Curated OER
Making Regolith
You may not be able to take a field trip to the moon, but that doesn't mean your class can't study moon rocks. Using graham crackers as the moon's bedrock and powdered donuts as micrometeorites, young scientists simulate...
Curated OER
Sink or Float?
Young scholars make and test predictions about sinking and floating, and classify objects according to whether they sink or float.
Curated OER
Weather Maps and Prediction
Young meteorologists read basic weather maps by learning about the symbols that are associated with them. This two-day lesson plan has some excellent demonstrations and activities to get youngsters thinking about the weather in...
PHET
My Solar System
Orbit diagrams appear to be a work of mathematical art. The simulation helps scholars build their own systems of planets, stars, moons, etc., to observe their orbits. By altering their positions, velocities, and masses, a variety of...
Beyond Benign
The Big Melt: Arctic Ice Caps
Are the Arctic ice caps really melting out of existence? Junior climatologists examine the statistics of ice decline through four math-based lessons. Each activity incorporates data, climate information, and environmental impact into an...
Curated OER
Shadows & Light, Science & Puppetry
Lights, shadows, action, and inquiry await your artistic scientists. They explore the way light travels, absorbs, reflects, and transmits through shadow play. They create folktale-inspired shadow puppets, explore the science of light,...
Curated OER
A Hidden Beauty
Expose the beautiful mystery of bulbs as young botanists learn all about these fascinating plants. They glean information from a short text before observing actual bulbs (consider an onion), and comparing their findings with predictions....
California Academy of Science
Moons in Comparison
Just how big is Earth's moon? With a hands-on simulation, scholars use Play-Doh to model the sizes of the planets Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and their moons. They make predictions as a class, work together to make their models, and discuss...
Curated OER
Food Chain Activities
Transform young biologists into grasshoppers, lizards, and hawks as you teach them about food chains in an interactive life science simulation. Working collaboratively to act out three different scenarios involving...
Curated OER
Becoming Whales: Experiencing Discoveries of
Students experience, through a "dig," the historical discovery of fossils which increasingly link whales to earlier land-dwelling mammals. They encounter the intermediate forms which show changes that lead to the modern whale.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Ocean Acidification
Human impacts on the environment can sometimes be difficult to measure, especially under water! An activity centered on ocean acidification gives science scholars the opportunity to examine the effects of carbon dioxide on marine life....
PBS
Lessons - Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!
Volcanoes are among the most spectacular geological features on the planet. Jump into an exploration of these amazing phenomenon with this multimedia lesson series. Working collaboratively in small groups, young scientists view videos...
Curated OER
Weather Predictions
Learners play the role of weather personalities by making five day forecasts based on data gathered from observations, weather instruments, and weather maps. Each day a small group makes a class forecast for the next day and reviews the...
NOAA
Into the Deep
Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, young scholars...
PBS
NOVA Sun Lab Lesson Plan
Looking for a sun-sational multi-lesson plan full of videos, simulations, and discussion? Introduce your young scientists to all things solar with a four-part hands-on adventure. Pupils learn the basics of solar anatomy, space weather,...
Journey Through the Universe
Going through a Phase
Ignore the full moon, it's just a phase. Young scholars observe and record the moon during a full cycle before learning to predict future phases. Then the instructor leads a discussion on the other solar system objects that...
Curated OER
The Hat
Honing reading and communication skills through the theme of farm animals is the focus of this lesson. Students read a book about Scandinavian farm animals and complete prediction journal activities. They complete a worksheet about the...
Curated OER
Discovering Saturn, The Real "Lord of the Rings"
Reading, writing, and rings! A lesson plan from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this lesson plan are pre-reading activities, four mini informational booklets on Saturn, a...
Curated OER
Counting Crows
Young scholars discuss the fable, The Crow and the Pitcher. In this literature instructional activity, students read the fable and create a crow sock puppet. Young scholars use their puppets to dramatize the fable.
Curated OER
Deep Impact's Comet on a Stick!
Students create a model of a comet. In this space science lesson, students compare their model to the characteristics of a real comet. They evaluate and make necessary modifications to their original design.
PhET
Molecule Shapes
The shape of a molecule is determined by the arrangement of atoms around the central atom and lone pairs of electrons. Scholars build models of molecules using single, double, and triple bonds. They can then see real molecules bond...
Curated OER
Hi, Deer!
Students collect, organize by table, and examine census data in a simulation, estimate the size of the population in the simulation and make predictions based on the collection of census simulation data.
Curated OER
Pika Chew
Students work in collaborative teams with specific roles, use the Internet to research the behavior and ecology of pikas, make predictions about survival rates of pikas in different habitats and organize their data in graphs.
Curated OER
A Hidden Beauty
Expose the beautiful mystery of bulbs as young botanists learn all about these fascinating plants. They glean information from a short text before observing actual bulbs (consider an onion), and comparing their findings with predictions....