Curated OER
Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
Curated OER
The BEAM Project: Building Efficient Architectural Models
Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...
Curated OER
Wind Power
What a wonderful way to explore wind power! Through this lesson, learners get a background in the history of wind power, create their own wind turbine, and the test their designs. This is a terrific way to tie scientific principles to...
Curated OER
Cooking with the Sun
Students explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day lesson has groups of students build and test a variety of solar cookers....
Curated OER
In the Mix
Students construct a water filter. In this engineering lesson, students discover how to construct a water filtration system. Students work in groups to sort tools by their properties. Students analyze and construct a water filtration...
Curated OER
Not So Neutral Views
Young scholars explore ways to use indicators to distinguish between acids and bases. They conduct an experiment to model and discuss the harmful effect of acid rain in our living and non-living environment.
Virginia Department of Education
Planet Line-Ups
Should Pluto be considered a planet or a dwarf planet? Scholars research planets in our solar system to understand their similarities and differences. It also includes memory activities related to the order of the planets.
Curated OER
Light and Geometric Optics
It's time to see the light with a unit that focuses on light and geometric optics, including concave and convex mirrors. A variety of experiments, worksheets, and online activities are included.
Curated OER
Science: Wind Power
Students build models of wind turbines and experiment with different designs that will improve efficiency. Students will understand the use of wind power as a renewable resource.
Curated OER
Magnets
Young scholars explore the science of magnets and how magnets work. They conduct a series of fun experiments and magnetize objects and demonstrate how magnetism operates right through other materials.
Curated OER
Ice Ice Baby! The Design and Preparation of A Reusable Ice Pack
Students explore polymers by designing and preparing an inexpensive and effective reusable ice pack. They develop and test a design for a reusable ice pack in the science lab. Students apply chemical and physical properties of polymers...
Curated OER
Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Students explore the three main forms of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. They examine concrete examples of each, using their five senses and "experimenting" to find differences in them. They find pictures of each, cut them out and past...
Curated OER
Forces Cause Change
Third graders will gain recognition that physical relationships affect each other and that change occurs when one object acts upon another.The teacher will recognize ways in which technology can be used to enhance the understanding of...
Georgia Department of Education
Living Things/ Nonliving Things
How can you tell if something is living or nonliving? Introduce a set of criteria which can be used to determine which things are alive and which are not. The class discusses the basic needs of all living organisms, checks out an...
Earth Day Network
Forms of Energy
Give me a home where electric buffalo roam and I'll show you an ohm on the range. Introduction your classes to potential and kinetic energy, electricity, and renewable resources with a resource that combines observation, direct...
Discovery Education
Jets in Flight
This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build an...
Curated OER
Pottery Quest
Middle schoolers see that the production of ceramic pottery requires detailed knowledge of the physical properties of different clays and tempering materials, as well as knowledge about how these combine and react under specific firing...
University of Colorado
The Jovian Basketball Hoop
A radio receives radio signals, converts them to an electrical signal, then converts this signal to a sound signal, and amplifies the sound so people can hear it. Class members use this information to create a short-wave radio antenna...
NOAA
A Day in the Life of an Ocean Explorer
What's life like aboard an ocean exploration vessel? Junior oceanographers examine the important role of communication in ocean research in lesson two of a five-part series from NOAA. The materials introduce the class to life on board...
Curated OER
Plants in Your Gas Tank: From Photosynthesis to Ethanol
Explore ethanol and how it is produced. Young scientists investigate photosynthesis and fermentation to the concept of conservation of energy and mass. They discuss the environmental and economical benefits of ethanol as a fuel additive.
Curated OER
3-2-1 Pop!
Students investigate how rocket liftoff demonstrates Newton's Laws of Motion. They participate in a class discussion, and construct a rocket powered by the pressure generated from an antacid tablet reacting with water.
Curated OER
A Closer look at Oil and Energy Consumption
Upper graders analyze basic concepts about the consumption, importation and exportation of the worlds oil production. They create several graphs to organize the data and draw conclusions about the overall use of oil in the world.
Teach Engineering
Thirsty for Gold
In the last portion of the six-part unit, teams perform an experiment with gold nanoparticles to determine which sport drink has the most electrolytes. The nanoparticles are used as chemical sensors and fluoresce in different wavelengths...
NOAA
Mapping the Deep-Ocean Floor
How do you create a map of the ocean floor without getting wet? Middle school oceanographers discover the process of bathymetric mapping in the third installment in a five-part series of lessons designed for seventh and eighth graders....