Science Matters
Peanut Energy
How do humans get energy since they aren't mechanical and can't photosynthesize? Learners explore this question by relating potential energy in food to human energy levels. Scholars measure the change in mass and a change in...
NASA
Raisin Bread Universe
What is the universal breakfast? The resource includes two activities, the first one observing oatmeal to understand the texture of the universe. Then, scholars measure raisin bread dough before and after it rises to represent the...
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Investigating Evidence
Explore the scientific process through nature. Scholars become scientists as they develop a question, design an experiment, collect data, and analyze their results. A two-week lesson guides your classes through the process and provides...
NOAA
A Laboratory Simulation of Ocean Surface Currents
Stimulate interest in ocean currents with a simulation. The first installment of a five-part middle school series teaches future oceanographers about the forces that interact to cause ocean currents. A simulation shows how wind and...
LABScI
Taxonomy: Who is in My family?
Find similarities in seemingly unlike organisms. The second instructional activity in a series of 12 builds the concept of a taxonomy and explores the use of a dichotomous key. Learners begin in part one by attempting to group a set of...
Chicago Botanic Garden
GEEBITT (Global Equilibrium Energy Balance Interactive TinkerToy)
Students use the GEEBITT excel model to explore how global average temperatures are affected by changes in our atmosphere in part two of this series of seven lessons. Working in groups, they discuss, analyze graphs, and enter data to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Natural and Human Causes
Part three in the series of seven has pupils discussing the different greenhouses gases, learning about the carbon cycle, and then watching a short video about the carbon cycle. Based on their knowledge, individuals complete a greenhouse...
American Museum of Natural History
If Rocks Could Talk
Meet some interesting rocks. Learners discover information about the three types of rocks and different rocks that are within each group. They read imaginary interviews with six rocks as each rock tells the story of their formation and a...
Rhythm Rhyme Results
Whatʼs the Same and Whatʼs Different?
Learn about radiation, convection, and conduction with a multiple choice worksheet. Each question prompts kids to decide what is different about each form of heat energy transfer, and what is the same.
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Waves and Whistles
Wave goodbye to the same old demonstrations for alternative energy sources, and wave hello to this one investigating ocean waves! Using a water bottle to create an oscillating water column, learners see and possibly hear how the...
Kenan Fellows
Farm to Fuel: The Alternative Fuels Industry
Need a lesson to fuel young minds? A variety of hands-on activities is sure to get your class fired up! Beginning with an introductory slideshow and culminating with group presentations, the week-long unit has something for everyone....
Discovery Education
Smoke on the Water
How do clouds form? Learners demonstrate the formation of clouds and the water cycle by testing four different setups in a plastic bottle. They identify the key components of a cloud to help them understand the process of cloud...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Around the World
You know climate change is happening when you see a bee take off its yellow jacket. Part four in a series of five lessons explores all factors affecting climate change: temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and carbon dioxide. By...
Curated OER
Anthropogenic Biomes
If you teach a man to fish, he will never go hungry—or he will overfish and permanently damage the ecosystem? Address the traditional biomes as well as the human-included ecosystems and contrasts the biotic and abiotic factors in each....
Chymist
Testing the Waters
Should you trust the water you drink every day? The hands-on activity has scholars test water from different sources for contaminants. Pupils perform chemical testing and make conclusions about pH, hardness, iron, chlorine, lead,...
Chymist
Alum from Waste Aluminum Cans
Turn aluminum cans into pickles! An engaging experiment has learners chemically change aluminum into a substance with many purposes including the manufacture of pickles. After performing the chemical conversion, the experimenters verify...
Curated OER
Condensation Lab
High schoolers investigate condensation in the lab. In this chemistry lesson plan, students explain molecular motion during phase changes. They relate this observation to Earth's weather conditions.
Curated OER
Hurricanes and the Importance of Wetlands
Students explain how wetlands minimize the impact of hurricanes. In this earth science lesson, students investigate how different materials affect the steam plume path. They complete their worksheet after the lab.
Curated OER
Heating the Earth
Students examine heat rates for dark and light surfaces. In this heat instructional activity students complete a lab activity and plot data.
Curated OER
Open-Ended Scientific Method Lab
Students inspect a given problem and come up with a hypothesis. In this investigative lesson students come up with a hypothesis for a problem, test each hypothesis and evaluate how successful each one was.
Curated OER
Great Glaciers!
Seventh graders study the earths surface and how changes happen to it. In this glacier lesson students complete a lab activity to see how glaciers form.
Curated OER
Sun
Students study how the sun is at the center of the solar system. For this solar lesson students measure the altitude of the sun and its size.
Curated OER
Scale Model of the Solar System
Students work in groups of 4-6 for the experiment/activity part of this exercise. Students know that earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller...
Curated OER
Individual Sundial (Cloud/Rain Activity)
Students make a simple sundial to examine the changes in shadows over time. In this sundial and shadow instructional activity, students make a simple sundial out of a manila folder and pencil. They observe how shadows change over time,...