Placing a thermometer and a glass tube into a flask of cold water and sealing it, you can expose it to heat and very visually demonstrate thermal expansion to your earth science class. Follow it with a discussion about how the increasing...

In need of a writing prompt to accent your next lesson on the scientific revolution? This handout includes three short-answer questions that ask learners to describe the effect of the revolution on religion, what they would do if they...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the inspiration for this project-based learning activity. Kindergartners create a lifecycle chart for a butterfly with four sections: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly. It is a three-dimensional...

How do different minerals affect the growth of plants? Budding botanists find out in a multi-week experiment that has them using solutions with specific mineral deficiencies. While there is a lot of preparation for the investigation,...

Teach your class about colony collapse disorder and foster discussion about causes and solutions for the honeybee problem. Class members read and discuss an article and participate in one of two detailed activities about pollination and...

How do the experiences of animals living in zoos differ from animals living in the wild? To prepare for a performance assessment on this question, class members are introduced to key concepts and vocabulary, and then groups use a Venn...

Data, data everywhere. Challenge your class to begin thinking about data, the ways people collect information, and what we can learn from this data. Class members discuss sources of data and then individuals answer questions in the...

Why does it look like there is a man on the moon? Why does the moon look different every night? These are the focus questions of a lesson that prompts class members to observe and record the nightly changes of Earth's natural...

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe (in terms of mass), behind hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Scholars learn about the carbon cycle, from ways carbon is removed from the atmosphere to how it is added in...

It's the moment of truth. Previous lessons in the 24-part series had scholars design and develop shampoo formulas using chemical concepts. The 18th lesson asks them to test the function of their shampoos. To do this, they calculate the...

Fourth graders take a look at the effects of weathering and other geologic activities found in the environments in which they live. Along with a guided geologic walk outside of campus, there is also an effective in-class demonstration of...

Second graders examine the interdependence of organisms using the book "Go To Sleep, Gecko!" They examine a variety of food chains, listen to the book, and answer story comprehension questions. Students then conduct research on food...

In this chemistry worksheet, students calculate the titrations of various types of chemistry problems. The questions include background information.

Leading the learners to draw a representation of ellipses of planets, this handout will help understanding the planet movement around the sun.  There are ten questions about the analysis of those orbits and a conclusino specifically...

This worksheet is meant to be used in laboratory experiments for which there is an accepted value that pupils are attempting to discover. It asks them to compare their results to commonly accepted values and then to calculate the percent...

Do you want a creative and fun way to teach about natural selection? Hop to it by turning your middle school princes and princesses into frogs trying to catch as many bugs as possible in a Hungry Hungry Hippos style game. For high...

The concept of a how pesticides and other chemicals pass through a watershed can be difficult for younger learners to grasp without a concrete example. In the activity here, some blank paper, markers, and a spray bottle are all you need...

Why not walk in the footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt and become a conservationist? After discussing issues and reasons for animal extinction, the class creates their own conservation plans. Each small group is given mock data regarding a...

How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...

As part of a study of the life cycle of compost, class members examine the differences between green waste disposal and backyard composting.

Extra! Extra! Read all about leap year! Here, scholars write a newspaper article all about leap year/leap day from given facts including who, what, where, when, and why.

Do polar opposites attract? After an introduction on the polarity of molecules, pupils are asked to design a self-assembling model using materials with different polarity. The challenge should motivate learners to develop a workable...

Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.  

Should you trust the water you drink every day? The hands-on activity has scholars test water from different sources for contaminants. Pupils perform chemical testing and make conclusions about pH, hardness, iron, chlorine, lead,...