Computer Science Unplugged
Beat the Clock—Sorting Networks
Can multiple computers sort a list faster than one? Using a network drawn with chalk outside, groups move through the decision network to sort numbers. A series of extension questions come with the lesson and can be used in the same...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Muddy City—Minimal Spanning Trees
What is the most efficient way to ensure everyone is connected? Individual pupils determine the least expensive route to pave roads in a fictional city. In doing so, they learn to find the minimal spanning tree for the situation. They...
Computer Science Unplugged
Ice Roads–Steiner Trees
As an introduction to Steiner Trees, class members are challenged to find the shortest paths to connect multiple points. The teacher introduces the problem by showing how to connect three points. Groups then go outside and construct a...
Curated OER
TE Activity: A Tornado in My State?
Students study data about tornadoes in the United States while completing a worksheet. They develop a bar graph showing the number of tornadoes for the top ten states in the US. They find the median and mode of the data set.
University of Rhode Island
The Interactive Boston Computer Museum Tour
Fifth graders use the Internet to use an interactive program which helps them explain the Internet better. They take a tour of a computer museum and focus on how the Internet works through an exhibit.
Curated OER
The Games Robots Play
Students learn about how robots are programmed to play games. They then construct robot applications (basic computer codes) for playing tic-tac-toe comprised of if-then logic sequences. Students then compete in teams using their...
Curated OER
Sextant Solutions
Middle schoolers explore ways a sextant can be a reliable tool that is still being used by today's navigators and how computers can help assure accuracy when measuring angles. This activity will show how computers can be used to...
Curated OER
Chances Are......You're Right
Young mathematicians study probability. In this math instructional activity, learners calculate odds, and convert those into percentages of probability. Fractions are also used, making this instructional activity quite rich in some of...
Teach Engineering
Windy Tunnel
Lift—it is about the wing's attack. Using a virtual wind tunnel, pupils investigate wing shape and angle of attack. Learners use worksheets to record their observations and to convert verbal relationships into mathematical equations in...
Teach Engineering
Stay in Shape
Using their knowledge of right triangles, pupils find out how far a ship is from a light house. Class members determine how far around the world a ship would be sailing at a constant speed.
Curated OER
Mapping Meteorites
After reading an article, "Cameras Capture a 5-Second Fireball and Its Meteorite's Secrets," space science superstars use the triangulation method to determine the location of a distant object. In-class activities and homework are...
Curated OER
Survey Sheet
Students use Microsoft Word to create a survey sheet. In this survey activity instructional activity, students choose a survey subject and complete a related worksheet. Students use Microsoft Word to create the survey sheet.
Curated OER
The Big Buck Adventure
Students practice making change, and adding and subtracting money. In this money lesson, students listen to a reading of The Big Buck Adventure by Shelley Gil. They access teacher assigned web sites to practice making change, adding...
Curated OER
It's About Time!
Students read a short tutorial and complete one or more online activities. They visit an online math dictionary to learn the value of a day, month, week, and year. In addition, they construct word problems based on a favorite month;...
Curated OER
Foliage Tracker
Young scholars discuss the change of leaf colors and the role that climate and elevation play in those changes. They then track leaf changes, input data, and graph foliage changes with a free online tool.
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
"So Tell Me About Your Trip..."
Pupils research destinations and the factors involved in taking a trip and explore how averages play a part in making decisions. They explore how to find the average speed and the distance to a particular destination, they estimate how...
Curated OER
Accounting -- Preparing Payroll Records
Students review preparation of payroll records and practice these skills while playing games on the computer. They follow a student outline and complete online activities and quiz.
Curated OER
What Did I Touch Today?
Second graders describe and adopt behaviors for health and safety. They explore what germs are and how they can make you sick. Through graphing activities, 2nd graders examine the way germs travel and what they can do to prevent the...
Curated OER
Going with the Flow
Students survey each other and determine their common interests. They examine the use of algorithms by various websites that are used to develop networks of interest groups among users. They then design proposals for a social networking...
Curated OER
Earth Day Trash Survey Unit
Students develop a questionnaire to distribute via e-mail or Web page forms that visitors fill out based on the data they gathered during their clean-up activities.
Curated OER
Tell Us All: Tools for Integrating Math and Engineering
What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. For this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...
Curated OER
Completing the Circuit
Students use a battery, wires, small light bulb and a light bulb holder to learn the difference between an open circuit and a closed circuit, and understand that electric current only occurs in a closed circuit. They describe the...
Curated OER
The Sum of the Parts
Second graders observe some everyday common objects in order to attempt to learn about simple systems and how they fit together. They observe small details in order to identify the parts of a whole design.