Young researchers work through the research cycle. They question, plan, gather, sort, synthesize, and evaluate the materials they collect at the library. There are web supplements for this activity. 

Teach the masses about the metric system with this hands-on measurement lesson. Given a fruit or vegetable, learners estimate, measure, and convert its mass using the metric units gram and kilogram.

Despite the typos and formatting issues, the Word document found here has some great potential. There are two questions that ask learners to put several events in a logical order; these could easily be made into a card sort activity....

Middle school meteorologists get acquainted with basic weather instruments: the thermometer, barometer, psychrometer, and anemometer. For each, the question is asked, "Do you think you can make a _______________?" At these points, you...

A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...

Levitation tricks have been documented from the early 1900s, so how do they do it? Scholars learn about the force of magnetism in an attractive resource. They watch videos and design experiments to understand the strength and...

Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature range...

Want to hear a joke about sodium? Na. Young scientists test various materials to identify if they include protein, starch, and glucose by using the Biuret test, iodine starch test, and Benedict's test respectively. After practicing with...

Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...

How many times have you traveled around the sun? Aspiring astronomers grasp what a year is and they differentiate between orbit and rotation by walking around the sun right within your classroom. Place a lamp in the center of the room to...

Study heat transfer with activities that focus on how heat energy works. Using a solar cooker, ice cubes, and heat transfer bracelets, kids experiment and record what they find by keeping ice cubes cold and vegetables hot.

Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

Feet are neat! So, if you've already walked the path of examining animal footprints with your class, put them in the shoes of early humans! A well-designed instructional activity incorporates video, discussion, and hands-on learning to...

Students investigate the mixing of light. They form a hypotheses to reason why color changes occur and they write conclusions and ask new questions arising from the investigation. Students identify the primary and complementary colors of...

Students explore biozones and assess their differences. They discuss the areas they have explored, make journal entries. Emphasize active learning on the student's part: ask a question, don't just state a fact.

Students explore both the scientifc world of the light spectrum and the research world of the library and/or internet in this activity, which asks a question about the light spectrum to be answered with student research. There is a space...

Fourth graders conduct an experiment related to heat sources, and participate in a heat source hunt. They identify sources of heat, then compare the melting rate of ice cubes, illustrating the results in their science journal. Students...

Student's recall from memory the steps in the scientific method. TSWBAT describe in detail the various steps of the scientific method. TSWBAT analyze a problem or situation and apply the steps of the scientific method to it.

Students investigate scientific methods by analyzing an article from the Natural Inquirer.  In this data analysis lesson, students read an article from the magazine and discuss at least 2 scientific methods that could be used to...

Students find examples of physical and chemical changes using the five Web World Wonders camera sites.

Ninth graders conduct experiments to determine what affects the rate of a pendulum's swing. Working in small groups, they identify an independent variable to study and create an experiment to test their hypothesis. When tests are...

Fifth graders recognize the need to follow the scientific method carefully and be aware of variables in experiments.  For this airplane lesson, 5th graders design and test an airplane, and complete a data sheet. Students retest five...

Young scholars explore light, and how it travels in straight path, recognize that light-sensitive chemical processes can be used to create images using light as catalyst, discover that light can be refracted by convex lens to focus...

In this acid rain activity, students read about acid rain from a leaf's perspective. They fill in the blanks with 9 terms to complete a paragraph about acid rain. They also are given 8 clues to complete a crossword puzzle. Their is a...