Curated OER
Nailing Rust
When your upper elementary or middle school class is learning about chemical changes, these activities help demonstrate the concepts. In Part A, they submerge and place a nail partially underwater, then after a week they make...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Exploring Environments
Different animals live in distinct and specialized environments. Learners will discuss organisms and environments, and then create some using their dramatic art skills. They all act like animals in a marine environment. When they are...
Curated OER
Flutter Farm
Students create their own butterfly garden and follow a participation plan to ensure that everyone will have a hand in the garden. In this gardening instructional activity, 5th graders log their progress with their garden by...
Cornell University
Building a Compound Light Microscope
What better way to learn how to use a microscope than building your own? A lab investigation has scholars use lenses from magnifying glasses and sheets of cork to design their own compound microscopes. They calculate focal length...
Mascil Project
House Insulation
Make sure your house is warm in the winter. Pupils analyze graphs of heating costs for two similar houses and make hypotheses for why the costs differ. They then build models of houses with appropriate insulation to reduce heating costs.
Curated OER
Elements Commercials
Student teams use a digital camcorder and iMovie to create a commercial about an element. They also use the Internet and their textbook to gather the following information about their element: the name, the symbol, the atomic number, the...
University of Colorado
The Jovian System: A Scale Model
Jupiter has 67 moons! As the seventh in a series of 22, the exercise shows learners the size and scale of Jupiter and its Galilean moons through a model. They then arrange the model to show how probes orbited and gathered data.
University of Colorado
Spacecraft Speed
Space shuttles traveled around Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, way faster than trains, planes, or automobiles travel! In the 13th installment of 22, groups graph different speeds to show how quickly spacecraft move through...
NASA
Revising an Investigation
Write, edit, and then revise! The fourth lesson in a five-part series asks peers to provide feedback on research. Individuals then use the research to edit and revise conclusions and develop their presentations.
University of Colorado
Phases of Charon
Pluto, although no longer considered a planet, has five moons. Pluto's moon, Charon, is the focus of a resource that describes how the moon is viewed from the surface of Pluto. Photos help individuals see how Charon would look at...
Curated OER
Exploring Learned and Innate Behavior
Young scholars explore the differences between learned and innate behavior among humans and monkeys. They complete an assignment and read articles about two studies, which used similar test methods to show that infants and monkeys share...
PHET
Planet Designer: Kelvin Climb
It's time to get those creative juices flowing! This second activity in a series of five continues allowing pupils to design their own planets. It the same format as the first, but, this time, allows learners to alter greenhouse...
Curated OER
Mighty Minerals
Students identify the characteristics of minerals. They complete proper identification tests and record the data in an organized fashion. They list important uses for minerals as well.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey
The Great Peregrine Scavenger Hunt - On the Internet
The story of one bird provides valuable insight into general animal behaviors and interactions. Young researchers investigate the peregrine falcon using a web search. They analyze the behaviors of the raptor including its migration...
University of Wisconsin
Noting Notable Features for Rain Gardens
Eight groups in your class are each responsible for a different aspect of surveying the campus for a suitable rain garden location. Features to consider include water flow, topography, sun/shade patterns, land surface, vegetation,...
Cornell University
Diffraction Demystified
Study diffraction patterns using CDs and DVDs! Scholars measure the diffraction patterns of a light wave as it hits a CD or DVD. Using the information, they can measure the distance between the tracks.
Curated OER
Strum Along
Students engage in a lesson which takes something constructed by the class, that would be normally classified as just sound, then work together to make what can be perceived to be music. Students construct a basic stringed instrument...
Curated OER
Home Living/ Daily Living: Food Groups
What are the best foods to eat, and how much is too much? Kids discuss the importance of eating the right amount of each of the four food groups. They discuss the food pyramid and make meals by cutting and pasting foods from a magazine...
Kenan Fellows
Let's Learn About Stewardship and River Basins
What does it mean to be a good steward? Middle school environmentalists learn to care for their state's waterways through research, a guest speaker, and poster activity. Groups must locate and learn more about a river basin and the human...
Curated OER
Wetland Metaphors
Students describe the characteristics of wetlands and identify their ecological functions. They inspect items and use them to create metaphors about wetlands.
Curated OER
Water Cycle
Identify and interpret the earth's different water sources. Third and fourth graders describe and demonstrate the process of the water cycle, make a model of its two main parts, and predict and infer to answer questions about the...
ARKive
Marvellous Mini-beasts – Design a Species
Here is a creative activity that teaches kids how species evolve different characteristics for survival. The lesson plan begins as the class discusses and examines the adaptive traits of mini-beasts or insects. Then, in small groups,...
Curated OER
Off the Grid
Young scholars examine the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and non renewable energy sources. In this engineering lesson students explain what it means for a house to be "off the grid".
Curated OER
Sandscapes to Landscapes
Students explore landscapes and create their own in a creative project.