Human fingerprint patterns are the result of layers of skin growing at different paces, thus causing the layers to pull on each other forming ridges. Here, groups of learners see how patterns and fingerprints assist scientists in a...

Upper graders become "shipwreck detectives" by studying the debris field from a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea which took place in the 700s.  A website is accessed that gives specific information about the debris field, and pairs of...

Students observe swimming and resting patterns of aquarium fish to determine how different parts of the habitat are used. Different pairs of students should compare their results after several days to look for daily patterns.

Students observe clouds outside of the classroom. In this weather lesson, students investigate and record the clouds above their classroom everyday for three weeks. The students then analyze their data and discuss what causes specific...

Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th lesson plan in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature...

Sometimes scientists learn more from unexpected findings than from routine analysis! Junior oceanographers dive deep to explore hydrothermal vent communities in the fourth lesson in a series of five. Scholars examine data and look for...

By overlapping combs and window screening and by looking at a printed set of consecutively larger circles, learners observe Moire patterns, which provide a visual of what happens during wave interference. 

Young surveyors look for patterns in water flow around campus. Using a map of the school (that you will need to create), they mark the direction of the path of water. They also perform calculations for the volume that becomes runoff. The...

Students create and extend patterns. In this pattern lesson, students learn to identify patterns using multiple senses. Students work at centers in small groups to explore and extend their understanding of patterns.

It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.

Bring the sun to your class! Young scholars analyze actual solar wind data in the second lesson plan of a five-part series. Their analysis includes speed, temperature, and density data.

Young scholars examine places in nature where patterns can be observed by looking through a number of books after watching a teacher PowerPoint presentation. They illustrate a pattern in nature.

In this earthquakes worksheet, students look at maps of earthquake patterns and answer short answer questions. Students answer 12 questions.

You will need an electric drill and some Velcro™ in order to have this activity available for your class. It is, however, an intriguing display of optical illusion. After watching a spinning disk (provided), viewers look at one of...

Young scientists roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty in this three-day earth science investigation. Following the scientific method, children monitor the growth of algae in pond water samples in order to determine...

Practice printing, matching, tracing, cutting, coloring, and more with a packet full of penguins! Allow these perky winter animals to help your kids out as they work on these skills.

Who actually goes looking for a virus? Expose your class to the high-stakes life of an epidemiologist on the trail of the Nipah virus. Pupils engage in a short video, then examine how scientists predict, model, and find the source of...

Did you know scientists can tell the age of an asteroid by looking closely at its craters? This final lesson of a six-part series focuses on two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, in order to demonstrate the concept of dating asteroids. Scholars...

Are you looking for lab sheets to go with your class experiment on plant response to light? You are no longer in the dark! This is a lesson that was written for a unit on light, but could easily be used to demonstrate plant behaviors in...

As the most abundant element on the earth, hydrogen requires no replacement. Yet scholars learn to replace hydrogen with a metal to liberate the hydrogen gas. A simple procedure and data table include the necessary information and...

Students prepare study, and graph fingerprint patterns. They create latent fingerprints and look for common features in their prints for classification.In addition, they create a graph showing the distribution of different patterns...

What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over...

Less than one percent of the water on Earth is usable in people's homes. As pupils consider this fact, they reflect on their own water usage before designing a survey to collect information on water usage by others. They then analyze...

Check out climate anomalies just like NASA climatologists! Investigators use a GISTEMP map from NASA to analyze one month of climate anomalies. Scientists look for data extremes and generate possible explanations for observable...