Life in a Mini World

In this 2-day lesson plan focused on exponents, middle schoolers will cross the curriculum by engaging in science, history and language arts activities. Exponential growth will be explored using grains of rice on a chess board....

Scholars use sorting cards to try to define a pure substance versus a mixture. Risk becomes reward as they observe the differences and create a flowchart sorting matter into mixtures and pure substances (elements and compounds).

You don't have to travel far to learn about rocks, just step outside, pick up a stone, and begin investigating. After taking a class walk around the school grounds collecting rocks, young scientists practice their skills of observation...

Heat things up in your earth science class with this collaborative lesson on volcanoes. After first being introduced to the different types of volcanoes and how they are formed, young geologists work in small groups to...

Don't let your eyes play tricks on you ... use scale to keep your eyes in check! Young scholars observe images without scale and try to identify the structure. Then, they look at the same image with a scale bar and assess whether their...

In this classifying activity, middle schoolers are given 8 rows of illustrations of animals. Students try out various ways to organize the animals in a classification system following the directions. They try a 2 groups system and a 3-5...

When van Leeuwenhoek saw cells and single-celled organisms for the first time, he knew these small things were a big deal! Share his discoveries with young learners through a narrated video, model-building activity, and scale study....

Students observe how to distinguish observations form inferences.  In this examining inferences instructional activity students list observations relating to the activity and discuss the importance of them. 

You can't b. cereus until you see this lesson! Young microbiologists learn to prepare deep well slides, observe two types of microorganisms, and compare and contrast their physical characteristics in this interactive and lively activity.

As an introduction to the study of diversity of life, science students will use hands-on inquiry experiments to discover the microscopic world through a microscope. Students will use computers to create a brochure or slideshow...