Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Color Variation over Time in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations
A species-specific look at natural selection, the resource herein examines how adaptations have helped the population of rock pocket mice survive in a changing landscape. To begin, middle or high schoolers watch a 10.5 minute video,...
Curated OER
No bones About It -A Mosasaur
Students model a paleontologist's activities. They identify dinosaur bones and reassemble them into a skeleton of an extinct reptile.
Curated OER
For The Birds
Student make bird feeders and describe feeding behaviors. In this bird feeder lesson plan, students construct simple bird feeders. They then put them outside and observe the feeding behaviors of birds. Then they graph the number of birds...
NASA
The Effects of Sunspots on Climate
For this sunspots and climate change learning exercise, learners use a diagram of a tree stump and its rings to determine the age of the tree. They use sunspot data from the internet and they construct an Excel spreadsheet to compare the...
Curated OER
Wind Chimes
Young scholars construct wind chimes using physics. In small groups they design and create wind chimes using a specific weights, number of notes, and keeping the cost under ten dollars.
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Birdseed Mining
Students explore the meaning of mining. In this Science/Math lesson, students engage in a small group activity to sort and calculate the value of seeds/beads. Additionally, they are made aware of environmental damages which will effect...
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Brain Brands
Students explore the advent of neuromarketing as a means to assess the effects of certain brands on the brain activity of prospective buyers. They design their own experiments that test the power of certain brands on a sample population.
Serendip
Understanding and Predicting Changes in Population Size – Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models vs. Complex Reality
Salmonella poisoning impacts over 200,000 people in the United States each year. Scholars learn about the growth of these bacteria using multiple approaches. Then they apply the same growth calculations to endangered species and think...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Is Measuring an Art or a Science?
Not only do future engineers learn the difference between accuracy and precision, they also get some hands-on experience using different measuring tools.
Curated OER
Weather the Storm
Fourth graders complete multi-curricular activities for weather. In this weather lesson, 4th graders complete creative writing, research, and weather data analysis activities for the lesson.
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Grid Frame Mapping
Students map and describe small area of the schoolyard and discuss habitats.
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Liquid Killer
Students explore number sense applications and discuss strategies for multiplication and division using mental math. For cross-curricular purposes, they explore causes and effects of inequality and social injustice. Students explore...
Curated OER
Let's Party like its 1849
Students explore prairie life. In this Oregon Trail instructional activity, students read literature regarding the move west and participate in cross-curricular activities. Students should take digital photographs of the participation in...
Curated OER
Speed of a Forest Stream
Students study stream speed. For this stream speed lesson students complete an activity and formulate an opinion and study its effects.
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Flight in Nature: Birds!
Students discover how flight works by researching birds. In this animal life lesson, students utilize the Internet to find information about the four aspects of flight. Students define the four aspects and label a worksheet based on...
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Introducing Ideas about Inheritance
Is it nature or nurture? In an easily adaptable kinesthetic activity to introduce genetics, learners group themselves based on a variety of categories. They will quickly find that some characteristics are easy to put in order, while...
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Active Wear
Learners interpret and analyze data. In this middle school mathematics lesson, students conduct an experiment in which they investigate which solar collector, black, white, or silver, absorbs the most heat. Learners examine the graphs...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Patterns in the Distribution of Lactase Persistence
We all drink milk as babies, so why can't we all drink it as adults? Examine the trend in lactase production on the world-wide scale as science scholars analyze and interpret data. Groups create pie charts from the data, place them on a...
Curated OER
Speed
Fifth and sixth graders practice working in pairs to determine whether they can walk with constant speed. They test themselves, collect their data, draw graphs with their data collected, manipulate the data, and then draw conclusions...
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Tag and Recapture
Sixth graders participate in an activity in which colored jelly beans represent fish in a lake--10 green jellybeans per "lake" representing tagged fish. They draw from the beans (fish) and record the number of tagged fish they draw...
Curated OER
Mapping Plate Boundaries
Students discover plate boundaries based on the uneven geographic occurrence of geologic hazards. After discussing geologic hazards, students plot different sets of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on maps.
Curated OER
Corn-Crop is a Bin-Buster
Learners calculate percent change and create lists of data. They enter the corresponding bushels of corn measured in billions to their list and display, then convert the acres into scientific notation and use the value on the home screen...
Curated OER
A Metric World
Students convert English to metric units. In this math lesson, students give examples of measurements they encounter in their daily lives. The share their answers in class.
Curated OER
A Sweet Drink
Students investigate reaction rates. In this seventh or eighth grade mathematics lesson, students collect, record, and analyze data regarding how the temperature of water affects the dissolving time of a sugar cube. Studetns determin...