Middle schoolers explore the concepts that enable them to design and conduct sound scientific experiments. They critique a faulty experiment and become familiar with some of the criteria of a good experiment. They conduct their own...

Few Americans have heard of the burgeoning scientific community known as the America Philosophical society, started by none other than Benjamin Franklin. With inquiry, research, and discussion, high schoolers come to understand their...

How does your garden grow? An inquiry-based, organic gardening unit asks young scientists to research a vegetable or flower, create an environment for it, and then plant and tend to the seedling. Gardeners develop their own research...

Students form hypotheses and carry out an investigation in order to answer a central question: Does soap float? The focus of this lesson is on scientific inquiry, but it incorporates scientific topics such as sinking and floating.

Fourth graders provide a habitat for live mealworms and observe their life cycle. In this animal life cycle and scientific inquiry lesson plan, 4th graders create a habitat for a live mealworm and observe and record related data as it...

In this lesson, Animal Investigation, 2nd graders will develop investigative and inquiry skills. Students choose one animal as a class to observe. Students ask questions about the animal and record observations, or answers to the...

Promote critical thinking and literary analysis with a short activity. Readers of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart respond to a series of questions modeled on Bloom's Taxonomy.    

Students explore questions in a scientific context. They consider what makes questions testable. After reading short scenarios, students come up with their own testable questions about the reading.

What is science? Sitting in a whole group discussion, scholars first share their ideas on science and how to conduct investigations. They learn about the steps for scientific inquiry and experimentation. Once finished, individuals then...

Students explore characteristics of mass. In this scientific inquiry about mass lesson, students drop rocks of different weights from various heights and record the depth of the "crater" created.  Students record their findings on a...

Learners read an article and describe the scientific method.  In this scientific process activity, students compare basic science and applied science. Learners discuss ideas such as team work, application of an idea, how scientists...

High schoolers design and carry out an experiment according to the scientific method. The experiment must test the effects of time and concentration on the rate of diffusion of potassium permanganate into potato cubes. After performing...

Students practice analyzing skeletal remains for clues by using the Internet.  In this scientific investigation lesson, students research the La Belle shipwreck using the Internet and written materials, later completing a Skeletal...

Learners discover the property of density while participating in a lab exercise. In this scientific measuring lesson, pupils utilize a scale to measure the density of different metal materials. They document their work and present their...

First graders get out and explore two different habitats to examine how each one meets the needs of the plants and animals that dwell there. They discuss what they've learned about animal habitats as they explore the outdoor environment....

In this biology worksheet, students grow corn plants in growth pouches as the control group in an experiment on plant growth in microgravity. Then they analyze any differences that occur between Earth-grown and space-grown corn plants.

Students write a report about infectious diseases where they demonstrate their understanding of new terminology. In this writing lesson, students analyze the effect of disease in their lives and and make scientific inquiry about the...

Accompany a reading of Dr. Seuss' tale, The Lorax, with a five-item worksheet. Questions challenge scholars to list characters' names, use text details to answer inquiries, and describe the moral of the story. 

Middle schoolers create a flowchart on the root cause method. In this inquiry instructional activity, students compare RCA and the DMAIC model with the scientific method of problem solving. They investigate a problem in school and...

Middle schoolers share their own stereotypes when they talk about scientists. In groups, they draw a picture of a scientist where they are working and the tools they most commonly used. Using the internet, they discover how archeolgists...

Students practice scientific inquiry while learning about bubbles. In this activity about bubbles, students explore characteristics of bubbles. Students move through nine different "bubble" stations following directions and completing an...

Young scientists investigate the scientific concepts and principles that help make common toys such as hula hoops, yo-yos, slinkies, and silly putty work. As a class, they read "Backyard Rocket Science, Served Wet" to get a look behind...

Young scholars practice scientific research skills. In this lesson about science, students gain experience with the following skills: comparison, observation, identification, and data gathering. Young scholars will go from station to...

Students have the opportunity to develop and formulate ideas and explanations through the scientific standard of inquiry. They identify organisms by using an identification key for specific aquatic geographical area.