Students investigate energy consumption by researching wattage.  In this electricity lesson, students discuss how electricity works and gets transferred to our electronic devices through generators and circuits.  Students...

Is your building a smart building? Pupils learn what makes a building smart and about the internet of things. After viewing several videos on the topic, they conduct an activity collecting data from sensors and brainstorm ways to improve...

How does the dirt get out of your drinking water? A hands-on activity introduces the use of flocculants to help clear solid particles out of water. The plan walks learners through the process of setting up an experiment that...

A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete. 

Sometimes, taking things apart is more fun than putting things together. Groups of learners participate in a reverse engineering activity. They dissect a device of their choosing to see how it works—great hands-on learning from the...

If you use the resource, then pupils will understand conditional block instructions. In the first lab of a six-part unit, pupils learn how to use conditional statements (if/then) in block instructions for computer programming. They apply...

Is there such a thing as useful microbes? Get ready to perform experiments on applying microbes for wastewater treatment. The first installment of the three-part unit provides background information to prepare young engineers for two...

Don't be concerned that the title slide of this presentation mentions Virginia's Geospatial Extension Program; this slide show is very informative for any technology-focused curriculum when considering global information systems. It...

I'm compressed. Groups do a rapid research of different file types to determine what kind of compression the formats use and how it works. They share their information with the rest of the class until everyone has all the information for...

Young scholars inquire about visual arts by reading a children's book in class. In this Keith Haring lesson, students examine the book Nina's Book of Little Things and create their own drawings based on their personal life. Young...

Students investigate energy sources by examining photographs.  In this atomic energy lesson,  students identify and describe various pictures and how atomic energy is used in them.  Students create a presentation...

Learners assess the advantages of modern technology tools by creating a page in a class book utilizing pattern writing as well as the writing process. They organize and develop a composition on a selected topic after going through the...

What is this thing called the Internet? A KWL activity elicits what the class knows about how the Internet works. Then pupils read a copy of a memo about the need to keep the Internet open and accessible by everyone. 

Scholars learn how to make a digital canvas and fill it with artwork by creating a drawing app using the canvas element. The activity requires learners to previous knowledge of arrays and return commands to draw images.

What is this? What is it for? How does it work? Challenge the class to think about to how to design a new chocolate factory for the Oompa-Loompas to make it easy to use. The activity is the first of a three-part series on...

Isn't building with blocks an activity for toddlers? The third lab of a five-part unit teaches young computer scientists how to create their own block instructions for programming. They use these blocks to create geometric figures, spell...

Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...

How do spacecraft detect magnetic fields? The fourth installment of a five-part unit has learners develop a device with magnets that allows for the detection of magnetic fields. They use a map of an imaginary planet to try out their...

You can't play Tic Tac Toe without grids. In the fourth lab of a five-part unit, scholars learn how to build grids for games such as Tic Tac Toe. Along the way, they also learn about reporter blocks that perform calculations.

Young scholars experience critiquing, analyzing, and comparing different works of art from different eras. They discuss how these works can or can't be considered a form of protest and assess how to evaluate their own judgments and...

Students reverse engineer a cereal. In this dietary lesson students identify the minerals that the human body needs to function. Students examine how foods are fortified by food engineers. Students find the amount of iron in a cereal by...

Did the image I drew match the image you saw? By simulating a satellite and a ground station, teams of two transmit data in the form of pixels in order to recreate an image. They use four different levels of brightness, creating slightly...

Under pressure! The second lesson of the series introduces the class to blood pressure and the impact of high blood pressure on the cardiovascular system. It helps learners make the connection between blood pressure and how the heart...

How can you store lists in a computer program? The 16th installment of a 21-part unit introduces arrays as a way to store lists within a variable. Individuals program a list of their favorite things—adding interest to the activity.