Students explore engineering by building a simple design in class. In this pencil creation lesson, students discuss their likes and dislikes with current writing utensils and design a new type of pencil. Students utilize arts and crafts...

Students engage in investigations that lead to the discovery that earth materials consist of rocks, soils, water, and air. They build models of soil profiles, using breakfast cereal and other edible materials. They observe how water...

Students compare roofing materials to determine which ones reduce rain runoff. In this rain runoff lesson plan, students use a milk carton, stickers, soil, and more to create this activity.

Students work together to build an earthquake city. They simulate the shaking during an earthquake to discover if their structure is built well enough. They discover how engineers complete these types of tests to develop better...

Students examine the concepts of green building used in constructing or renovating a building. They conduct an interview with someone who sells green materials, or designs or implements green building plans. They work in teams to...

Young scholars explore bridges and how they are constructed. After reviewing materials on bridges, they work in groups to record their findings. They design and construct a bridge using K'NEX or straws and predict which bridge will hold...

Students build mine-earthworm habitats to discover their niche in them. They make predictions about what the niche looks like in a week and draw a picture of it. Students notice the tunnels in the soil and how the sand and dirt are now...

Stability is key when building a bridge. Scholars explore the forces acting upon bridges through an analysis of Newton's Laws and Hooke's Law. The activity asks individuals to apply their learning by building a bridge of their own.

Ready, aim, fire! Launch to a new level of understanding as scholars build and test their own catapults. Learners explore lever design and how adjusting the fulcrum changes the outcome. 

Students build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. In this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts such as...

After a brief lecture on levers, torque, projectiles, and the five-step engineering design cycle, young physical science learners or engineers build catapults out of craft sticks. This is an open-ended exploration of what works and what...

Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...

Second graders investigate how to help a city building remain cooler on the inside. They create a rooftop garden in order to shield the building and lower the internal temperature. The garden is meant to replace the black tar paper that...

How can you tell if something is made of metal? Use a table of data and a science experiment to determine which items are made of metal. The experiment requires adult supervision, as it instructs third graders to build an electrical...

High school scientists build their own magnetometer and use it to map the field surrounding a bar magnet. Excellent background resources is included, as well as a diagram of how to build the magnetometer.

How do dams support bodies of water? Scholars engage in a hands-on STEM activity where they design, build, and test dams to learn about bodies of water and how humans use natural resources. They learn how criteria and constraints affect...

Students investigate the properties and uses of rocks and minerals. They build towers using only one material from a pile of stones, tiles, wood, etc. provided by the teacher. Students test the hardness of rocks by scratching them with...

Bring this lesson on hubris to your short story unit. After reading Jack London's "To Build a Fire," young readers discuss the role of hubris in the protagonist's death. The lesson has connections to other short stories, such as "The...

Students investigate ways to save energy. In this environmental instructional activity, students play the role of a building inspector and identify "culprits" that waste energy. Students use a checklist to identify specific practices...

Make science come in loud and clear. Pupils learn about how a speaker works by building one. The scholars first learn about electromagnetic fields by building an electromagnet. Using that knowledge, they build a crude speaker using a...

Silver pennies and copper nickels are made possible by applying some chemistry. Learners use electrolysis to coat a penny with zinc sulfate and a nickel with copper sulfate. Their investigation builds an understanding of electroplating...

The radical reactions of polymers seems abstract to many pupils, but this lesson plan turns them into a fun building game. Scholars use dice and building pieces to build polymers. Then, they determine the theoretical and experimental...

Students explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.

If you can find Tinker Toys™, then this may be a fun assignment for your physical science class. Using the construction set and a few other toys, they examine the forces involved when it they are being played with. For each, they...