Alabama Learning Exchange
The Birth of Rock(s) - Identifying Rock Types
Young scientists investigate types of rocks in this instructional activity. They collaborate to examine groups of rocks, make written descriptions of them, and use websites to help them identify the types of rocks they are.
Curated OER
Minerals
Young scholars apply rules to compare and rank the hardness and softness of minerals. They perform a scratch test on four unknown mineral samples, read a bar graph that illustrates the comparative hardness and softness of four named...
Curated OER
Water Cycle
Students explore the water cycle. In this water cycle lesson, students examine water as a resource as they create a water cycle poster and create a water cycle model. Water cycle game instructions are included as well.
Curated OER
Aquifers and Groundwater
Students understand the purpose of an aquifer. In this aquifer and groundwater activity, students build a model aquifer find its relationship to water usage. Students record observations as they build the layers of the aquifer.
Curated OER
Does One Tree a Forest Make?
Students take a walk around the schoolyard looking at and identifying the trees. One leaf for each tree is collected. A chart is developed that represents the population of trees on the school ground. They keep journals and write an essay.
Curated OER
Enduring Understanding
Fourth graders explore indigenous people of rainforest and examine their customs and ways of life. They discuss how rainforests should be protected not only for their plants and animals, but also for indigenous people who live in them,...
Curated OER
Bugs
Students participate in an after school program that promotes communications skills, hypothesizing, exploring, recording of data, leadership roles and making comparisons. They explore the world of insects, where they come from, how they...
NASA
Pop! Rockets
Off they go — launching rockets is fun. The lesson plan contains templates to build paper rockets that can be launched from a PVC pipe launcher. Individuals or groups build the rockets and determine the shapes for their fins. Included...
NASA
Foam Rocket
When going for distance, does it make a difference at what angle you launch the rocket? Teams of three launch foam rockets, varying the launch angle and determining how far they flew. After conducting the series of flights three times,...
NASA
Launch Altitude Tracker
Using PVC pipe and aquarium tubing, build an altitude tracker. Pupils then use the altitude tracker, along with a tangent table, to calculate the altitude of a launched rocket using the included data collection sheet.
Curated OER
Gas Prices Keep Rising
Students discuss rising gas prices, then read a news article about how the increase in fuel cost may affect other prices. In this economics and current events lesson plan, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and...
Tech Museum of Innovation
Tree House Escape
Use simple machines to escape from a tree house. Pupils learn about simple machines and how they are useful in everyday life in a STEM lesson. Groups then design a device to rescue a friend stuck in a tree house.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Energy at Play
Get the ball rolling and challenge your class to figure out how to make a ball move. The instruction segment is between two STEM activities devoted to doing just that. The first is simple and involves making a ball move from some force...
Curated OER
California Poppy Postcards
What a great lesson! Learners discuss California history, including the state flower, the poppy, and then engage in an art activity. For the activity, they learn about value, shading, layering, blending etc. to produce a realistic...
NASA
Rocket Wind Tunnel
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
Curated OER
How Machines Help Us Stay Healthy
Students visit different departments at a local hospital to see how machines help peoples such as the CAT scan machine. They build a model of such a machine that shows how patients are moved in and out of the machine.
Curated OER
Honing in on Hummingbirds
Students explore ruby-throated hummingbirds. In this cross-curricular hummingbirds lesson, students listen to the book The Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds and choose related topics to research with a partner. Students draw or write...
Curated OER
Water Power
Students observe a model of a waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work. They work as engineers to create a model for a new waterwheel while considering resources,...
Curated OER
Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...
Curated OER
Aqua-Thrusters!
Students construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas - produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid tablet and water -...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Pulley'ing Your Own Weight
Learners experiment with common objects such as spools, string and soap to determine how pulleys make it easier to move large objects. They look at the difference between fixed and movable pulleys. They examine the many uses engineers...
Curated OER
Right Place, Right Time
Fourth graders complete mathematical word problems. They study the relationships among distance, speed, and time; and measure travel distances. They measure distances using a piece of string and a ruler and practice converting several...
Curated OER
Pedometer Activities to Enhance Cross-curricular Learning
Students complete different activities involving pedometers such as writing a creative story, calculating step averages, researching pedometers, calculating calories, and much more.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Comparing Fuel Economy
Compute fuel economy and gas mileage. Why? So you can teach rates and ratios, of course! Middle schoolers calculate the rate of miles per gallon for various vehicles. They research each vehicle, its mileage per gallon, and cost per...