What's It Worth? Thinking About Weights and Measures

Middle schoolers investigate how weight affects a parachute's rate of fall.  In this investigative lesson 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...

Construction leads to habitat loss and local wildlife suffers. Scholars must build a reptile egg incubation device that meets many constraints. Various experiments help them discover the chemical reaction needed to reach the proper...

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. 

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 activity that follows. Concepts covered include...

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

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...