Curated OER
Spin Me a Story
Students examine the motif of spinning and weaving in myths and folktales. They read various myths, complete a WebQuest, develop a mind map of story elements, and write an original "spider" story.
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TE Activity: Northward Ho!
Students design a simple compass. They examine how the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components. They determine how a compass works and work with cardinal directions.
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Swing in Time
Young scholars examine the motion of pendulums and come to understand that the longer the string of the pendulum, the fewer the number of swings in a given time interval. They see that changing the weight on the pendulum does not have an...
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Windmill of Your Mind - Distributed Energy Goes to School
Students research the possibility and feasibility of installing a wind-turbine distributed energy system for their school. They conduct research, watch an online video, analyze the cost of the project and examine the benefits, and write...
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The Colonial Workers Web
Students explore how workers, both today and in colonial times, worked within their societies to produce specialized goods and services and became interdependent. They explain how people became less self sufficient in their economic...
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Money Math: Lessons for Life
Students explore money as it applies to salary, paychecks, and taxes. In this essential mathematics lesson, students explore how math is used in various careers, how income takes are calculated and other important life lessons in math.
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Money Math: Lessons for Life
Students develop a budget for a college student using all of the influences that the student would have. In this budgeting lesson plan, students use real life examples to create a budget spreadsheet. Students read and study...
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Light Reflections
Students explore light. In this physical science light lesson, students display objects on a projection screen and investigate how light absorbs, refracts, transmits and reflects. Students discuss common features of light based on...
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TE Activity: Super Spinners!
Students make spinners to investigate rotational inertia, rotational speed, angular momentum, and velocity. They make two sets of spinners that have different mass distributions and shapes. They complete a worksheet while experimenting...
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African-Americans in California's Heartland
Students read and view video about the pioneers moving west. For this African American pioneer lesson, students become familiar with the problems faced by the pioneers and African-American pioneers. Students complete...
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Take Charge!
Students induce an electrical charge on various objects, and experiment with electrical repulsion and attraction. They define related vocabulary, play Bingo and complete a take-home quiz.
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Mobile Forces
Young scholars design and build original mobiles and consider how the forces of gravity and convection air currents affect the finished piece. They explore how an understanding of balancing forces is important in both art and engineering...
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Topos, Compasses, and Triangles, Oh My!
Students triangulate using a compass, topographical (topo) map and a view of outside landmarks. They take a field trip to another location away from school and mark discernible landmarks (like mountains or radio towers) and changes in...
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Electricity: Will It Conduct?
Students build conductivity testers and investigate which solids and solutions conduct electricity. Working in groups, they predict which items will conduct electricity and record their answers on worksheets.
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Thar She Blows!: Wind Power
Learners examine how wind energy is transformed into electrical energy. In pairs, they build miniature wind turbines and measure how much electrical current they produce. They asses the importance of design and position in energy...
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Go with the Flow
Young scholars gain an understanding of the difference between electrical conductors and insulators, and experience recognizing a conductor by its material properties. They build a conductivity tester to determine whether different...
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One Path
Students discover that charge movement through a circuit depends on the resistance and arrangement of the circuit components. In a hands-on activity, students build and investigate the characteristics of series circuits. In another...
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What's Air Got to Do with It?
Students use M&M's to create a pie graph that expresses their understanding of the composition of air. They watch and conduct several simple experiments to develop an understanding of the properties of air (it has mass, it takes up...
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Bombs Away!
Students design and build a device to protect and accurately deliver a dropped egg. They review and study a number of vocabulary words that are associated with this lesson. They work in a small group in order to develop a successful...
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Build an Approximate Scale Model of an Object
Students create a model of an object of their choice using sketches that they have drawn. They study what a scale model is and how to construct one. They examine the uses for scale models and why they are produced.
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Design Packing to Safely Mail Raw Spaghetti
Learners investigate and determine a way to mail raw spaghetti. In small groups, they package their raw spaghetti using various packing materials, mail the package through the postal system, and evaluate their packing design after...
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Design a Recycling Game!
Students discover that recycling is using a product more than once so that natural resources can be saved and so that we won't need so many garbage dumps and landfills. They see that there are different ways to recycle. Students design a...
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Design a Parachute
Students engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion...
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TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Middle schoolers work on problems in which they investigate conduction, convection, and radiation. They attempt to maintain the warmth in one can of soda while cooling the other as much as possible in a thirty minute period. They examine...