Lesson Planet Curated
Inquiry in Action: Fifth Grade Chapter 2 - Substances Have Characteristic Properties
The five lessons in Chapter 2 ask fifth graders to use their observation skills to identify substances. They dissolve known and unknown substances to determine the identity of the mystery substances. Next, learners investigate the...
Lesson Planet Curated
Inquiry in Action: Fifth Grade Chapter 1 - Matter is Made of Tiny Particles
Four lesson plans investigate all phases of matter and provide pupils with hands-on experiences that demonstrate that all matter is made of tiny particles. First, scholars explore solutes and solvents. Using candies and water, they...
Lesson Planet Curated
Adventures in Chemistry: Experiments
Twenty-one Inquiry-based lessons provide young scientists with an opportunity to experiment with a variety of chemical reactions. Classroom investigators make observations, develop basic lab skills, and follow step-by-step instructions...
Lesson Planet Curated
Vaccine Makers Project: Elementary Lessons
Two lessons introduce youngsters to vaccines and vaccine makers. The first lesson in the module asks learners to research and complete a graphic organizer that showcases the differences between a virus and bacteria. Groups then research...
Lesson Planet Curated
Tales from California’s Channel Islands: Sa Hi Pa Ca (Once Upon A Time)
As part of a study of the history of the Chumash on California's Channel Island chain, class members view the documentary Once Upon a Time, respond to discussion questions, and create a timeline for the different waves of migration....
Lesson Planet Curated
Tales from California’s Channel Islands: Dark Water
As part of their study of the history of the Channel Islands, class members watch Dark Water, a documentary about a traditional Chumash ceremony. The documentary launches a series of lessons about this tribal nation that inhabited the...
Lesson Planet Curated
Tales from California’s Channel Islands: Rotation
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation, class members engage in a series of...
Lesson Planet Curated
Tales from California’s Channel Islands: Restoration
The tale of the restoration of California's Channel Islands begins with a video that details the devastation of Santa Cruz Island by introducing species that are not native to the region. Additionally, the video discusses the controversy...
Lesson Planet Curated
A Community Powered by Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is the focus of a seven-part environmental science unit for middle and high schoolers. Lessons challenge students to look closely at the type of energy they consume in their home, examine the regulations and limitations...
Lesson Planet Curated
Tales from California’s Channel Islands: Arlington Springs Man
West of the West's Arlington Springs Man series documents the history of the archeological digs on Santa Rosa Island and the discovery of human and mammoth bones that challenge the once-popular theories of human migration to the...
Lesson Planet Curated
Ben Across the Curriculum: Middle School
Ben Across the Curriculum is a set of interdisciplinary lesson plans that highlight the five central themes in the international traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. These themes are Character Matters, B....
Lesson Planet Curated
Experimenting with Solar Heaters
As part of a STEM renewable energy series, middle schoolers design a standard solar heater. First, they create a simple solar heater to measure the temperature change in a vial of water, then calculate the heat energy transferred to the...
Lesson Planet Curated
Bioreactor Water Heating
Three hands-on STEM renewable energy activities lead learners through the concepts of solar and biomass heating and water pumping to design a water pumping system that uses multiple technologies to avoid water freezing in winter. They...
Lesson Planet Curated
On the Moon Educator Guide
The five lessons in NASA’s On the Moon Educator Guide challenge young engineers to design and build an air-powered rocket, a shock-absorbing system to protect two marshmallow astronauts, and a rubber band-powered rover. In addition, they...
Lesson Planet Curated
Off the Grid
A unit on solar energy begins with pupils researching vocabulary terms related to electric currents. They then use a multimeter to measure the voltage and current for a solar module before calculating power and efficiency. Fun, hands-on...
Lesson Planet Curated
Space-Based Astronomy Educator Guide
The Space-Based Astronomy Educator Guide teaches middle schoolers about the Earth’s atmosphere, the electromagnetic spectrum, and telescopes. Divided into units of study, including science demonstrations, lesson plans, and worksheets,...
Lesson Planet Curated
Summer Brain Games: Explore STEM in the City!
Chicago’s Museum of Science+Industry presents hands-on science activities designed to keep young brains engaged over the summer. The projects, which use readily available items, include engineering a skyscraper, a gravity sewer, and...
Lesson Planet Curated
Glacier National Park Curriculum
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (W-GIPP), chartered in 1932, is the first international Peace Park globally and spans the Canadian United States border. Five units introduce learners to political and environmental factors that...
Lesson Planet Curated
Unit Five: A Park Not Alone
The one lesson in Unit 5 concludes the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (W-GIPP) series by examining the non-native species that are invading the park. Pupils read about and gather samples of exotic plants, create a master book...
Lesson Planet Curated
Unit Four: Land of Giants
The McDonald Creek Valley, located on the west side of the Continental Divide in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (W-GIPP), focuses on the two lessons in unit four. In the first activity, scholars explore the role of death in...
Lesson Planet Curated
Unit Three: Parks in the Parks: The Aspenlands
The two lessons in unit three explore the aspen parklands on the east side of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (W-GIPP). Totally different from any other area in W-GIPP, scholars study the aspen-controlled cycles of snowshoe...
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Unit Two: A Serious Economics Nut
The second unit in the series examines the complex relationships between animals and plants in the whitebark pine community of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. In the first of five lessons, scholars mimic Clark’s Nutcracker...
Lesson Planet Curated
TeachEngineering: It's a Connected World - The Beauty of Network Science
A series of lessons and activities show scholars how engineers use graphs to understand large and complex systems. The first lesson provides the beginnings of graph theory by introducing set theory, graphs, and degree distributions of a...
Lesson Planet Curated
TeachEngineering: NanoTech - Insights into a Nano-Sized World
Ferrofluids, quantum dots, and good nanoparticles. Young material scientists and engineers are introduced to the field of nanoscience with two lessons and four activities. Topics covered include an introduction to nanotechnology and its...