ARKive
Biodiversity and Evolution – Darwin’s Finches
Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much food...
Curated OER
Ready-Set-Tech: When a Volcano Erupts
Wouldn't it be a blast to uncover the science behind volcanic eruptions? Explore, research, and examine the nature of volcanoes with three fun hands-on projects kids will love. First the class takes to the Internet to research volcanoes....
NASA
Earth and Space—Climate and Seasons
Why does Earth have so many seasons? Learn about the importance and changes of our planet's climate with a series of learning activities, which focus on connecting seasons to past experiences, making scientific observations, and...
Earth Day Network
Forms of Energy
Give me a home where electric buffalo roam and I'll show you an ohm on the range. Introduction your classes to potential and kinetic energy, electricity, and renewable resources with a resource that combines observation, direct...
Kenan Fellows
Electricity: Sources, Usage, Challenges, and the Future
What does the future of energy look like? Junior engineers collaborate to discover a solution to the global energy crisis during a very hands-on lesson. The unit focuses on learning through collaboration to develop a deep understanding...
It's About Time
How Do Plate Tectonics and Ocean Currents Affect Global Climate?
What do plate tectonics and ocean currents have to do with global climate? This fourth installment in a six-part series focuses on how plate tectonics and ocean currents affect global climate, both now and in the past, outlines an...
Curated OER
WWW = World Wide Wildlife
Through video, internet research, and hands-on activities, learners conduct a study of the interdependence between animals and the habitats they live in. They conduct Internet research independently in order to complete a report on a...
Curated OER
Seein' Double, Seein' Double
By using the Internet, hands-on activities, video, and cooperative learning, pupils look into the conditions in which light casts shadows on objects. The lesson plan includes fabulous hands-on activities, art projects, worksheets, and...
Curated OER
You Ain't Nothin' But a Rock Hound
Here is an excellent activity on rocks! In it, learners explore the world of rocks through the use of video, hands-on activities, and cooperative projects. This outstanding plan is chock full of terrific activities, websites, streamed...
K-State Research and Extensions
Peanut Butter Geology
Why are there old dinosaur bones in the museum? Because they can't afford new ones! The chapter contains seven hands-on activities at four different levels covering geological eras, dinosaurs, timelines, and statigraphy.
Baylor College
Crossing the Synaptic Gap
As part of a unit on the chemistry of the brain, thinkers learn how chemicals work to transmit messages between individual neurons and how controlled substances impact the synaptic cleft. They do so by playing a dice-and-card game in...
Mississippi State University
The Five Senses
Your learners engage their five senses every day without knowing it. Help them identify their experiences and extend their understanding with a month full of lessons designed for the five senses. Kids focus on a different sense every...
Code.org
Encoding Color Images
Color me green. The fourth lesson in a unit of 15 introduces the class to color images and how to encode color images using binary code and hexadecimal numbers — and they will quickly notice that it is easier to code the color for each...
Columbus City Schools
Force Field Physics
Attracted class members to an activity-packed journey through the science behind the invisible forces at work all around us. From jump rope generators to junkyard wars, there's never a dull moment when eighth grade physics scholars...
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Conservation: Water
Here is a fantastic experiment-based lesson on water conservation, waste, and filtration. The lesson plan is well-developed and provides background information, discussion leads, and six scripted lab activities anyone can do. The class...
Rochester Institute of Technology
Electrical Energy
My friend told me how electricity is measured and I was like Watt! In the hands-on activity, learners explore electricity by building circuits, both parallel and series. They also determine how increasing the number of light bulbs and...
National Woman's History Museum
Getting with the Program
A seven-step lesson introduces the emergence of computer sciences and the contributions women made to the profession after World War II. Several science experiments offer pupils a hands-on learning experience that showcases parabolas,...
Baylor College
Gases Matter
As a demonstration or as a hands-on activity, your class watches as the combination of vinegar and baking soda produce carbon dioxide gas. The intent of the lesson is to help youngsters understand that gases occupy space. It is included...
Berkshire Museum
Camouflage!: Collecting Data and Concealing Color
Help young scholars see the important role camouflage plays in the survival of animals with a fun science lesson. Starting with an outdoor activity, children take on the role of hungry birds as they search for worms represented by...
NOAA
Invent a Robot!
Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...
Star Date
Build Your Own Galaxy
Don't just look at pictures of the Milky Way galaxy, build it with this hands-on activity in which scientists recreate the galaxy we live in.
Magic of Physics
Loads Lab
Take a load off! Introduce junior engineers to the effects of load on structural design with an easy-to-use interactive. Individuals apply one of many load options, examine its effects, then learn about the safeguards employed during...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Cancer Discovery Activities
Explore the genetic component of the second-leading cause of death in the world using a hands-on activity. After watching a video discussing the basics of cancer, learners complete activities that study the genes involved in cancer. The...
Curated OER
Ocean Exhibits
Ninth graders create an ocean museum. They work in partners to create their own exhibit. Each exhibit must have an interactive computer placard containing their information. The exhibits must also have a hands-on component.