Teach Engineering
The Advantage of Machines
Show your students how to make their work easier. The first lesson in a series of 10 introduces the class to work and the way simple machines can be make work easier. The simple machines scholars can find in everyday items are...
Curated OER
Simple Machines, Engines and the Environment
Fourth graders calculate the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane. In this physics instructional activity, 4th graders identify the different types of simple machines and their uses. They give examples of compound machines.
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Simple Machines, Engines and the Environment
Pupils examine and describe the six main simple machines. In groups, they work with an inclined plane to calculate the ideal and actual mechanical advantages of the plane. Using their results, they must determine the efficiency of the...
Teach Engineering
Magical Motion
Make solutions to projectile motion problems magically appear using equations. Pupils watch a clip from a Harry Potter movie and find the length of time it takes for a remembrall to fall into Harry's hands. They use a projectile motion...
Teach Engineering
Building a Piezoelectric Generator
In pairs, learners build a piezoelectric generator from readily available electric components in the second and final installment of the two-part series. Tapping the piezoelectric element produces enough electricity to light an LED....
Curated OER
Fractions and Chemistry
In this fractions in chemistry worksheet, students solve 2 problems where they state all the answers as simple fractions or integers. They determine ratios of molecules in gasoline and they find ratio of molecules in the creation of...
Curated OER
Every Breath You Take
Learners explore the nature of the air we breathe by observing petri dishes that have accumulated particulate matter from the atmosphere. Students make mathematical calculations and inferences about the effect of this matter on...
Curated OER
Animating Motion
Students apply what they recall about objects in motion by animati ng sequences of pictures that model a set of physical conditions. They animate the orbital motions of the Earth, the space shuttle, and the Moon based on calculations of...
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Let's Weigh Air
Students participate in an experiment to measure the weight of air by measuring the weight of the mass it displaces. They lift up a desk and a textbook using a toilet plunger, and calculate the weight of the air, or air pressure.
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Construction of an Ammeter and a Voltmeter from a Galvanometer
Students explore series and parallel circuits. In this physics lesson, students construct a simple circuit and measure its maximum current. They construct their own voltmeter and ammeter that operates at a specified range.
Teach Engineering
Projectile Magic
What do the movies October Key and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone have in common? The fourth installment of a five-part module presents equations regarding projectile motion and how to rearrange them. Scholars view video clips...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Cost-Effective Buying
Middle school energy experts read about the relationship between energy use and cost-efficiency. Then they work through a couple of scenarios to determine which approach is more cost-effective.
Curated OER
The Floating Egg Problem
This is the grown-up version of the classic "float an egg in salt water" experience, plus an experiment in soap making. High schoolers explore density, but more importantly, practice accuracy, precision, and the use of significant...
Curated OER
# 03 Laboratory Ventilation and Risk Assessment Exercise
Students are introduced to the analysis of health risks in the laboratory, particularly from vapors from organic solvents. They consider quantitative measure of risk such as threshold limit values (TLVs), the amount of the compound that...
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Inventions 2: The Impact
Tomorrow's engineers visit an intriguing website about inventions that have changed the way we live. Biographies of child inventors on the suggested website aren't easy to find, so make sure to find some stories to share in place of...
Cornell University
Insect Anatomy
Young entomologists discover insect anatomy in a very detailed unit plan. Offering background information for teachers about various insects, class members explore the differences between bugs and insects—and yes, there are many...
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Impact of Inventors
Students examine the impact of inventors on our world. In this science lesson plan, students are given a time line of the invention of familiar objects. Students then evaluate some kid inventors and decide...
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Exercise in creating drawings for field notebooks
Students (with a partner) draw and describe a leaf in its natural setting, and then re-find leaves drawn and described by classmates. The point is to have them start to think about observations in science, what to put in a field...
Curated OER
Inventions 2: The Impact
Students explore the process of inventing a new product. In this inventions lesson, students explore a timeline that gives a history on significant inventions from ancient times to the present. Students look at pictures of the...
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The Miracle Fish: Learning to Design an Experiment
Middle schoolers develop procedures to explore the behavior of fish. In this scientific experiment lesson students from a hypothesis, write a question, identify different variables and controls in their experiment.
Curated OER
Inventions 2: The Impact
Students see what inventors have to think about when making an invention, particularly the kinds of effects they can have on people.
Curated OER
How's Your Horoscope?
Middle schoolers examine the concept of astrology. They compare their traits with those of standard astrological descriptions. They discuss their findings.
Curated OER
Inventions 2: The Impact
Students see what inventors have to think about when making an invention, particularly the kinds of effects they can have on people.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Magical Motion
Students watch video clips from the October Sky and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movies to see examples of projectile motion. Then they explore the relationships between displacement, velocity and acceleration, and calculate...