Curated OER
Wind Tunnels
Students build a simple wind tunnel and test out 2 glider wing shapes at different angles of attack. They record their observations and results just as engineers do. There also is a "virtual wind tunnel" they can try to test aerodynamic...
Curated OER
Jumbo Butterfly
Students duplicate butterfly designs. They use jumbo sizes to develop an awareness of designs found in nature. Students construct a butterfly house to share with their classmates.
Curated OER
Flying with Fractions
Students test their knowledge of the Wright Brothers and their aircraft, and compute ratio of two numbers to determine the ratio between wing span and length of aircraft.
Curated OER
How Things Fly
Students observe photographs of selected twentieth-century aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum and note differences in the design of aircraft wings, fuselages, and engines.
Curated OER
The Ringer
Students discover what a ringer is and make different alterations to it. In this aircraft lesson students determine the best design for accurate, long distance flight.
Curated OER
The Merci Train
Students investigate the Merci Train and conduct research in order to write a summary about its origination and purposes. They make a boxcar that is designed and made from construction paper and glue and wrapped around cardboard.
Curated OER
Build a Bug
Students design an ideally adapted macroinvertebrate to live in a water habitat. They illustrate their animal, name it and specify the adaptations it has that enable it to survive.
Curated OER
Four Forces of Flight
Students explore the four forces of flight. They investigate the four forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust and weight (gravity). They experiment with flight-testing various objects commonly found around the house and constructing paper...
Curated OER
Plane Weather
Students examine the important issue of plane safety. In groups, they are introduced to how NASA determines if it is safe to fly on a particular day given certain conditions. They use the internet to research the types of tools and...
Curated OER
Caterpillar to Butterfly
Students draw the life cycle of a butterfly. In this life cycle lesson plan, students read about and discuss the life cycle and then draw what they have learned.
Curated OER
Bird Migration
Young scholars watch a short movie on bird migration and answer short answer questions about it. For this bird migration lesson plan, students fill out a worksheet.
NASA
The Wright Quest
A very impressive lesson plan on the Wright brothers and their place in aviation history. Learners discover many fascinating facts about the Wright brothers and their trials and errors regarding flight. Best of all, they get to build a...
Google
The White House
Taking a guided tour through the White House would require extensive travel costs and an armed security escort—but a virtual tour only requires an Internet connection! A few clicks bring users through the historical corridors and rooms...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Temperature Scale
Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy. Your class will build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. Discuss with your class and consider why engineers need to understand...
Curated OER
Paper Bag Butterfly Puppets
Whether you're using it to tell stories, explore the letter b, or during a life science lesson plan, these butterfly puppets will be a hit. Youngsters use crayons, tissue paper, and paper bags to create butterfly puppets.
Curated OER
The Dragonflies of Summer
The best thing about dragonflies is that they make great topics for informational texts. Get those readers excited with a fun and interesting insect-related text passage that can help them increase their comprehension skills. As children...
Curated OER
Introduction to Adaptation
Tenth graders observe collections of specimens and discuss their answers to provided questions. They explore common ancestry, homology, analogy, adaptive radiation, and evolution, while formulating creative answers based on their...
John Lentine
Butterflies and Bugs
Symmetry, line, shape, art, and math are all connected through a fun hands-on craft. Included are instructions to a classic activity, where learners create butterflies to show symmetry in nature and then discuss symmetry in math. It is...
Curated OER
Lovely Ladybugs
Make cute ladybugs with egg cartons and pipe cleaners! After you read some facts about ladybugs, use different materials to make some ladybugs for your classroom.
Teach Engineering
Fun with Bernoulli
Reduce the pressure in the classroom. The second instructional activity in an Airplanes unit of 22 introduces the class to Bernoulli's Principle. Pupils demonstrate the principle by blowing between different objects causing a reduction...
Curated OER
Woodsies "Extraordinaire"
Allow your class to use their imaginations and create fun creatures with various wooden shapes and other embellishments. What a great way to encourage your young artists to stretch their minds!
Dick Blick Art Materials
Woodsies “Extraordinaire”
"This looks like an owl!" Kids get a chance to create all sorts of things by arranging various shapes, painting them, and gluing them together. A great way to encourage creativity and spontaneity.
Council for Economic Education
New Sense, Inc. vs. Fish 'Till U Drop or Coase Vs. Pigou
Who is responsible for protecting the environment, and who should pay when it is damaged? The role of government and private industry is complicated. A role-play simulation prompts individuals to decide how to protect a fictitious town...
Curated OER
Art in Nazi Germany When Art and Politics Didn't Agree
Five lessons display the art created by Germans under the Weimar Republic. The focus of these lessons is to help learners understand the role of art in politics, government censorship, and Nazi tactics. Web links are included.