Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Using DNA to Explore Lizard Phylogeny
In a fun and interactive two-day lesson, learners sort anole lizard pictures by appearance. Next, they watch a video about the anoles and re-sort based on the information in the video. In addition to physical characteristics, budding...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
NOAA
The Incredible Carbon Journey: Play the Carbon Journey Game
Class members explore the carbon cycle in the final installment of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They play a simulation game where they walk through the steps carbon takes as it cycles through the different layers...
Curated OER
Molecular Biology and Primate Phylogenics
By counting differences in amino acids, biology stars examine the relationships between different primates. With information gleaned, they map out a phylogenic tree and discover common ancestry. You will need to create printable versions...
Curated OER
A Comparison of Cloud Coverage over Africa
Students identify different climate regions and local weather patterns. In this cloud coverage lesson students use NASA satellite data and import it into Excel.
Curated OER
Properties of Matter
Third graders explore forms of matter through reading, hands-on science activities, and research using the Internet. Students create a booklet, directions given, that they title and decorate, to later serve as a review visualization...
Curated OER
Discovering Pi/Welcome to Pi Day
Students explore pi. In this circle measurement lesson, students define and identify radius, diameter, circumference, and perimeter. Students work in groups to measure several plastic lids and record their findings. Students compare the...
Curated OER
The Statistics of M&Ms
Students explore the topic of statistics with M and Ms. In this math lesson plan, students use candy pieces to sort and gather information needed to create a bar graph. This lesson can be adapted to accommodate students in grades 1-12.
Soft Schools
Interpreting Metaphors in Shakespeare
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Shakespeare provides the examples on this learning exercise that asks readers to identify the two things being compared and to explain the characteristics the two share.
Curated OER
The Cytochrome-C Lab
Students examine a method biologists use to try to determine relationships. They examine how amino acid sequences have been determined for a number of proteins, and how scientists can make inferences about DNA based on the amino acid...
Curated OER
Molecular Sequences & Primate Evolution: Amino Acids, Hemoglobins in Evolution
Students compare differences in amino acids in the beta hemoglobin from representative primates, complete a matrix of those differences, and from these data, construct and interpret cladograms as they reflect relationships and timing of...
Curated OER
Ice Energy
Students investigate how salt affects the state of ice. In this ice cream making lesson, students change the freezing temperature by adding salt and observing the results. Students use experimentation and comparison to see how chemicals...
Curated OER
Superlative Adjectives
In this superlative adjectives worksheet, students read a review of adjectives with -est suffixes, and adjectives followed by of, in, on, etc.. Students apply the information to fill in blanks and create sentences to write twenty-one...
Curated OER
Cold War Conflict in Vietnam: The Vietnam-Era Presidency
Comparing and evaluating various media types is a great way to build critical analysis skills. Learners read about the Vietnam era presidency, specifically the foreign policy established by Johnson and Nixon. Then they compare several...
Noyce Foundation
Truffles
Knowing how to scale a recipe is an important skill. Young mathematicians determine the amount of ingredients they need to make a certain number of truffles when given a recipe. They determine a relationship between ingredients given a...
Inside Mathematics
Winning Spinners
Winning a spin game is random chance, right? Pupils create a table to determine the sample space of spinning two spinners. Individuals determine the probability of winning a game and then modify the spinners to increase the probability...
Curated OER
Exploring Geometry on the Sphere
In this geometry worksheet, students define important vocabulary dealing with circles. They measure cricles to the nearest degree. There are 11 word problems to be solved.
National Park Service
Hibernation-Migration-Fascination
What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...
Curated OER
Striking a Deal
Students explore the economic repercussions of a potential Major League Baseball strike. Then, through researching other labor strikes in American history, students consider the importance and impact of labor unions in United States...
Curated OER
Island Biogeography and Evolution
Students develop likely phylogenies for seven related populations of lizards living on the Canary Islands using real data. They organize charts, and record the data for geography, geology, morphology, and molecular genetics.
Curated OER
Teddy Bears and Friends
Children begin by making direct comparisons between objects and putting a number of objects into order according to length. They are also introduced to measuring with multi-link cubes which allows them to compare objects which cannot be...
Curated OER
Molecular Biology and Primate Phylogenetics
Pairs of high school biologists compare amino acid differences in the beta hemoglobin of different primates. They use the information collected to construct a phylogenic tree. Follow-up discussion questions are provided. This is a...
Curated OER
What Size Is It?
The concept of size is taught in this comparitive meaning of words lesson. Learners discuss the comparative qualities of words such as small, smaller, smallest. They demonstrate their understanding by drawing a picture.
Curated OER
Temperature Comparisons
Learners practice plotting temperature data points on a line graph in groups and examine the temperature differences at the same time of year. They graph the temperatures in Lannon, WI, and Mitchell's Plain, SA. After the data has been...