DiscoverE
Let's Make an Elastic Puppet
Create bending joints—but don't break! The activity shows how to make a puppet using straws and fishing line. Pupils create cuts to make joints that rely on the elasticity of the straw to bend and return to their original shapes.
PBS
Helping Hand
Reach out and grab something. Given the task of picking up objects at least two feet away, pupils design and build a grabber. The last activity in a series of five challenges requires learners to use information about fulcrums and levers.
Kenan Fellows
Making Connections with Water Quality
What's in your water? And, why is water quality so important? Enhance your class's level of water appreciation through a lesson that demonstrates the necessity of water quality. Environmental enthusiasts explore the EPA's Clean Water...
Curated OER
Genetic Technology
In this genetic worksheet, students will match 6 terms associated with gene engineering to their correct definition. Then students will complete a table indicating if the vector is mechanical or biological. Finally, students will...
Curated OER
Tornado!: Types and Formation
Students discuss the different types of tornadoes and how they form. Working in groups, they record journal entries by conducting experiments with water bottles simulating vortex formation.
Curated OER
Topos, Compasses, and Triangles, Oh My!
Learners 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...
Curated OER
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost
Students expand their understanding of solid waste management. They examine the effects of packaging decisions. They study engineering advancements in packaging materials and solid waste management.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Students 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 how...
Curated OER
The Three Gorges: Should Nature or Technology Reign?
Learners participate in a debate regarding the Three Gorges Dam in China. In this research skills lesson plan, students prepare for a debate regarding the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China. Learners participate in the dam...
Curated OER
Engineering: Which Roof Is Tops?
Students determine regional climates by examining photos of house roofs. They observe teacher-constructed examples of roofs and make predictions as to which style is best for snowy climates. After evaluating the examples, they record...
Curated OER
What Happened to the Water? Designing Ways to Get and Clean Water
Students design ways to clean a water source or find a new water source depending on various hypothetical family scenarios. They draw and write about how to provide water to a community facing a water crisis, and present their solutions...
Curated OER
Sliders - Static and Kinetic Friction
Students work in groups to conduct experiments the demonstrate the differences between static and kinetic friction. They consider how friction affects us in our everyday lives, determine the effects of weight on friction and complete a...
Curated OER
Way to Flow - Water Irrigation
Students develop and build an irrigation system in which they move water from one source to two different locations. In this water irrigation lesson, students work in small groups to determine how civil engineers have developed systems...
Curated OER
Collisions and Momentum: Bouncing Balls
Learners explore the concepts of potential and kinetic energy by bouncing assorted balls on different surfaces and calculating the momentum for each ball. They give examples of collisions and momentum in sports and understand that...
Curated OER
Floating and Falling Flows
Young scholars discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink...
Curated OER
Where Am I - Navigation and Satellites
Students explore geography by completing a navigation activity in class. In this satellite positioning lesson, students define terms such as orbit, satellite, GPS and triangulation. Students view diagrams of the Earth's orbit and...
Curated OER
Gingerbread Architecture: An Exploration and Engineering
Eighth graders design and build a gingerbread house. In this technology lesson, 8th graders research the important components of a house. They evaluate the strength of their design and suggest modifications when necessary.
Curated OER
Making Decisions: Packaging and the Environment
Students work in small groups to redesign the packaging of several common items. They attempt to reach the goal of 25% reduction in packaging materials currently used and explore the impact of various materials and designs in landfills...
Curated OER
Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Students investigate and explore the three states of matter. They read and discuss the NASA article "The Engine That Does More," identify examples of each state of matter, and as a class complete a section of two worksheets. They...
Curated OER
Biotechnology and The Chocolate Milk Cow
High schoolers discuss new discoveries that have resulted from the use of recombinant DNA technology and otehr biotechnology. In groups, they create a transgenic cow capable of producing chocolate-flavored milk.
Curated OER
Binary and Communication Systems
Students participate in an activity that introduces them to the concept of binary coding as a language. They decode messages using special boards that has its own code for different letters. They create new codes by rearranging wires...
Curated OER
Genetics 5 Technology
Students, after studying extraction and gel electrophoresis, recombinant DNA, transgenic organisms, and reproductive cloning, summarize the main concepts in DNA technology. They analyze the applications of DNA: forensics, medicine,...
Curated OER
A Clone of Your Own: The Legal Issues and the Future of Genetic Engineering on Humans
Twelfth graders define cloning in their own words and examine the different types of cloning. After reading an article, they summarize it in their own words and use the internet to research the history of cloning. In groups, they...
Curated OER
The Phantom of the Computer Lab
Students calculate the power consumption of computers in school. In this physics lesson, students design an experiment to determine whether the school should unplug computers at the end of the day. They collect data and report findings...