101 Questions
Best Reflection
Which is the best reflection of them all? Given four diagrams, pupils determine which one shows the most accurate reflection of a quadrilateral. Two images provide the distances of each vertex from the line of reflection, as well as the...
PBS
Blowin’ in the Wind
Wind energy is making a comeback recently, and classes will want to take part! A hands-on lesson asks groups to build their own windmill that will lift a cup with varying weight. They use their windmill designs to experiment with angles,...
Exploratorium
A Splash of Color - Is Pure Water Colorless?
What makes the ocean blue but a glass of ocean water nearly colorless? Investigators prepare tubes of water to examine the color of water. Scholars discover the relationship between light absorption, color variations, and water depth as...
Illustrative Mathematics
Slopes and Circles
An upper-level treatment of what is often presented as a basic concept (the right angle of an inscribed circle on the diameter), this activity really elevates the mathematical thought of the learner! Expected to develop formulas from...
Illustrative Mathematics
Is This a Parallelogram?
If both pairs of opposite sides of a quadrilateral are congruent, is the quadrilateral a parallelogram? This task asks learners to determine the answer and to support their answer with a proof. The resource includes a commentary for...
Curated OER
Reflection and Refraction
Life is only a reflection of what we allow ourselves to see. The lesson includes three experiments on light reflection, light refraction, projection, lenses, and optical systems. Each experiment builds off the ones before and encourages...
It's About Time
Reflected Light
The lesson allows young scientists to use lasers and mirrors to study reflected light. A reading passage and homework question assess learning, while additional material introduces extension activities.
Teach Engineering
When Silicon Talks
Explore Snell's Law using thin films. In the fifth installment of a seven-part series, pupils solve a set of problems relating to Snell's Law and use this skill during an experiment requiring the collection of reflective measurements...
101 Questions
Pizza Doubler
Double the pizza? What a great deal! Young pizza enthusiasts investigate two different coupons, one that doubles the radius and one that doubles the sector angle of a slice. They determine which coupon is the better deal.
Illustrative Mathematics
Tangent to a Circle From a Point
Learners see application of construction techniques in a short but sophisticated problem. Combining the properties of inscribed triangles with tangent lines and radii makes a nice bridge between units, a way of using information about...
Illustrative Mathematics
Seven Circles III
A basic set-up leads to a surprisingly complex analysis in this variation on the question of surrounding a central circle with a ring of touching circles. Useful for putting trigonometric functions in a physical context, as well as...
Illustrative Mathematics
Are They Similar?
Learners separate things that just appear similar from those that are actually similar. A diagram of triangles is given, and then a variety of geometric characteristics changed and the similarity of the triangles analyzed. Because the...
Illustrative Mathematics
What Shape Am I?
Sharpen your pencil and grab a ruler, it's time to draw some quadrilaterals! Given the definition of a parallelogram, rectangle, and rhombus, learners draw examples and nonexamples of each figure. The three definitions are then used to...
Teach Engineering
Edible Rovers (High School)
Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...
Teach Engineering
Concentrating on the Sun with PVs
Concentrate to determine the best reflector design. Pairs use the engineering design process to build a reflector to increase the current output of a photovotaic panel. Teams arrive at a final design and present it to the class along...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Craters in the Classroom
Laws of motion apply both in space and on Earth. Young experimenters model object impact on the Earth and moon. They use data to determine the effect mass and velocity have on the resulting craters and how that relates to the energy of...
Curated OER
The Effect of Natural Selection on Genes, Traits and Individuals
Rotating through five stations, evolutionary biologists explore the question of how changes in DNA facilitate the changes in a population over time. High-quality, colorful cards of animals, skeletons, skulls, and DNA sequences can all be...
Serendip
Using Models to Understand Photosynthesis
Is your class in the dark about photosynthesis? Shed some sunlight on an important biological process with a thoughtful activity. After answering questions to help determine their level of knowledge, learners work with chemical equations...
John Wiley & Sons
Build a Pyramid
Learners discover fascinating facts about the Great Pyramid of ancient Egypt and construct a scale model of the pyramid with this fun activity worksheet.
Big Kid Science
Measuring Shadows Using an Ancient Method
How did ancient peoples determine the height of really tall objects? Young scientists and mathematicians explore the concept of using shadows to measure height in a hands-on experiment. Paired pupils measure shadows, then calculate the...
GLOBE Program
Making a Sundial
Sundials are more than just primitive clocks. Learners build their own sundials to study the location of the sun across the sky throughout the day. They use shadow evidence related to their sundials to make conclusions about solar movement.
Curated OER
Task: Grain Storage
Farming is full of mathematics, and it provides numerous real-world examples for young mathematicians to study. Here, we look at a cylinder-shaped storage silo that has one flat side. Given certain dimensions, students need to determine...
Exploratorium
Polarized Sunglasses
Reflected waves of light move within a plane, and because of this, polarizing materials can reduce the glare our eyes see. This resource explains how to set up a demonstration of this effect. Consider it for use in your physical science...
DiscoverE
Build a Bobsled Racer
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....