Curated OER
To Smell or Not to Smell, That is the Ester
Students explain the basic concepts of polymerization. Students participate in a lab to create a crude preparation of carboxyl esterase and test its effectiveness in reducing the residual monomer in an emulsion such as paint.
Beyond Benign
Puzzler
Are some packaging materials superior to others? Using sustainability as a guide, scholars analyze different packing materials to describe their life cycles. They create puzzles to communicate their findings.
Curated OER
Carbon Atom Mobile
Students research the element of carbon, its composition, and the importance of carbon to life on earth. Then they design model mobiles of carbon atoms to demonstrate their understanding of the configuration of protons, neutrons, and...
Curated OER
Keeping Healthy
High schoolers describe the relationship between exercise and health. They name ways to monitor their health and the equipment used to do so. Students name solutions to common health issues and explain why good nutrition and exercise are...
Curated OER
WATER CHEMISTRY
Young scholars list reasons why water is important and investigate and graph the freezing points of different solutions.
Curated OER
New York City Water Quality Assessment Project
Students investigate the chemistry of water and how its molecular structure supports life through its biochemcial, physical, and environmental roles. They investigate the quality of water as it interacts with the environment. Students...
Curated OER
Polymerization Experiments
Students explain the process of polymerization. In this chemistry lesson, students produce carboxylesterase in the lab. They test its effectiveness in removing the by-product odor.
Curated OER
Colds and Germs
Learners determine how diseases are spread from one person to another. They investigate the importance of hand washing to reduce the spread of common colds and other diseases. They listen to teacher read alouds and complete an inquiry...
Curated OER
Diffusion through Membranes
Students identify diffusion and its processes through experimentation and calculations. They also use a CBL and conductivity probe to measure the conductivity of various solutions and study the effect of concentration gradients on the...
Curated OER
Ions in the Environment
Students explain the importance of the five main biogeochemical cycles. In this chemistry lesson, students discuss how ions are transported in the environment. They design an experiment to collect data on eutrophication.
Curated OER
Energy Content of Foods
Learners collect data, organize and analyze the data and compare it to real life scenarios. This assignment requires two class periods.
Curated OER
Investigative Case: The Nancy Creek Challenge
Students examine a case study of fish kill in Nancy Creek and identify the environmental conditions that favor life in a fresh water ecosystem. They work in small groups to assess the situation and gather resources from various places in...
Curated OER
Water Chemistry
Young scholars engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of water chemistry. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Students also consider an experiment to observe how water has the abiility to exist as three...
Curated OER
Set the Stage
Students observe evaporation in a controlled environment. Evaporation is the change of liquid water into water vapor (a gas). The rate of evaporation is determined by many factors such as air temperature and humidity, liquid temperature...
Curated OER
The Breathtaking Nature of the Urban Explosion, Part 2
Students explore ozone levels. They measure the concentrations of ground-level ozone in the atmosphere. Students observe changes in the concentrations of ozone over time. Students complete a data sheet to record ozone readings over a...
University of California
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science lesson, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over time....
University of Pennsylvania
Decoding Propaganda: J’Accuse…! vs. J’Accuse…!
Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...
Curated OER
Acids and Bases
Students use supporting evidence to predict if common household substances are acids or bases. They determine the pH of the substances and describe the results of the investigation and characteristics of each substance.
Curated OER
Radioactivity Experiments
Students study the difference between types of ionizing radiation and how elements are transmuted. They determine that radiation is normal and surrounds us. They calculate the amounts of alpha, beta and gamma radiation emitted from a...
Curated OER
Polymerization Experiments
Students study the concepts of polymerization and the function of crosslinkage. In this polymer lesson plan students complete a lab activity and write down their observations.
Curated OER
Scientific Inquiry
Students investigate the general geology, biology, and chemistry of Seneca Lake. They study how to use scientific instruments on the research vessel. They explain how the data they gather will be used by scientists and develop a hypothesis.
Curated OER
Acidity
Sixth graders describe the physical and chemical properties of acids. In this chemistry instructional activity, 6th graders test the acidity of different solutions. They identify acids and bases using the pH scale.
Curated OER
Playing With Polymers
Learners explore the world of polymers. In this chemistry lesson, students make polymers and observe their properties. Follow-up questions and extension activities are included.
Curated OER
Mobile Phones
Investigate how mobile phones impact their lives through this technology lesson that has students discuss the history of the cell phone and research how cell phones are being used in third world countries. Students create a blog for new...