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...

Focus on inquiry-based learning in your science class with a series of activities designed for middle schoolers. A helpful packet samples four different texts, which include activities about predator-prey relationships, Earth's axis...

Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics...

Learners create a dichotomous key. In this categorizing lesson, students create a dichotomous key for different types of cereal. Learners classify the cereal into groups such as flakes and cereal with holes. Students discuss their...

Young scientists participate in a hands-on experiment to explore Einstein's theory of relativity in a creative manner. They investigate various waves and compare their characteristics as they discuss how each wave is created....

Middle schoolers explore multimedia components. In this science inquiry lesson, students read "Invitation to the Game" by Monica Hughes and they use the Alice Computer Programming System to better understand population dynamics.

Step into the role of a zoo director with several activities about animal training and running a zoo. Kids calculate the amount of food each animal needs, design a habitat for penguins, decide how to breed bottlenose dolphins, and train...

Young historians explore how technology and science affected life in the state of New Hampshire. They define technology and give personal experiences of how technology affects people and how people have used technology. They compare the...

Students collect and analyze data to study wavelengths of visible light. They cover Styrofoam cups with three different colors of sun filtering products and shine a lamp directly on the cups. They determine the most effective filtering...

Students explore the factors that affect how long coffee stays hot. They develop a question and a testable hypothesis for one factor such as initial temperature or size of opening of the container. Then they design and conduct an...

Become familiar with the basic concepts of inheritance. Your junior high students work through mulitple examples of crosses and calculate probabilities of trait occurance. The explain the concept that each parent contributes one half of...

Students influence the plant life cycle as they take care of plants.For this caring for plants lesson, students understand the parts of the plant and their functions in keeping it alive. Students participate in experiments with plants...

Learners will work together in groups to gather information about careers in oceanography. They discover the need to have a diverse group of people on a team and then share their information with the class. Web links and materials are...

Students investigate friction force on a variety of objects such as bricks and cardboard boxes. They use a force probe to collect data on the changes in force required to drag the objects across a variety of surface types.

Students list four ways to identify trees. In this tree identification instructional activity, students use tree identification techniques such as leafs, bark, wood grain, soil type, and climate to create tables and graphs.

Learners investigate the concept of crop farming. They plant small fields to test different theories of agriculture. Students keep care over the fields, including pest and weed control. Learners make and record daily observations to...

Sixth graders investigate the parts of a seed by using a digital camera.  In this botany instructional activity, 6th graders plant their own seeds in class and demonstrate the necessary attributes for growing a plant.  Students...