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Building an Electric Motor
Rev your motor with a hands-on activity about electricity. Learners build their own electric motor before reading a handout and answering some questions.
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Electromagnets
Young scientists build their own electromagnet and test it by picking up paperclips. Analysis questions evaluate knowledge at the end of the activity.
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Color
How can a hand puppet's shadow look like a dog? The lesson explains the science behind shadows, combining paint colors and the colors used in old televisions. Scholars use white, red, blue, and green lights to experiment with colors and...
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Curved Mirrors
Discover concave and convex mirrors using a laser light. Scholars experiment with real and virtual images before reading a handout and completing homework questions. Included extensions greatly benefit learners, so take advantage of the...
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Reflected Light
The lesson allows young scientists to use lasers and mirrors to study reflected light. A reading passage and homework question assess learning, while additional material introduces extension activities.
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Sounds in Strings
How many of your pupils play an instrument? A musical science lesson will help all of them understand how string instruments work. Young scientists construct a string-and-pulley system to test frequency and pitch. The lesson ends with a...
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Making Waves
Young scientists use Slinkys to better understand waves. After creating and measuring many aspects of waves, they complete a handout and homework questions. The resource also introduces the final project for the chapter, though it does...
Virginia Department of Education
Permeability and Porosity
Covering both permeability and porosity, scholars perform a hands-on experiment testing various soil types. The material includes a pre-lesson worksheet to help focus pupils on the task at hand.
NASA
Determining the Nature, Size, and Age of the Universe
Prompt scholars to discover the expansion of the universe themselves. Using photographs of other galaxies, they measure and then graph the size and distance of each. Finally, they draw conclusions and prove the universe is expanding.
Millennium Schools
Lifestyle Chemistry
My name is Bond, Hydrogen Bond. Written for distance scholars working on chemistry at the high school level, the lesson includes eight weeks worth of material divided into six parts: substances you use, mixing it up, your skin, what's...
Virginia Department of Education
Mystery Anions
Lost an electron? You should keep an ion them. Young chemists learn qualitative analysis in the second activity of an 11-part chemistry series. After observing reactions of simple salts, the teacher provides pupils with unknown samples...
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Building a Motor/Generator Toy
Combine science and playtime with the final lesson in an innovative unit. Scholars apply everything they have learned in previous lessons to build their own motors/generators and use it in a toy of their own design.
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Detect and Induce Currents
Young scientists recreate an 1820 experiment and build off of it to investigate how to detect and induce electrical currents. As a final activity, scholars answer questions in multiple formats.
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Refraction of Light
Don't shine like a diamond, refract light like a diamond. Young scientists use an acrylic block and a laser light to observe refraction. Advanced scholars figure the sine of the angles of reflection and incidence as well as mastering...
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Sounds from Vibrating Air
Take note, or notes, as the case may be. A scientific music lesson is the third in a set of eight covering waves and instruments. Scholars use straws, test tubes, and water to create various wind instruments. Then, they read and answer...
Virginia Department of Education
The Hydrologic Cycle
There is the same amount of water on earth now as there was when it was formed. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank! Young scientists build their own hydrologic cycle model and observe it for five...
NASA
Just How Far is That Star?
Pupils often wonder how we know the distance to various stars. Starting with a thought experiment and progressing to a physical experiment, they determine the brightness and distance to various stars. The evaluation requires critical...
Chymist
The Solubility of a Salt in Water at Various Temperatures
An educational instructional activity allows young chemists to test the solubility of different types of salt at various temperatures. Groups create a graph using data from unsaturated, saturated, and supersaturated solutions.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan Outline for Rainbow Science
Young scientists study light reflection and refraction as they determine the critical angle, the rainbow angle, and color separation in rainbows. Teams record the data they collect in a shared spreadsheet and discuss results with the class.
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The Fossil Record
What do you call a plated dinosaur when he is asleep? A stego-snorus! Through four hands-on activities, young paleontologists rotate through stattions to learn about preservation in rock, resin, ice, and conservation of animal tracks....
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Natural Selection
Are you the predator or the prey? Student groups participate in an activity to demonstrate the process of natural selection in a contained environment. After scholars complete the activity and questions, they apply their knowledge to a...
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Is It Heredity or the Environment?
Himalayan rabbits are black when raised at low temperatures and white when raised at high temperatures. Young biologists participate in an experiment using seeds to demonstrate the ways the environment can influence an inherited...
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Oil and Gas Production
Would you consider a power failure a current event? This lesson uses multiple experiments, guided inquiry activities, and group discussions to cover the topics of oil and gas production. This is the seventh lesson in a series of eight.
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Exploring Energy Resource Concepts
Please turn off the lights to conserve energy. Or not, after all energy is always conserved. This first lesson in an eight-part series includes three parts. Part A contains one hands-on activity and two inquiry-based experiments on heat...