Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Just How Small is a Nanoparticle?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students determine the size of a nanoparticle. In small groups, they calculate the actual size of a particle shown in a photo, and discuss how they arrived at their answers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Aerology- The Study of Mars

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students investigate various aspects of the planet Mars. They examine a core sample that is simulated to make observations. Then compare the known sample with one that is unknown and differentiate between the two. Students hypothesize...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Measuring the Sun's Diameter

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students project and measure the suns image using a refracting telescope.  For this sun's diameter lesson students calculate the magnification of the telescope and determine the diameter if the Sun. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Craters

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students study craters and identify the different things that characterize craters.  In this crater lesson students create a model of an impact crater. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

13 Ways to Tell Time Backwards

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore different ways geological time can be measured: comparing the time dimensions for each method, the mechanisms of each method, and the materials used.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Should We Place Archaeopteryx?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students classify Archaeopteryx using pictures of actual fossils and scientist representations of how the animal might have looked. They compare Archaeopteryx's characteristics to those of the five extant vertebrate groups to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossils-Where Should We Place Archaeopteryx?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore an interactive computer activity that provides the opportunity to look at features of various groups of animals and determine where an extinct organism might be classified.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seed Selection for Genetic Variation

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will research the origin of corn, analyze factors that contribute to shorter and longer growing seasons, and use the scientific method to answer the question: Did seed selection contribute to the successful movement of corn from...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Your Latitude?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students measure the height of items using an astrolabe.  For this latitude lesson students construct a sextant and determine height and latitude with it. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Tree Full of Ancestors

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students study human evolution and the scientific process. They complete the Origins of Humankind Web activity to become familiar with the hominid species as well as the associated evidence found, in the form of fossils and artifacts.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Can You Study Things You Can’t See Like: Atoms?

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students simulate how scientists studied things they can't see like atoms. In this chemistry instructional activity, students predict what is inside the numbered obsertainers. They design a way to investigate what's inside without...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cladistics Is a Zip...Baggie

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore how the grouping of organisms based on their shared derived characters forms the basis of a cladogram.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Calculating the Average Mass of the Newly Discovered Element: Bean

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Young scholars determine the average mass of a new element using masses from three isotopes. In this chemistry instructional activity, students explain what an isotope is. They discuss their importance and uses.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Do We Need Vitamin C in Our Diet?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students compare/contrast the DNA sequence data of the rat GULO gene to the inactive human GULO gene. They translate and align the sequences, and propose a scenario to explain the occurrence of an inactive DNA sequence to that of an...
Unit Plan
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Ucar: The Nature of Science

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This teaching box engages middle and high school students in the Nature of Science - what it is and what it isn't - along with activities to ensure engagement and enhance science understanding explicitly.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Rutherford's Enlarged: A Content Embedded Activity on Nature of Science

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Through a study of Ernest Rutherford's experiments with atomic structure, students develop a deeper understanding of the nature of science. The activity is taken from a linked article by the author that was published in the Journal of...
Lesson Plan
University of California

University of California Museum of Paleontology: Nature of Science

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A great beginner's guide to examining the nature of science. Covers the basics of how science helps us to understand the surrounding world.
Unknown Type
McGraw Hill

Glencoe Biology: The Nature of Science: Self Check Quiz

For Students 9th - 10th
Answer five comprehension check questions about the nature of science in this interactive quiz.
Website
University of California

Understanding Evolution: Nature of Science

For Students 9th - 10th
Understand the processes behind the nature of science.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A collection of classroom lessons to help high school biology teachers teach evolution and the nature of science. This highly lab-oriented module is a very useful evolution and deep-time teaching site.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Science as Storytelling for Teaching the Nature of Science

For Teachers 10th - 12th
For this activity, students first read an essay entitled Science As Storytelling, then respond to the questions accompanying it. The purpose of the lesson plan is for students to develop a deeper understanding of science as more than...
eBook
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Science for All Americans Online: The Nature of Science

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed overview of how scientists look at the world. Written in a way that the average person can understand, it opens up the world of science to everyone.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Biology: Nature of Science

For Students 9th - 10th
In this online course, students look at the big ideas and themes of biology and review how these ideas are used to develop scientific inquiry and research.
Handout
California State University

Csun: Nature of Science

For Students 9th - 10th
This California State University Northridge essay on the "Nature of Science, the Scientific Method, and Measurement" includes a historical perspective.

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