Curated OER
Bend It! Stretch It! Squash It!
Some items keep their shape no matter what happens! Have your kindergarten class choose which items would stay the same if they were bent, stretched, or squashed. The last activity prompts kids to see what happens when they stretch a...
Curated OER
Iron For Breakfast
Third graders are challenged to use scientific thinking, they experiment and observe which objects are attracted to a magnet. Pupils use the evidence to construct an explanation as to what common property the objects attracted to a...
Curated OER
Growing
Growing is part of being a living thing. Kindergartners decide which illustrations represent the life cycle of a living thing, then put a check mark next to the correct pictures. They then examine their own growth on a height chart.
Curated OER
Munchtime for animals
Which animals eat meat to stay alive? Third graders group fish, hawks, and cats into carnivores and herbivores. An extended activity prompts kids to cut out magazine pictures of different animals according to the foods that they eat.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Bubbling Plants
Young scholars study a way to quantify the process of photosynthesis during a given time using the Elodea plant. They design a hypothesis that they test in the hands on activity. They compare the amounts of photosynthesis that occur...
Curated OER
I Don't Believe My Eyes!
Young scholars develop their understanding of the effects of invisible air pollutants. In this invisible air lesson, students complete experiments with a rubber band air test, a bean plant experiment and by exploring engineering roles...
Curated OER
What Is Viscosity?
Students experiment with the visocosity of corn syrup, mineral oil, vegetable oil, water, and honey. They research viscosity before beginning. Pupils draw the conclusion that the marble sinks more slowly in the liquids with greater...
Curated OER
The Viewing Tube
Looking for an excellent lesson that incorporates math, science, and technology? Groups of three students use a viewing tube to perform an experiment, and discover how to organize their data into an Excel spreadsheet. This is a...
Shodor Education Foundation
Box Plot
What information can come from a box? Learners choose a data set to display as a box plot and decide whether to include the median in the calculation of the quartiles, show the outliers, and change the scale. To finish the lesson,...
Curated OER
Break the Tension
Students experiment with the concepts of surface tension. They participate in a number of different experiments that introduce them to surface tension. They work in a small group in order to conduct these experiments.
Curated OER
Our Disastrous World
Students explore natural disasters around the world from the experiences of other students, friends and families. They collaborate with countries such as Japan, China, India, Australia, Russia, Great Britain as well as from the United...
Curated OER
Acid Rain Effects
Get out the goggles and conduct a simple experiment to model and explore the harmful effects of acid rain (vinegar) on living (green leaf and eggshell) and non-living (paper clip) objects. Young chemists observe and describe the harmful...
Curated OER
Blow-and-Go Parachute
Students design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...
Curated OER
Silly Semi-Solids
Students create a polymer out of glue, water, and borax. They discuss the resulting substance and perform several experiments with it.
Curated OER
Bird Ecology Unit
Tenth graders conduct various activities utilizing the scientific method to formulate a hypothesis, conduct a controlled experiment, collect and analyze the data and communicate their results through a poster. They also identify...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Read Across America
Celebrate the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day with a collection of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics activities, each linked to a popular Dr. Seuss story.
Curated OER
Chalk Fizz
Little chemists observe the effects of acid on calcium carbonate as an example of chemical change. As a demonstration you will place a raw egg in vinegar overnight, and as a lab activity, learners drip vinegar onto a piece of chalk....
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: First Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
A set of first grade geology lessons focuses on plate tectonics and movement of plate boundaries. During the pre-lab, learners experience three types of plate movement through a kinesthetic demonstration. The lab...
Shodor Education Foundation
Simple Maze Game
Avoid the mines and win the game! Young scholars direct a robot through a minefield by plotting points. Their goal is to reach the target in as few moves as possible.
Shodor Education Foundation
Plop It!
Build upon and stack up data to get the complete picture. Using the applet, pupils build bar graphs. As the bar graph builds, the interactive graphically displays the mean, median, and mode. Learners finish by exploring the changes in...
Curated OER
Wildflower Beautification Project
Students, in cooperative groups, design and create a wildflower garden for the community. They write letters to property owners requesting use of their land and then write invitations to their parents and to local, state, and federal...
Berkshire Museum
Adopt a Schoolyard Tree
Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...
Teach Engineering
Sliders (for High School)
Slip sliding away. Groups investigates the two types of friction by running an experiment that allows them to calculate the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of kinetic friction. The experiment uses a box, a...
Teach Engineering
Ramp and Review (for High School)
Rolling for momentum. As part of a study of mechanical energy, momentum, and friction, class members experiment rolling a ball down an incline and having it collide with a cup. Groups take multiple measurements and perform...