NASA
Egg Drop Lander
You have to crack a few eggs to make a good engineer! Working in small groups, young scholars design, build, and test devices that protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a ladder.
Curated OER
Creating Social Stories
Developmentally disabled young scholars participate in the creation of their own social stories. They select a topic for their social story and work with the teacher to write a social story or create a video social story presentation.
Curated OER
Sounds of the Season
During Christmas time, use common carols and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker music as the basis for writing advertisements. Learners can work in teams or individually as they listen to songs via the links provided. A "Christmas Music Comparison...
Curated OER
Career Education for Early Elementary Grades
It's never too early to connect children with the real world meaning of their work. A series of four one-hour sessions, plus a field trip, make up this unit on college and career readiness for first and second graders. After viewing a...
Curated OER
An Imaginary Creature And Then Using Describing And Action Words for a Creative Writing Exercise
You have to collect lots of materials (boxes, bags, toilet paper rolls, etc.) for this lesson to work successfully. After modeling how to create an imaginary creature out of the collection of recycled materials, let your class search...
Curated OER
Escolas de Carnaval
Students create a carnival display displaying the different themes they have studied. In this carnival lesson plan, students display the work they have studied through the samba schools in Brazil. Students also incorporate music in their...
Curated OER
Through India and Back
Young scholars play a game based on "The Amazing Race" to practice using rates and fractions. In this fractions and rates lesson, students work in small groups competing to complete the tasks in the quickest time. At each stage of the...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Shape-Shifter
Geometry is everywhere, and I mean everywhere! Those skillful mathematicians discuss shapes and then come up with a well-researched list of shapes seen in everyday applications. They put their knowledge of shapes to work as each small...
Curated OER
Robotics Reading Hour - Robot Dog
Students create a robotic dog for story time. In this story lesson, high school students bring a robotic dog to an elementary school. They read the story Robot Dog by Mark Oliver and then show their robotic dog.
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The Way a Tree Works
Students explore nature by conducting botany experiments. In this plant life activity, students define the necessary resources for a plant to thrive on our planet while defining scientific vocabulary terms. Students utilize different...
Curated OER
Working With Job Ads
High schoolers examine abbreviations in newspaper advertisements. In groups, they cut out any unfamiliar abbreviations they come across. Once this is completed, they research the qualifications and education needed to hold the careers...
Curated OER
How Atoms Work
Students analyze the way atoms function and how they combine to form molecules and various compounds. Using a software program, they create a diagram of an atom and write a summary about their functions. They complete a worksheet and...
California Academy of Science
How Big is Big?
In a math or life science class, "mini-me" models are created with cardstock to reflect a 1:10 scale of young scholars' bodies. Learners measure each others' heights with meter sticks, and then reduce the size by 10. After this exercise,...
Smithsonian Institution
The Soldier’s Experience—Vietnam versus World War I
The Vietnam War and World War I were two very important—and different—wars. To understand the differences, and similarities, class members watch videos, examine primary source documents, and then create a newscast that examines the...
Curated OER
A Penny for Your Thoughtfulness
Students reflect on the value of a penny. They examine how working families endure economic hardships with the help of charities. They create their own philanthropic event to raise money for a charity.
Curated OER
"Girls Only" Science Workshop
Learners design sleds. For this engineering lesson, students collaborate to engineer and build a real working sleds from the materials provided. This lesson was originally designed to be taught to a group of female learners.
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Physics "24"
Students construct a model house or school. In this physics lesson, students research about who wind up clocks work and write an essay about it. They determine the center of gravity of different objects.
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Medieval Celebration
Students celebrate the completion of a unit of study about Medieval times. In this Medieval celebration instructional activity, students showcase their work from a unit of study by creating a wax museum. They complete KWL charts and read...
Curated OER
Genetics: Integrated with History and Art
Students work cooperatively in pairing chromosomes, created statistical genetic babies using the face lab, constructed a color DNA booklet and demonstrated mitosis in a flip book.
Curated OER
Blackout!
Students read news reports and first-person accounts of a blackout in a large city and keep weblogs or journals. They take on different roles of people who live in the city or commute there to work and then use their journal accounts to...
Curated OER
Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...
Curated OER
Building a Water Clock
Middle schoolers research water clocks online, investigate how water clocks work, and construct water clock that will keep time accurately for at least two hours without human intervention.
Curated OER
Maglev Trains
Students explore how Maglev trains work. In this technology lesson, students discuss the pros and cons of Maglev compared to conventional trains. They build a simple Maglev train model.
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Behind the Cover
Young scholars develop questions they would have liked to ask an author about their written works. They read an article about their forefathers and research a back story to a written work of their choice. They create posters to...