Chicago Botanic Garden
Micro-GEEBITT Climate Activity
A truly hands-on and inquiry based learning activity bridges all the lessons in the series together. Beginning with a discussion on average global temperatures, young meteorologists use real-world data to analyze climate trends in order...
Curated OER
Investigating Factors That Affect Cell Membrane Permeability
Cell membranes and the factors that affect its integrity are studied, with Beet tissue used as the model. A poster to display findings of the permeability of the membranes would clarify understanding and also allow a layer of language...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Ins and Outs of Photosynthesis
The most important chemical process on Earth is photosynthesis. Scholars explore the changes in the gases in our atmosphere as life on Earth developed. They create a model of photosynthesis and consider simple questions.
Curated OER
Change Since 1609
Learners recognize how the climate of the Hudson Valley has changed since the last glaciation. They explain these changes using a reconstruction of the land use changes in the Hudson Valley composed of confetti, Ziploc bags and other...
101 Questions
Thanksgiving Taters
What would a meal be without the taters? The question is, how long does it take to peel those potatoes? Given the rate of peeling one potato, scholars predict the time it takes to peel the bag. The twist is that the first potato was...
Curated OER
Analysis of Grooming Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Students engage in a lab that focuses on animal behavior in an open ended inquiry based laboratory experience. They build an ethogram, display a transition matrix and analyze a Markov Chain. They remove wings from the drosophila and...
Marilyn Burns Education Associates
Eighteen Flavors
Your learners will be tantalized by this inquiry-based, collaborative activity as they discover how to write an equation that represents the height of an ice cream cone. Given the scenario based on the poem, "Eighteen Flavors," and...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Classification of Living Things
It's a classification sensation! Demystify why we classify using an inquiry activity that helps your class sort things out. Groups begin by classifying a variety of shoes before they research organisms and design their own dichotomous...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Ups and Downs of Populations
Life has its ups and downs ... especially if you're an animal! Biology scholars engage in a population study through an inquiry-based lesson. Pupils work together to explore the factors that affect deer populations, then examine the...
Ohio State University
Ohm's Law
Have you ever wanted to build a conductor? Here is a lesson that takes pupils through building a conductor based on Drude's model in order to better understand electricity.
Curated OER
Secret Life of Bees Research
The Secret Life of Bees provides high schoolers an opportunity to connect the events in the novel to events in America’s history. After choosing a topic from a provided list, individuals research how the event affected the Civil Rights...
Columbus City Schools
Planet X
How did the earth become the mass that it is now? Your young scientists explore this question through the concept of density. Their inquiries consider the impact of gravity on the formation of planets. The culminating activity of the...
Curated OER
Ships 2: What Floats Your Boat?
Students design, build, and test the specifications (water displacement and load line) for a model boat. The instructional activity focuses especially on integrating design principles with inquiry-based experimental skills.
NASA
Measuring Dark Energy
You're only 10 minutes late? Do you know how much the universe has expanded in those 10 minutes? Scholars graph supernovae based on their redshift and see if the results verify Hubble's Law. If it does confirm it, the universe is...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for Handmaid's Tale
Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...
Columbus City Schools
It’s All Relative
Are the people on the other side of the world standing upside down? Pupils discuss the relationship between movement and position words. The unit explores the concept of reference points through animation, modeling, photography, and more.
Curated OER
#16 Separation Science Lab
Learners in this inquiry-based experiment, put in the role of a method development chemist. The scenario they are given is that a train wreck has occurred resulting in a chemical spill. Students are told that the spill mixture consists...
Virginia Department of Education
Integers: Addition and Subtraction
Young mathematicians construct their own understanding of integers with an inquiry-based math lesson plan. Using colored chips to represent positive and negative numbers, children model a series of addition and subtraction problems as...
Mascil Project
Parachute Food Drop
Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 1: Functions and Their Inverses
Undo a function to create a new one. The inverse of a function does just that. An inquiry-based lesson examines the result of reversing the variables of a function, beginning with linear patterns and advancing to quadratic and...
Serendip
Structure and Function of Cells, Organs and Organ Systems
Cells of different organs have unique cell functions. Learn how cell functions vary depending on their roles in the body using an inquiry-based activity. Scholars analyze the cell structure to make comparisons to its functions, allowing...
Concordia University Chicago
A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Édouard Manet
Observation is a key skill any scientist, artist, or writer needs to hone. Learners first discuss Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, then they set up a place to observe the people in their school. They closely observe and sketch what...
University of Tennessee
Potential Energy
Did you know a tennis ball has potential? Collaborative groups analyze the potential energy of a tennis ball based on its height. They measure its starting height and the height after its first bounce. Using a graphical analysis, they...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Levers
The lever is an everyday simple machine. Youngsters learn the principles of levers and explore their many uses. Groups of pupils perform a simple lab where they lift objects with a fulcrum while placing the load in a variety of...