Curated OER
Insect Investigation
Investigation is a brilliant way to spark scientific inquiry. First graders will identify, research, and report what they have learned about a mysterious bug found on the playground. They will use multimedia resources for research and...
University of Minnesota
Ethics of Dissection
There's an elephant in your classroom. That's right — a big, awkward elephant named Dissection. Sure, you'd like to talk about him ... but how? Whether you're a seasoned teacher or fresh out of student teaching, the topic of dissection...
Curated OER
Networking the Internet: A Dynamic Research Tool
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the research of finding information to help them develop new science projects. They conduct research using a variety of resources that includes e-mail and discussion groups.
Curated OER
Inventions Over Time
Explore the inventions of the past with a project on ancient tools. After reading an article about hunting during the Archaic period, the Late Prehistoric period, and the Historic period, kids fill in a cause-and-effect chart about the...
Curated OER
Charles Darwin
High schoolers produce a newspaper describing the times during which Charles Darwin introduced the theory of natural selection. For this evolution lesson, students make observations and explore the role of observation in Charles Darwin's...
Curated OER
Technology-Lesson 3-Putting Technology to Work
Students explain the use of different technologies based on their resolving power. Explain how technologies are used to solve scientific and health-related problems. Explain the concept of using right tool for the job and develop a multi...
Curated OER
Measure Up!
Discover ways to measure items without standard tools. For this measurements lesson, learners estimate how long certain objects are by measuring with a non-standard measuring tool. Students check their estimates with a ruler and share...
Curated OER
Iron For Breakfast
Third graders are challenged to use scientific thinking, they experiment and observe which objects are attracted to a magnet. Pupils use the evidence to construct an explanation as to what common property the objects attracted to a...
Cornell University
Classification
Explore the scientific method of classification. An interactive activity asks learners to create a classification system for a group of objects and develop a flow chart to communicate their systems. In addition, individuals use a...
Curated OER
Scientific Method
Young scholars explore the steps in the scientific methods. Through activities, students discover the scientific is a tool for solving problems of any kind. Young scholars will fill out a scientific method chart, and determine what...
Curated OER
Applied Science-Science and Math Lab
Learners explore magnification. In this scientific observation skills lesson, students observe sea life items and draw pictures of what they observe. Learners predict which lens will have the strongest magnification when given three...
Curated OER
Writing in Scientific Notation
Students discover number sense by completing a math worksheet. In this scientific notation lesson, students identify the purpose for writing in scientific notation and practice writing large numbers in scientific notation. Students...
Curated OER
Maus: Cubing Questioning Strategy
Maus is the text for a postreading activity that has class members using a cubing strategy to analyze, in depth, topics (racism, past and present, forgetting/remembering the Holocaust, representing the Holocaust) associated with Art...
Curated OER
'Hunger Games' Science: Investigating Genetically Engineered Organisms
In The Hunger Games novel and movie, a futuristic, dystopian society is the setting. In it, a genetically engineered bird escapes control of the government. Using this as a starting point, teenagers examine the realistic possibility of...
Novelinks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Cubing Strategy
The toss of a die determines what questions your pupils will answer in this lesson. Learners respond to questions based on Bloom's taxonomy, discussing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with classmates along the way. They finish by writing up...
Polar Trec
Playground Profiling—Topographic Profile Mapping
The Kuril islands stretch from Japan to Russia, and the ongoing dispute about their jurisdiction prevents many scientific research studies. Scholars learn to create a topographic profile of a specific area around their schools. Then they...
Curated OER
Introduction to Scientific Method
Students investigate safe laboratory procedures, classroom management guidelines, and group roles and procedures. They study a set of safety guidelines with their parents, and to sign a contract stating that they understand the...
Curated OER
Comparing the Density of Iron
Students use scientific measuring tools to collect and use scientific data. They determine the density of four different objects by using their data to explain why objects have similar/different densities even though they are both made...
Curated OER
Tools of the Trade
Third graders explore and identify the tools that can be used to measure length, mass/weight, and volume. They discuss how things are measured using different units, and observe the difference between the English and the Metric systems....
Curated OER
Virtual Venus
Young scholars practice using the tool of remote telescopes in order to make observations in space. The lesson plan includes the best times of year to make observations. They use the internet to obtain information and to initiate the use...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Male deer growing antlers to begin the breeding season is an example of a phenological event. First in a four-part series is an activity requiring individuals to collect phenological data on their campus. Classes discuss phenology, the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Ecological Mismatches
Modeling is a powerful teaching tool. The final installment in a six-part series has pupils complete an activity to model a food web and discover the interconnected relationships in an ecosystem. They then read about changes in migratory...
Curated OER
Investigating Evolutionary Questions: Bats, Whales, Reptiles, Birds, Animal Classification
Students are guided through a process in which three questions are addressed by retrieving beta hemoglobin sequences from online databases, and using online tools to compare those sequences in student-selected animals.
Curated OER
Let's Measure the Speed of Sound
Third graders measure the speed of sound using scientific investigative techniques.