genetic Inheritance
Students use microscopes to examine fly families and analyze their genetic inheritance. In this genes lesson plan, students also use the chi square for comparing genes and compare the class results as a whole.
Curated OER
Reach for the Stars
Learners investigate the Underground Railroad. In this slavery lesson, students read books about slavery, the Undeground Railroad, and how slaves escaped the south. Learners develop knowledge about coded songs and constellations that...
Curated OER
Horns or Antlers-You Decide!
Students study the difference between horns and antlers. They identify animals who have each and draw pictures of these animals. They experience samples of actual horns and antlers.
Curated OER
Micro-Ecosystems
Students create a sustainable, self-contained ecosystem in a ten-gallon aquarium.
Curated OER
Physics of Sound: How We Hear Sounds
Learners examine the way they hear sounds. In groups, they label and identify the functions of the different parts of the ear. After reading a book by Helen Keller, they research the mechanisms of sound and how sounds are different...
Curated OER
Making Cookies- How many per hour?
Fifth graders measure how long it takes to make cookies. In this measuring time lesson, 5th graders explore how to manage time. Students decide when to start making breakfast on time, how to calculate playing time into their lunch time,...
Curated OER
Economics: What Are Some Other Uses for Rice?
Sixth graders investigate ways rice is sold by creating a chart of the different rice foods. In this economics instructional activity, 6th graders examine their local food store and list at least 10 rice by-products in a class chart....
Curated OER
Food Chains and Food Webs
Fourth graders investigate food chains. In this living environment lesson, 4th graders begin to understand the interdependence of organisms. Students describe the connections organisms have to the ecosystem. Students research online,...
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Physics of Sound: How We Hear Sounds
Second graders identify the different function and parts of the ear. In this physics lesson, 2nd graders explain how we hear sound. They read about the life of Helen Keller and respond to questions that follow.
Curated OER
Edible DNA
Learners use multicolored soft candies (gumdrops and candy orange slices) and toothpicks to create models of DNA structures. They discuss the fact that DNA must copy itself before splitting into two cells. Students demonstrate this by...
Curated OER
Tales From The Tummy
Students use creative writing in order to review the digestive system and other various parts of the human body. They write a creative story about a hamburger and the journey it takes during digestion. The lesson includes key words that...
Theodore Roosevelt Association
Roosevelt's Legacy: Conservation
The legacy of Theodore Roosevelt carries through modern American politics, economics, foreign policy, and society. But his proudest and most profound efforts were in the world of conservation, and in preserving the natural beauty of...
Scholastic
Hillary Conquers Everest
If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...
Curated OER
Rain Forest Products
Students move from lab station to lab station observing samples of products from the Rain Forest. At each station they record the name of the product, write a description and sketch a diagram of the product.
Curated OER
Genetics, Birth Disorders, and Pregnancy
Students in an alternative school setting for pregnant teens examine various facets of pregnancy including prenatal and postpartum testing, genetic influences, and additional risk factors. Through videos, hands-on activities, and small...