Learners determine the best material from which to make a jacket to keep the body warm in a cold, dry, windy climate. This task assesses the student's abilities to perform an entire investigation.

Learners discover the basic principles of circuits by designing and testing some of their own. They are told that circuits usually have a power source such as a battery and a resistor such as a light. Students make a circuit using a...

Students investigate how water changes state. In this water activity, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. This activity includes extensions which can be accessed via the provided web links.

Students experiment with water and ice. In this states of matter lesson, students explore how water can change from a solid to a liquid and back again. They discuss and write about the results of the experiment in a science journal.

What's cooking? A sizzling STEM unit challenges scholars to build a solar cooker that can successfully cook an egg. The unit opens with a study of Earth's rotation, the sun's energy, and shadows. Pupils use a compass and thermometer to...

How does heat move from one item to another, even when the items are in different states of matter? Pupils experiment with adding washers to hot water and adding hot washers to room temperature water to observe the heat transfer. 

Biotechnology pros produce their own biofuel using waste oil and fresh vegetable oil. They test the quality of their product using titration techniques and pH analysis. They write their observations and report their findings. Be aware...

Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...

Learners apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass and gravity as they design, build, and test mini-bobsleds.

Excite scholars to design their own planet in this first of five lessons. The instructional activity starts with a pre-activity assessment, a complete lesson plan that is easy to implement, and a post-activity assessment that would...

Shocking! Who knew so many great ideas existed for teaching middle schoolers about electricity? Find them all within this energetic framework. You'll light up at the variety of printable and web-based resources within! After building...

If you can find Tinker Toys™, then this may be a fun assignment for your physical science class. Using the construction set and a few other toys, they examine the forces involved when it they are being played with. For each, they...

There's quite a bit in this physical science packet. First, how is heat transferred? Learners read a brief explanation of conduction, convection, and radiation before identifying common occurrences (with pictures) as one of the three....

First graders explore how earthquakes release energy in a set of hands-on activities. During the pre-lab, they discover how energy from an earthquake releases waves through the earth using a water-filled cup and...

When an organism eats, how does food become energy? Young biologists follow glucose through the process of cellular respiration to the creation of ADP using a discussion-based activity. The resource also highlights conservation of mass...

How is energy transferred within an ecosystem? What would happen to a food web if one of the organisms was removed? Elementary or middle school ecologists examine these questions and more in a comprehensive 5E learning cycle lesson....

Perform an activity on performance testing with a lesson focused on the purpose of wheel bearings on skateboards. Learners conduct performance testing on a skateboard to collect and interpret data.

Beginning biologists demonstrate their grasp on cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and energy flow though ecosystems when completing this worksheet. Fifteen multiple choice and short answer questions test their knowledge. Because of...

Emerging biochemists more fully understand the flow of energy in ecosystems as they explore the laws of thermodynamics and relate them to energy transfer in food chains. They also investigate heat loss from the human body and how...

Sugar cubes, collide! Groups design protection systems using bubble wrap to protect sugar cubes from being destroyed by falling batteries in the STEM lesson. They consider how the experiment relates to collisions in real-world...

Although written for middle schoolers, there is no reason that a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader could not also learn about food chains through the dissection of owl pellets. After you introduce the topic, learners complete an owl research...

We all know someone who won't eat the banana with a brown spot, the grape with a dimple, and the apple with a bruise. Scholars use different fruits to explore what happens when fruits really start to decompose. They set up an experiment...

Don't let the energy of your classroom falter! Explore the scientific definition of energy through play. A hands-on lesson focuses on the change of energy from one form to another.