Census at School
Just How Old Are You?
Do you know how old you are in seconds, minutes, days, weeks, or months? This intriguing question is presented as a way for learners to estimate in units of time. They'll build a better sense of what each increment of time is as they...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Rochester Institute of Technology
Artificial Hearing
Your sense of hearing depends upon tiny hairs deep inside your ear and if you lose these hairs, you lose your hearing. Here, groups explore hearing through the decibel measurement of common sounds. As a class, participants discuss...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Water Pollution
Fifteen million children under the age of five die each year due to diseases in their drinking water. Water pollution is the topic of lesson 34 in the series of 36. Scholars, through reading and discussing, study numerous aspects of...
NOAA
Exploring Potential Human Impacts
Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...
Messenger Education
Mission: Possible—How Can We Plan an Exploration of Another World?
An astronaut's spacesuit weighs 280 pounds and takes 45 minutes to put on — that's a serious suit! The second activity of a three-part series allows pupils to see all that goes into space exploration. Through simulations, groups analyze...
Curated OER
Measuring Crime and Fear of Crime
Have your learners delve into the realm of crime statistics using this resource. They use data to answer a series of questions about crime in Britain.
Curated OER
An Introduction to the National Archives
Fifth graders study the national archives through both images AND visiting the site. This is meant to provide them with an understanding of what documents are important to the U.S. and why (i.e. Declaration of Independence, etc...).
Messenger Education
Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight
It takes less than 10 minutes for energy from the sun to travel 90 million miles to Earth! In the first installment in a series of four, groups measure the amount of solar radiation that reaches Earth. They then discuss how this is...
Curated OER
Target Earth
Space scientists use water displacement to determine the mass of a cubic centimeter mini meteorite, and then use it as a small-scale representative of an asteroid. They figure out the orbital velocity of an asteroid. Then they use a...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Ocean Acidification: Whats and Hows
Open this lesson by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine organisms. They measure...
California Academy of Science
Global Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Ice is nice, and its condition on the planet has a significant effect. Junior geoscientists experiment with ice melting in both water and on land to discover how each affect the rising sea level. This detailed lesson outline even...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Power Systems & Efficiency
Are you looking for a reading resource about the efficiency of power systems? Here is one that introduces the output/input ratio, measurement of energy by joules or calories, and efficiency ratings. For STEM classes that are learning...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Day the Mesozoic Died
While this is not the traditional, step-by-step lesson plan, it is chock-full of material that you can easily incorporate into your earth history unit. Its main purpose is to serve as a guide to using a three-part film, The Day the...
Curated OER
How Much is a Million?
Students discover the magnitude of the number 100. The sense of the number is developed by allowing students to experience 100 by counting it, measuring it, feeling it, and doing it, hands-on
Curated OER
Measuring Speed in the Universe
In this measuring speed in the universe worksheet, learners use photographs of 3 astronomical phenomena including supernova explosions, coronal mass ejections and solar flare shock waves to find how fast they move. The photographs show...
Curated OER
Planting Trees to Help the Planet
Students react to a series of statements about trees, then read a news article about the planned planning of millions of trees to celebrate Arbor Day. In this planting trees lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion...
Curated OER
Mayor Puts City on Diet to Lose a Million Pounds
Students read a story called Mayor Puts City on Diet to Lose a Million Pounds and answer vocabulary and comprehension questions about it. In this current event Lose a Million Pounds lesson plan, students respond to literature by...
Curated OER
SDO: Measuring the Speed of an Eruptive Prominence
In this eruptive prominence worksheet, high schoolers read about a plasma ejection from the sun measured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Students solve 3 problems using the given diagrams of the ejection. They determine the scale of...
Curated OER
IBEX Uses Fast-Moving Atoms to Map the Sky!
In this energetic neutral atoms activity, learners solve 3 problems including determining the formula for particle speed, writing the equation to show the relationship between mass, energy and speed and determining the speed of protons...
Curated OER
Math Lesson: Just How Many is a "Million Dead"?
Students are able to convert large numbers into meaningful ratios. They are able to conceptualize 1 million. Students grapple with the concept of a million. They use this activity to convey the idea of millions by converting war death...
Curated OER
Is It Safe To Go In?
Students examine acceptable levels of toxins in swimming areas. Working in groups of four, students dilute a salt or sugar solution to 1 part per 1,000,000 (ppm) solution. Students taste test their diluted liquids and record at which...
Balanced Assessment
Confetti Crush
In the first part of a middle school assessment task, learners analyze a given statement about the amount of confetti revelers throw at Times Square on New Year's Eve. The second part of the task requires learners to identify objects...