Curated OER
The Clay Marble
Students probe the story, "The Clay Marble" by Minfong Ho to identify examples of courage, quick thinking, and perseverance. The lesson creatively extends the plot of the story by celebrating the heroin's birthday many years after the...
University of Alaska
Clay Model Earth
What a great way to incorporate hands-on learning while teaching about the earth's layers. The class observes an overhead transparency (linked in Included Materials) as they create their own model Earth using different colors of clay....
Curated OER
Forest Dwellings: Toad House
What a great project to use as part of an exploration of animals or habitats. Learners design a clay model of a home for a forest animal. This could be a great way to cement what your class has learned about habitats.
Virginia Department of Education
Metamorphic Rocks
Rocks can bend? Pupils investigate how heat and pressure produce metamorphic rocks by modeling them using clay, and then categorize samples based on observable characteristics. The lesson ends with a metamorphic rock identification...
Curated OER
Crayola® Model Magic® Colored Courtly Characters
Young scholars create a "Noh"-style mask, based on Japanese Noh theatre masks. They experiment with different colors of modeling clay and explore ways to show facial character.
Curated OER
Barging Along
Students create a barge. In this technological design lesson plan, students use modeling clay to create a barge to hold marbles. Students make their barge then test it to see how many marbles it will hold. Students discuss why their...
Curated OER
Discover Magazine: Size and Scale
High schoolers research measurements of the moon and Earth as well as the distance between the two in order to create scale models of the Earth-moon system. With a marble to be used as the moon, they must determine how large to make...
Curated OER
Wreck Detectives
Students investigate shipwrecks. For this marine archaeology lesson ,students collect data and make inferences about the causes of shipwrecks. Students work in groups to create their own model of a shipwreck using clay. Students then...
Curated OER
Move It, Sir Isaac!
Third graders analyze the work of Sir Isaac Newton as they investigate the laws of motion and force. Inertia is observed through a lump of clay.
Curated OER
Little Oyster: Ceramic Lesson
Children will love researching and then creating a bottom dwelling mollusk of their own. They watch clips describing the ocean ecosystem and how oysters fit into their environment. Next, they research what oysters eat and how they look....
Curated OER
Concrete Canoes
Young scholars explore and analyze the relationship of buoyancy and displacement needed to make an object float. They examine various boat designs, then design and build clay and aluminum boats that hold a cargo of marbles.
Curated OER
Chromosomes and Genetic Mapping
Students create models of chromosomes using clay, coins, beads, or marbles. They complete a worksheet regarding their crossover frequencies they created with their chromosomes and gene models. They read an essay on sex chromosomes and...
Ocean Explorer
Easy as Pi
Seamounts are large, extinct volcanoes that rise up from the bottom of the ocean floor. They are a relatively new landform in the scientific community, and this activity invites students to learn about the amazing diversity of life found...
Curated OER
How do living and non-living structures affect coral reef habitats?
Students create model coral reefs showing surface area and including examples of communities. In this coral reef activity, students research and explore the functions or benefits from a coral reef. Students design a benthic habitat....
Curated OER
Exploring How Rocks Are Formed
These lessons produced by the Illinois State Museum are quite good. In this one, third and fourth graders are introduced to the three basic types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. They perform activities which help them...
Curated OER
Scale/Ratio
Investigate the use of ratios in scale drawings. Learners scale objects up or down using ratios then find the actual size of something using ratios. They apply their knowledge of ratios as they make their own telescopes in science class....
Curated OER
Exploring Scale And Ratio
Students measure the actual size and distance of the solar system using scale and ratio. They watch and discuss a video, create a distance-scale solar system model, and compare the scale sizes of planets to their actual sizes.
Star Date
Modeling the Night Sky
Dramatize the stars and planets as they become a visual representation of the solar system in this activity. Young astronomers track and simulate various constellations as they orbit the Earth to learn the position and motion of objects...
University of Colorado
Strange New Planet
The first remote sensors were people in hot air balloons taking photographs of Earth to make maps. Expose middle school learners to space exploration with the use of remote sensing. Groups explore and make observations of a new planet by...
Curated OER
Easy as Pi
Students examine structural features. In this life science lesson students complete an activity and quantify the impact of various modifications.
Curated OER
Easy as Pi
Students describe the importance of structural features that increase surface area in a coral reef habitat. In this investigative lesson plan students quantify the impact of modifications on surface area in model habitats.
Curated OER
Exploring How Rocks Are Formed
Students examine the three types of rocks. They discover the processes that occur so each type of rock can be formed. They participate in activities to help them see how rocks are formed.
Curated OER
Wreck Detectives
Junior archaeologists examine types of artifacts from the Bronze Age on the internet. In collaborative groups, they create a story about a ship from this period and then construct a model of the ocean floor after their ship has sunk....
Curated OER
Polykleitan God or Athlete
Learners analyze the Polykleitan God depicted in art and create their own ideal form of sculpture. In this sculpture and art lesson, students read about Greek art of the human form. Learners analyze the art of Polykleitos and then create...