Make sound visible with an activity that provides directions for how to build a vocal visualizer meant to create light patterns. Making noise into the visualizer causes a mirror to vibrate, reflecting a laser beam, and creating...

This is your brain on drugs ... literally! Your neuroscientists-in-training examine the evidence of drug use on the human brain and how neurons change their connectivity when altered by drugs. They then work together to create testing...

How do dams support bodies of water? Scholars engage in a hands-on STEM activity where they design, build, and test dams to learn about bodies of water and how humans use natural resources. They learn how criteria and constraints affect...

Students study the process of DNA Fingerprinting and how DNA Fingerprinting is used in solving crimes. They examine a crime scenario that involves collecting DNA Fingerprinting information from blood collected at the crime scene. They...

Students create a topographical map of an area outside of the school. In this mapping lesson, students compile data on angles, distances, and key landmarks for a predetermined area on the school grounds to create a map using Geometer's...

Students calculate the standard and metric measurements of a playground. In this measurement lesson, students use GPS coordinates and graphing calculators to determine the dimensions of an area outside of the school in both standard and...

Is the golf course causing issues in the stream? Find out with a resource that has groups perform chemical water tests to analyze the effects of a golf course on a stream. Pupils collect water above and below the course and analyze the...

Mix it up by using an intriguing resource that teaches young metallurgists that alloys are a metal mixture. They learn about the advantages of using alloys over pure metals and investigate titanium alloys as an example to finish the...

How can acknowledging opposing viewpoints reinforce one's argument? Use this New York Times instructional activity to study consumerism and the environmental impact of new products. After reading the article "Whether a Hummer or a...

Fifth graders identify all parts of an egg, and explore their importance to the life cycle of a chicken. Learners compare all sorts of birds and place them in categories based on what they look like. This five-day instructional activity...

Chemistry classes pretend to be consultants to a grocery story trying to decide what polymer to use for therir new non-paper bags. They prepare tensile bars and use them to test plastic film samples for strength and stretchability. Both...

Students make Moebius strips and use them to demonstrate the interconnectedness of an environment. They explore the natural cycles (water, oxygen/carbon dioxide, carbon, nitrogen) within the environment. They describe how the cycles are...

Fifth graders apply the concepts they know regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat. Student teams must make a boat which can travel the waters of the Amazon Rainforest. Each group makes a...

Given four suggested concepts, emerging electrical engineers research, design, and constuct a working device that willrespond to changes in the intesnisty or the direction of sunlight. This is a challenge for learners to rise to, as the...

How is a movie theater like a desert biome? Compare systems to ecosystems with a set of activities that focuses on accessing multiple intelligences and building upon knowledge. As learners discuss the ways elements of an ecosystem depend...

Wave goodbye to the same old demonstrations for alternative energy sources, and wave hello to this one investigating ocean waves! Using a water bottle to create an oscillating water column, learners see and possibly hear how the...

Prompt scholars to discover the expansion of the universe themselves. Using photographs of other galaxies, they measure and then graph the size and distance of each. Finally, they draw conclusions and prove the universe is...

Young farmers explore the world of farm animals. They are introduced to a variety of animals, what their role is, how many legs they have, and what sounds they make. Worksheets and websites embedded in the plan are used to carry it out....

Learners examine the flow of water. They observe and test the properties of water by using sticks in flowing water. The instructional activity has streaming video, resource links to access, and a good hands-on activity that is clearly...

Groups make a model of an Ocean Commotion exhibit based on what they saw during the fieldtrip. These dioramas can be used as an informal assessment of student knowledge acquired at Ocean Commotion.

Divide your chemistry or environmental science class into two groups. Each group tests water samples from a river for the concentration of phosphorus using a different method. With chemists, you can use this activity as they learn to use...

Middle schoolers examine how the movements of bones are dependent on the interaction of pairs of muscles. They design and construct a prototype of an artificial limb using a syringe system, and determine whether water or air makes the...

Students create a working radio by soldering circuit components supplied from an AM radio kit. They demonstrate an efficient soldering technique, identify the circuit components used to construct their radio, and explain how their radio...

Learners design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...