Virginia Department of Education
Linear Modeling
An inquiry-based algebra lesson explores real-world applications of linear functions. Scholars investigate four different situations that can be modeled by linear functions, identifying the rate of change, as well as the...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 9: Modeling Data
How many different ways can you model data? Scholars learn several in the final module in a series of nine. Learners model data with dot plots, box plots, histograms, and scatter plots. They also analyze the data based on the data...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for Little Women
Start with the question in mind with a discussion activity on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. With four focus questions, note-taking prompts, and discussion points, readers practice answering thematic questions based on textual evidence.
ReadWriteThink
Webcams in the Classroom: Animal Inquiry and Observation
Boost observational skills with an inquiry-based lesson that takes scholars on a virtual field trip. With help from webcams, learners observe animals in a zoo or aquarium. Observations go into a journal and a discussion is held to review...
Digital Public Library of America
Teaching Guide: Exploring Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is a literary masterpiece as well as a timestamp of the formative mid-nineteenth century in America. Using a primary source set of photographs, letters, and portraits, readers discuss the ways...
Curated OER
Desalination: Creating a Solar Still
To better understand how solar power can aid in creating desalinated drinking water, the class creates a model still. They will build a model of a solar still, make observations, and discuss how the process works. While the idea behind...
Curated OER
Acid or Base? Toxie's on the Case
Students recognize the difference between acids and bases. In this ToxMystery instructional activity, students play a computer game and experiment to find the difference between acids and bases. Students use litmus paper to...
Achieve
Rabbit Food
Keep your pets slim, trim, and healthy using mathematics! Pupils use a linear programming model to optimize the amount and type of food to provide to a pet rabbit. They model constraints by graphing inequalities and use them to analyze a...
Curated OER
Acid and Base Testing 2
Young scholars design and conduct an experiment on unknown solutions after studying descriptions of indicators and the way in which they identify acids and bases. Students must gather, organize, and analyze data as well as make...
Curated OER
Make a Windmill
Students explore Earth science by conducting an energy experiment in class. In this windmill lesson, students identify how wind has been used to pump water throughout history and the latest developments wind energy has produced. Students...
Curated OER
My Personal Wellness
Merge technology and wellness. Class members complete inquiry-based research on a personal wellness issue and create an annotated bibliography, uploading their completed work to their personal wellness websites. Prior to beginning, your...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Call to Arms
How many simple machines does it take to make a robotic arm? An inquiry-based lesson plan explores that topic and challenges pupils to build a robotic arm that can stretch, turn, and more. A few questions help guide them in the...
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Getting Ready for the All American Eclipse!
Give your pupils a front row seat at the biggest light show in the sky this year! In addition to admiring the total solar eclipse, young astronomers can explain the phenomenon with a little help from an inquiry-based lesson. The focus of...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Creating and Testing Silver-Nanoparticle Socks
Antibacterial socks are a product of nanotechnology. An inquiry-based lesson asks collaborative groups to create their own antibacterial socks and then test them against other products on the market. The sock with the least amount...
Curated OER
The Human Organism
In this digestion and nutrition lesson, 3rd graders test foods to find their vitamin content. Students test for starch and fats then compare their findings on charts and oral reports. The lesson concludes with a teacher directed...
Curated OER
Let It Roll
Students experiment in order to see how ball bearings work. In this science activity lesson, students conduct an experiment where they make and examine a ball bearing. Students brainstorm other examples of ball bearings and discuss...
Scholastic
What's Your Angle?
Identifying types of angles meets real-world application in an excellent, hands-on geometry activity. Learners use pipe cleaners and a visual model to independently discover the acute, right, or obtuse angles in their classroom,...
Science 4 Inquiry
Monster Mash-Up of Genetics
It's alive! Young mad scientists create monsters as they explore the probabilities of genetic traits during a well-structured inquiry activity. Pairs travel from station to station, rolling the dice and adding traits to their creations...
Cornell University
Beam Focusing Using Lenses
Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...
101 Questions
Toothpicks
Analyze patterns and build functions. Young scholars work on their modeling skills with an inquiry-based lesson. After watching a video presentation of the problem, they write functions and make predictions.
101 Questions
Coffee Traveler
Investigate the volume of irregular figures in an inquiry-based exercise. Presented with an irregularly shaped box filled with water, learners must predict the level of water when it is tipped on its side. The class can divide...
Curated OER
Multi-dimensional Modeling of Ore Bodies Making Sense of Empirical Data
Math scholars identify four different rock types in that strata and use this identification and data to construct a two dimensional geologic cross-section. They use data tables to construct a three-dimensional geologic cross-section.
101 Questions
Domino Skyscraper
Can a domino knock over a skyscraper? An inquiry-based lesson asks learners to calculate the size of domino needed to topple the Empire State Building. Using specific criteria and a geometric model, they find a solution.
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Understanding Wave Motion - Slinky vs. Snaky: Which Spring is Dominant?
Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...