Curated OER
Build Your Dream Bedroom
Designers measure their own rooms and produce a scale drawing. They use the Internet to visit sites to find the costs of purchasing new carpet, paint, or anything else they would like to add to their room. Using a $1500 budget, they will...
Teach Engineering
Stormy Skies
Young meteorologists examine the four main types of weather fronts and how they appear on a weather map. Participants learn about the difference between the types of weather fronts along with their distinguishing features. A...
Curated OER
Look At Those Leaves!
Kids observe, classify, and measure tree leaves with a scientific eye. They examine leaves, group them according their attributes, and use standard units of measurement as they compare their sizes. They access a web site to learn how...
Curated OER
Magnetic Levitation
A thorough investigation of magnetic levitation; this activity has four parts. First, physical scientists play with a wooden dowel and three disc magnets to review polarity and repelling action. Then they experiment with...
Shodor Education Foundation
InteGreat
Hands-on investigation of Riemann sums becomes possible without intensive arithmetic gymnastics with this interactive lesson plan. Learners manipulate online graphing tools to develop and test theories about right, left, and...
Statistics Education Web
It’s Elemental! Sampling from the Periodic Table
How random is random? Demonstrate the different random sampling methods using a hands-on activity. Pupils use various sampling techniques to choose a random sample of elements from the periodic table. They use the different samples to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Weather or Not
What is the difference between weather and climate? This is the focus question of a lesson that takes a deeper look at how weather data helps determine climate in a region. Using weather and climate cards, students decide...
LABScI
Circulation and Respiration: Vital Signs
What do your vital signs tell your doctor? An engaging hands-on lesson has your learners monitor their own lung capacity, blood pressure, and heart rate. They then connect the vital measures to the workings of the circulatory and...
Teach Engineering
Floaters and Sinkers
Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...
Curated OER
Matchstick Math: Using Manipulatives to Model Linear, Quadratic, and Exponential Functions
Playing with matches (unlit, of course) becomes an engaging learning experience in this fun instructional unit. Teach pupils how to apply properties of exponential functions to solve problems. They differentiate between quadratic and...
American Statistical Association
An A-MAZE-ING Comparison
Teach your class how to use descriptive statistics through a hands-on data collection activity. Pupils collect their own data, calculate test statistics, and interpret the results in context. They compare male and female results, looking...
Statistics Education Web
Using Dice to Introduce Sampling Distributions
Investigate the meaning of a sample proportion using this hands-on activity. Scholars collect data and realize that the larger the sample size the more closely the data resembles a normal distribution. They compare the sample proportion...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Time to Tell Time
Students demonstrate how to tell time using an analog clock. In this time measurement lesson, students read the book Clocks and More Clocks and use analog clocks to demonstrate the time that the teacher called out.
University of Georgia
Freezing and Melting of Water
Examine the behavior of energy as water freezes and melts. An engaging activity provides a hands-on experience to learners. Collaborative groups collect data and analyze the graphs of the temperature of water as it freezes and then...
LABScI
Viscosity: The Fluid Lab
There's more to fluids than meet the eye—they include gases, liquids, and polymers, too! Scholars complete three hands-on activities exploring different properties of fluids. They explore viscosity by measuring the resistance, or...
Teach Engineering
What Floats Your Boat?
Clay's as good a material as any to build a boat, right? An introductory lesson sets the stage for two activities associated with buoyancy. The first involves building boats out of clay, while the second uses these boats to measure the...
Kenan Fellows
Farm to Fuel: The Alternative Fuels Industry
Need a lesson to fuel young minds? A variety of hands-on activities is sure to get your class fired up! Beginning with an introductory slideshow and culminating with group presentations, the week-long unit has something for everyone....
Curated OER
The Game is Afoot - A Study of Sherlock Holmes
Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre. Based on what...
Curated OER
Action-Reaction! Rocket
Students construct a rocket from a balloon propelled along a guide string. They use this model to learn about Newton's three laws of motion, examining the effect of different forces on the motion of the rocket. They measure the distance...
NASA
Analyzing Tiny Samples Using a Search for the Beginning Mass Spectrometry
Teach the basics of mass spectrometry with a hands-on lesson. The fourth in a series of six lessons explores how mass spectrometry measures the ionic composition of an element. Learners then compare and contrast relative abundance and...
Purdue University
Design of a Door Alarm
How does electricity work? Budding scientists explore the concepts of electrical currents and open and closed circuits with class discussion and a hands-on activity using a battery to turn on a light bulb. Learners also make predictions...
Purdue University
Design of an Earthen Dam for a Lafayette Neighborhood
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...
Curated OER
Household Conservation/Efficiency
Hook your class up to an online home energy usage calculator so that they can estimate the amount used per month by their families. Then give them Watt meters with which they will measure the power consumption of several small...
Curated OER
Black Bayou Lake Measures Up
Students, in groups, estimate measurments and then select the tools needed and measure various items at Black Bayou Lake refuge.