Shodor Education Foundation
Sets and the Venn Diagram (Beginner)
Venn diagrams are helpful in understanding the idea of a set and using attributes to sort items. This basic plan is an introduction with an added bonus of an applet that can be used to demonstrate the activity. If a classroom of...
Brooklyn Museum
"Workt by Hand": Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts
Just like a painting or the symbols on a flag, quilts can express ideas that reflect a cultural context, space, and time. The class discusses the history of quilt making throughout US history and what different types of quilts mean. They...
American Statistical Association
A Sweet Task
Candy is always an effective motivator! A fun math activity uses M&M's and Skittles to explore two-way frequency tables and conditional probability. The candy can serve a dual purpose as manipulatives and experimental data.
It's About Time
Elements and Compounds
Young scientists use electrolysis to separate water into its elements before experimenting with fire to learn about their properties. A helpful resource provides a reading passage and analysis questions.
Achieve
False Positives
The test may say you have cancer, but sometimes the test is wrong. The provided task asks learners to analyze cancer statistics for a fictitious town. Given the rate of false positives, they interpret the meaning of this value in the...
National Energy Education Development Project
The Science of Energy
Did you know the word energy comes from energeia, a Greek word? Introduce learners to the four types of potential energy, five types of kinetic energy, and energy transformation with a presentation about where we get our energy and...
University of Texas
Multi-wavelength Astronomy
Explore a land far, far away with a well-designed lesson that examines electromagnetic imaging as a way to obtain information about galactic structures. Learners begin to see the importance of looking beyond the visual spectrum to...
Brooklyn College
Irony, Sarcasm, Satire
Irony, the discrepancy between what is expected and what occurs, is the focus of a reference sheet that provides young writers with models of this literary device.
Curated OER
Sorting
Students sort a variety of manipulatives and use a software program that provides more sorting practice.
Curated OER
Blindfolded Building
Young scholars build a Lego design and then work with a partner to reproduce that design. They guide the building of the reproduction by description only and then check their work.
Curated OER
What Foods Contain Products from the Ocean
Fifth graders learn about foods from the ocean. In this ocean products lesson, 5th graders brainstorm what foods come from the ocean, fill in a Venn Diagram comparing alginates, carrageenans and beta carotenes. Students make...
Curated OER
What Can We Do To Change These Materials
First graders perform experiments to investigate property changes that occur in materials or matter. In the science lab, they use heat to explore changes in rice, sand, gelatin, baking soda and more. Learners observe and record the...
Curated OER
The Battle of Stones River: The Soldiers' Story
Learners organize items in a "doohickey kit" distributed by the teachers, creating categories using classification schemes. In this classification lesson plan, students compare systems within groups and write questions that could be...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Three in a Row Calendar Game
Learners explore a calendar. In this calendar and math instructional activity, students view a video clip about using a calendar. Learners participate in a game in which a game board is used to identify days of the week, dates, and months.
Curated OER
Spring Nature Walk
Students go on a nature walk and look for specific plants and animals. They check off items they find and determine if they were a plant or an animal.
Alabama Learning Exchange
What do Plants Need?
Students plant seeds and watch them sprout. Once growing plants are placed in different conditions and students record data about their growth. They graph the data.
Curated OER
Smarties Investigation
In this math worksheet, students participate in an investigation of Smarties candy. For example, students estimate how many candies they have in each color, count the actual number, and record the information in a tally chart.
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Students investigate the states of matter. In this physics lesson plan, students use water and ice to demonstrate the characteristics of a solid and liquid. Students record their observations as the state of the water changes.
Curated OER
Sustainable Southern Belize: Coral Health Lesson Plan
Fifth graders investigate coral reefs and the dangers they face by labeling and drawing. In this oceanography lesson, 5th graders view a PowerPoint presentation of photographs of coral reefs in Belize. Students investigate...
Curated OER
Where Have All the Endangered Gone?
Learners explore animals that are endangered. They choose an endangered animal that they would like to keep from becoming extinct. Students create a persuasive presentation to persuade someone to understand why they feel keeping their...
Curated OER
The Strongest Shape
Students work collaboratively to design and construct a roof out of Legos for a house that was built in a previous lesson. The roof must be structurally sound and pass certain criteria determined by the teacher.
Curated OER
Tallies Tell It All
Students explore data collection through the use of tally marks. After a demonstration of the use of tally marks students complete various inquires where they create a chart documenting the number of times a desired result happens. They...
Curated OER
Birds of a Feather
Students investigate birds and complete a variety of bird-themed activities. They read books and observe birds noting their physical characteristics, development and life cycle stages.
Curated OER
RCX Car Line Graph
Learners develop a line graph based on distances that an RCX car drives in specified amounts of time. They then are given a specific amount of time for the car to drive and be asked to extrapolate the car's distance from the graph.