Though December 7th, 1941 was a day "which would live in infamy," World War II had provided many infamous days, events, battles, and atrocities in the years before. So why were American forces so surprised when Japan attacked Pearl...

How much intervention is appropriate for America to take in cases of human rights violations? Class members ponder a question that has lingered since the birth of America with a series of primary sources that reflect the degree to which...

Students determine that the rate of reaction is affected by temperature, surface area, concentration of reagent, and addition of a catalyst or inhibitor. They observe that on December 3rd, 1984, 8000 people died when the chemical plant...

Students examine human actions that have caused certain animals to become endangered. They discover what is being done to help endangered animals and discover what they can do to help.

Students review the concept of courage and relate it to their daily life. As a class, they are introduced to the events of December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. Using a map, they locate Hawai'i and label the islands. They use the internet to...

Experiment with chocolate coating on cookies! What a delightful way to learn about food processing and chemical engineering. Throughout this activity, groups collect measurements and make calculations. They conclude by writing...

How tall is your marshmallow structure? With limited supplies (including uncooked spaghetti noodles, masking tape, and one marshmallow), teams endeavor to support the marshmallow atop the tallest spaghetti structure they can build....

Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building's temperatures. They graph and interpret...

Biofuel is a possible form of clean and renewable energy. Engineering explorers observe the fermentation process, and then alter the temperature to discover the effect on fermentation. The plan is complete with materials, procedures, and...

Diamonds are a girl's best friend! Crystal labs can be a science teacher's best friend because watching crystals develop is fascinating, and it results in such a pretty product! This activity is unique because the crystals are grown...

Kick off the school year with some math fun! New classmates share information about themselves by using graphs and interpreting data. The goal is to use a general graph shape, such as linear or exponential, and create labels for the axes...

Do you need to review animal cell structure? Investigate the ways in which different types of cells interact in a common human reflex. Your students can explore the functions of stem cells, consider various illnesses and assess stem...

Discover the environmental and economic impact of global warming. After reading an article, emerging environmentalists identify how different countries are responding to the Kyoto Protocol. They research emission laws and write a news...

Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...

Your scientists-in-training extract DNA from a banana. Then, they wrap it around a glass rod in order to view the threads of DNA. They draw their observations.

Youngsters love to write on their hands, and in this fabulous activity they are actually asked to. Using numbers written on the tips of their fingers, they will learn how the binary number system works. This hands-on activity is a...

Design your own video game, engineer accident-proof highways, or even develop a new phone app! The Engineering Design Model can be used with all ages and in all subject areas to create a product, system or service. The resource explains...

Although preparation-intensive, this would be an unforgettable experience in materials engineering. Stimulate learners' curiosity with a slide show and then introduce them to the components of concrete. Small groups mix and pour concrete...

Attractive and logical instructions are provided for constructing a balloon-powered car. Young physical scientists measure the distance their car travels and record it on a pre-printed data sheet. The make alterations to improve the...

A well-laid-out lesson plan, this can be used in an engineering, STEM, or physical science course. Laboratory groups design a structure using pasta and marshmallows, measure its height and weight, and then discover the load that it can...

Now, this lesson would be a blast! When your engineering or physics class is examining the reduction of friction or fluid dynamics, you can have them make these hovercraft racers. Using a balloon, a bottle cap, and a compact disc, middle...

Groups of young oceanographers get to use action figures to experiment with the property of buoyancy! This memorable lesson plan provides detailed background information, a link to the laboratory worksheet, and thorough instruction...

Your advanced physics class will appreciate this lesson in which they use magnetic field sensors to determine the relationship between the number of turns per meter of a solenoid and the magnetic field produced. The materials for this...

Learners form lab groups and work together to construct a submarine out of a soda bottle. Next, they observe its action in a tub of water as the inner pressure is changed. It is an engaging experiment. However, links to outside resources...