Baylor College
Gases Matter
As a demonstration or as a hands-on activity, your class watches as the combination of vinegar and baking soda produce carbon dioxide gas. The intent of the lesson is to help youngsters understand that gases occupy space. It is included...
Baylor College
The Variety and Roles of Microbes
Mini microbiologists play a card game in which they group microorganisms by groups: virus, fungus, protist, or bacteria. Then they identify the roles different microbes play in the natural world and explore how humans effectively use...
Museum of Tolerance
Developing Media Literacy
To protect young people from questionable content, many schools limit access. This resource suggests that because learners can so readily avail themselves to unrestricted Internet access, it is vital for 21st century...
Baylor College
Calculating Exponential Growth
There can be a steep learning curve when teaching about exponential growth, but the lesson helps kids make sense out of the concept. When talking about exponential growth of viruses, learners may not be very interested, but when you are...
Baylor College
HIV/AIDS in the United States
In the final of five lessons about HIV/AIDS, groups create presentations to share data about the infection rates in the United States, examining demographic and geographic trends over the past ten years. Depending on how much time you...
Science Matters
Landforms from Volcanoes
Three major types of volcanoes exist: cinder cone, composite/strata, and shield. The 18th lesson in a 20-part series covers the various landforms created from volcanoes. Scholars work in pairs to correctly identify the three...
Sea World
Splash of Math
How can kids use math to learn about marine life? Combine math skills with science lessons in a resource featuring activities about life in the sea. Kids graph and calculate data, solve complex word problems, measure geometric shapes,...
Baylor College
Food for Kids
Immediately capture the attention of your class with the smell of freshly popped popcorn in the sixth lesson of this series on the needs of living things. Young scientists first use their senses to make and record observations of...
Baylor College
Need or Want?
Even as adults it can be hard to distinguish needs from wants. Using pictures of common, everyday items, children make a pocket chart separating the objects they need from those that they want. Discuss their choices, explaining that...
Baylor College
Air and Breathing
Blow some bubbles and learn how living things need air in the eighth lesson of this series. Young scientists investigate this important gas by observing bubbles and monitoring their own breathing. A simple and fun activity that raises...
Baylor College
It Begins with the Heart
Aspiring anatomists label a photograph of a human heart by comparing it to a colored diagram on the same page. The video that is mentioned in the procedure does not seem to be available, but the overview provides plentiful background...
Curated OER
Mission Possible: Energy Trade-offs
Teams of electrical engineers work together to develop plans for increasing electricity to a fictitious, but growing community. They consider different sources of electricity, both renewable and nonrenewable, the cost of building and...
EduGAINs
Form and Function
Will that structure survive the force? The differentiated lesson allows pairs to choose the structure they would like to construct and the building materials they wish to use. Individuals record their findings in...
California Department of Education
Ready, Set, Test!
Ready to prepare young scholars for their first placement test experience? Give them the support they need using a test-focused instructional activity. Fifth in a series of six junior-level college and career readiness instructional...
Mascil Project
Parachute Food Drop
Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.
Redefining Progress
Have and Have-Not
Is there a correlation between a country's wealth and the extent of its ecological footprint? What exactly constitutes an ecological footprint, and how does one country stack up against the rest? This is a unique lesson to incorporate...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
BioEd Online
The Skeleton
Don't be chicken to try a lesson plan that compares the anatomy of birds to humans. Read the background information so you don't have to wing it when it comes to the anatomy of a chicken. Prepare cooked chicken bones by soaking them in a...
BioEd Online
Muscle Fibers
What better way to learn about muscle than by dissecting one? Using cow muscle (beef), learners compare bundles of yarn to muscle fibers as they explore each. The supplemental reading about astronauts losing muscle mass in space and what...
BioEd Online
Serving Sizes
When it comes to eating a balanced diet, portion control is paramount, but what is the difference between the serving size on the nutrition facts label and a portion as determined by the USDA? In a comprehensive look at portion control,...
Baylor College
Heart and Circulation: Pre- and Post-Assessments
Middle schoolers demonstrate what they know about the structure and function of the heart and blood vessels. A set of 15 multiple-choice questions also addresses how the heart handles microgravity and how animals without...
Baylor College
The Heart is a Pump
Circulate this news: the heart is a pump containing one-way valves! Following the previous lesson on the external structure of the heart, learners now take a look at the inside. They use a three-color diagram to label a black-and-white...
Baylor College
What is Blood Pressure?
Find out how we describe the force created by the blood against the walls of the vessels in a heart-pumping lesson! As part of a unit on the heart and circulatory system, cardiology kids use a blood pressure monitor to find their...
Baylor College
Energy for Life (Energy from Food)
Energy comes in many forms, but how do living things get the energy they need to survive and thrive? In a simple, controlled experiment with yeast, water, and sugar, groups make observations about how yeast reacts with water alone, then...