Curated OER
Quadrant D: Bringing Learning to a New Level
As young learners prepare to be successful in the 21st century, teachers can promote critical thinking by implementing Quadrant D learning activities.
Curated OER
Exploration of 'pill bugs'
Fifth graders define words. They create a dichotomous key. After carefully examining pill bugs, 5th graders record observations. They compare and contrast habitats of pillbugs.
Curated OER
Suited for Space
A fantastic lesson on survival in outer space should excite your learners! Pupils explore the challenges that living, working, and surviving in space elicit. They focus on the spacesuit itself; how it protects astronauts, and enables...
Curated OER
Chances Are
Upper graders examine the concept of probability. They collect data and create a bar graph. They must interpret the data as well. Everyone engages in hands-on games and activities which lead them to predict possible outcomes for a...
Curated OER
Rat Round Up
Students build a device that captures and carries a pet rat safely back to its cage with out "harming" the rat or themselves. They build and experiment with wind-up or battery operated rat cat toys after predicting the outcome of their...
Curated OER
Pooper Scooper
Science Students build a pooper scooper tool that helps them clean up after a dog without getting their hands dirty or their noses too close. They research the diseases that can be transported through animal waste and work in teams to...
Colorado Unit Writing Project
Simple Machines
Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning...
STEM for Teachers
Electromagnificent
This physics pun really hertz, but this STEM lesson plan can help. The inquiry-based activity has young scientists create a testable question about electromagnetic strength; plan and implement their own experiments; and record and...
Cornell University
Shedding a "Little" Light on Cancer Surgery
Many types of cancer treatments now depend on nanotechnology—a big "little" discovery. Scholars begin by removing "malignant" tissue from simulated brains, one using fluorescent markers thanks to nanotechnology and one without. This...
Curated OER
Circle of Pong
Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.
Curated OER
Listening Devices
Young scholars design and construct a listening device that will allow them to listen to the sound generated by specific object inside a box.
Curated OER
Design a Bobsled
Learners apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass and gravity as they design, build, and test mini-bobsleds.
Curated OER
Pump It Up!
Young scholars design a pumping device that will effectively pump fluid through a model "cardiovascular system." They explore the effects of too much and too little pressure on a circulatory system.
Curated OER
Calculating Sales Tax
Observe and demonstrate how to calculate state sales taxes. Learners create a sales tax chart by calculating the sales tax amount and tax inclusive retail price for school store items, then calculate the subtotals, sales tax amounts, and...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
National Geographic
The Monsoon
Few things are as fascinating as the challenge of climbing Mount Everest. This lesson investigates how monsoon weather impacts climbers. To begin, you are instructed to show various video clips. The only one directly provided, however,...
Curated OER
High School EcoHouse Curriculum
How has the level of carbon dioxide changed over recent years, and what is contributing it? Groups work together to research and present their findings in a creative way. Also built into the lesson is a visit to a sustainable house, but...
Teach Engineering
Wizardry and Chemistry
No need to go to Ollivanders to buy a magic wand. In the chemistry lab activity, young magicians mix chemicals to create combustible compounds. By applying these compounds to an iron wire, they create magic wands.
National Library of Medicine
Your Environment, Your Health: Air Quality
Some scientists argue that air pollution now causes more deaths than smoking. The second unit in a six-part series focuses on air quality. Scholars learn what's in the air, how clean the air around their school is, and what they can do...
National Library of Medicine
Your Environment, Your Health: Runoff, Impervious Surfaces, and Smart Development
Can a sidewalk increase the amount of pollution in local streams? Scholars learn the answer to this question though research and experimentation in the fifth unit in the six-part series. Pupils study runoff, impervious surfaces, and the...
National Library of Medicine
Your Environment, Your Health: Food Safety
Did youknow that chicken causes the greatest risk of food-borne illness. The fourth unit in a six-part series addresses food safety. Scholars research common scenarios of food causing illness through the National Institute for Health....
Curated OER
The Risks of Everyday Living
Students compare their perceptions of risk to the perceptions of scientists and risk professionals. in small groups, they evaluate risks on a scale of 1 to 10 for the average American on a yearly basis.
Curated OER
Nurturing Green Thumbs at School
Incorporating a school garden into the curriculum cultivates many benefits.
PHET
Planet Designer: What’s Trending Hot?
Excite scholars to design their own planet in this first of five lessons. The lesson starts with a pre-activity assessment, a complete lesson plan that is easy to implement, and a post-activity assessment that would look great...