What's It Worth? Thinking About Weights and Measures

Students investigate how weight affects a parachute's rate of fall.  In this investigative instructional activity students test parachutes, average results and conclude what makes a faster descent.

A group of teachers attended a picnic; ten became sick and another four died. Young scholars must solve the mystery of what happened. They research the river, waste water treatment plant, each food that was served, and environmental...

Too much material will weigh you down. The sixth segment in a series of 22 highlights how weight affects a plane. Pupils learn that engineers take the properties of materials, including weight, when designing something. 

A lesson on the system of currency used by the Akan people of Ghana and how it compares to systems used today.

What is considered news vs. propaganda? Learners will discuss objectivity and press responsibility while exploring these two concepts. They work in small groups to explore the article in-depth, guided by reading comprehension and...

Bend it, but don't break it. Groups investigate the strength of different materials. Using a procedure in the seventh segment of a 22-part series on aviation, pupils determine how far a rod will bend. They determine the strength-to-mass...

Adorable little stick figures push and pull a cart of blocks to explain the push and pull of forces. Future physicists then define force and identify it in different situations on the worksheet that follows. Concepts covered include...

Middle schoolers explore measuring tools by calculating heights and lengths of random objects. In this distance measurement lesson plan, students utilize the Internet service MapQuest to measure the distance between their current towns...

Students develop two units of measurement to relate to the astronomical unit and the light year. In this astronomy lesson, students use a Twizzler to develop a measurement unit similar to the astronomical unit. They use a moving object,...

What's the moral of this story? Units save lives! Teach measurement conversion through storytelling in a quick math-based lesson. Young scientists learn how one country's decision to swap from imperial to metric standard units caused an...