Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Students participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will also...
Lesson Plan
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Floating and Falling Flows

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...
Lesson Plan
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How Far... How Powerfu

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students work with a real optical spectrum of a gamma ray burst afterglow taken at the Keck Observatory. They measure the shifts of spectral lines, deduce the velocity of the astronomical object, and then use Hubble's Law to get its...
Lesson Plan
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Human Anatomy- How Do We Move?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the muscular system. In this muscular system instructional activity, students first draw a realistic representation of their leg or arm bones. Students do several activities to attach these bones to "joints" with...
Lesson Plan
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The Brain: Control Central

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate the brain as the organ that regulates all of their physical, emotional, and cognitive responses. Some of the components of mental illness are examined inn this instructional activity.
Lesson Plan
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Health Care

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze information and draw conclusions about the reality of human life expectancy; the battle between health care technology and our own internal time clocks. Students answer questions such as "Why does aging occur and can...
Lesson Plan
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Matter and Energy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore energy by completing a science worksheet in class. For this principles of matter lesson, students define the vocabulary terms force, gravity, nuclear, and electromagnetic before reading assigned text about energy....
Lesson Plan
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What's That Tree?

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders identify trees along a nature trail. Using a dichotomous key, 5th graders answer questions to aid in their identification of trees along a specified nature trail. Observations are recorded in their science journals. Sample...
Lesson Plan
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How The Scientists Really Work

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students question the accepted practices of science by scientists and their interactions with technology and society. They devise and conduct appropriate interview procedures for scientists to question their understanding and...
Lesson Plan
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2D Motion

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine the motion of objects in two dimensions. In this dimensional lesson plan students view several demonstrations, complete a worksheet and a lab activity.
Lesson Plan
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Sand & Water: Arctic in the Sun

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students chill out on a hot day with this outdoor activity. In this early childhood physical education instructional activity, students have fun experimenting through play with ice and toy animals in water.
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Food Webs

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify predator/prey relationships based on the food web of the tropical rain forest ecosystem and realize they need a food web for survival. In this food web lesson plan, students complete a role play activity being animals...
Lesson Plan
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Take the Pulse of Your Classroom

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students discuss seismic waves. For this science lesson, students investigate the acceleration of the floor in the classroom similar to a seismograph. Students observe a three-component seismogram from an earthquake and determine what it...
Lesson Plan
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Slingshot Characterization Experiment

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Students set up and conduct a scientific experiment to demonstrate data collection. In this scientific process lesson, students complete an activity with the specific objective of using a slingshot to fire a t-shirt into the crowd at a...
Lesson Plan
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Make it a habitat

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider the adaptation of life forms through natural selection to fill various niches and accommodate changing environmental conditions. They select an ecosystem and conduct research to provide as much detailed information as...
Lesson Plan
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Animal Adaptations

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders discover the adaptation of species through analyzing pictures.  In this scientific discovery lesson, 5th graders discuss the concept of adaptation in order for survival.  Students view many images of extinct...
Lesson Plan
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Solids, Liquids, and Gases

For Teachers K - 4th
Students investigate and explore the three states of matter. They read and discuss the NASA article "The Engine That Does More," identify examples of each state of matter, and as a class complete a section of two worksheets. They...
Lesson Plan
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What Does It Matter?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars match definitions with vocabulary words and learn basic facts about matter. Then, they see how to determine the physical characteristics of matter. They determine the mass, volume, and density of objects using appropriate...
Lesson Plan
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Water Quality

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students analyze water quality and turbidity of collected samples. In this physics lesson plan, students conduct tests to identify the suspended particles in the samples. They explain how human activities affect water quality.
Lesson Plan
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Conductive Heat Transfer Experiments

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students conduct a variety of experiments to see how heat is transferred using common household objects. The teacher uses the safety plans included in the lesson plan. This is ideal for inexperienced Science teachers.
Lesson Plan
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Gravity (Newton's Laws of Motion): A Weighty Subject

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students identify Newton's Laws of Motion. They students explore Newton's Laws of Motion and apply the second law with a classroom activity. The videos will provide visual examples of the effects of gravity while riding on a roller coaster.
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Is It There?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students participate in a instructional activity designed to illustrate these concepts using simple materials. They use Science process skills to observe, measure, predict, make inferences, and communicate while completing the activity....
Lesson Plan
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The Pure, The Mixture, The Unknown

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders participate in classroom discussions, demonstrations and hands-on laboratory activities about pure substances and mixtures with a focus on common household materials. They investigate: What is a pure substance? What is a...
Lesson Plan
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The Farther Away You Are, The Faster Away You Move

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore linear relationships. The lesson uses science to develop an understanding of the expanding Universe. There are 3 Labs, only 2 of which are required. Lab C is an enrichment for higher level classes.