Curated OER
What is Plastic?
Students experiment with plastics. For this what is plastic lesson, students make a simple polymer and discuss recycling. Students identify various types of plastics.
Curated OER
Medicine: Then and Now
Students read ancient Greek texts to explore ancient healing practices and compare them to modern-day medicine. They conduct research into modern first-aid practices, using a standard medical reference.
Curated OER
Motion Experiment
Students experiment with the laws of motion. In this motion instructional activity, students explore Newton's Laws of Motion. Students work in groups experimenting with different objects and observing different types of motion.
Curated OER
Leaf Chromatography
In this leaf chromatography worksheet, learners separate the pigments of a leaf using paper chromatography. They answer 4 questions about their results and draw the colors they observe on their chromatogram from the leaf.
Curated OER
A Model of the Rock Cycle
In this rock cycle worksheet, students use different colored crayons to represent different types of rocks. They follow step by step procedures to model the rock cycle with the crayons. Students draw the rock cycle, show weathering,...
Curated OER
Water Quality: Water Filtration
Students build a water filtration system. In this water quality lesson plan, students work in groups to construct water filtration units that can purify contaminated water. This lesson plan is part of a larger unit on water quality.
Michigan Sea Grant
Invasive Species
Learners identify invasive species to the Great Lakes and analyze their impact on the ecosystem. Using photo cards with pictures and facts, young scientists work in small groups to match invasive species with their corresponding...
Michigan Sea Grant
Survival Game
Musical chairs may be a classic game, but Ruffe Musical Chairs is a unique lesson on invasive species! Using the time-honored game, pupils role play the behaviors of the invasive fish called Eurasian ruffe. Learning about this aggressive...
Curated OER
Making Molecules
In this making molecules worksheet, students complete a table of elements with their symbol, atomic number, atomic mass, number of protons, number of electrons, period and group. Students then make models using pipe cleaners and beads of...
Curated OER
Solution Shapes
In this solutions activity, students soak a pipe cleaner in hot water and a supersaturated solution of 20 Mule Team Borax. Students leave their pipe cleaner in the solution for 30 minutes and then observe. They put it back in over night...
Curated OER
Bioplastics
Students define bioplastics and identify its uses. In this bioplastics lesson, students compare and contrast styrofoam to starch peanuts after careful examination. Students understand what biodegradeable means.
Curated OER
Orbital Mechanics
Twelfth graders examine the misconceptions of Newton's laws of motion. In this motion and gravity lesson plan students interpret data and see the effects of gravity.
Curated OER
Parachutes: Is it Surface Area or Shape?
Students investigate how to make a good parachute. In this physics lesson, students observe the motion of parachutes as it falls and measure the time. They collect data and calculate the average descent time for each canopy shape.
Curated OER
The Siberian Arctic
Students, in groups, research the topics: habitats of northwestern Siberia, reindeer, oil and natural gas, and other threatened regions of the Arctic. They answer specific research questions based on their topic. They use online...
Curated OER
Exploring Indiana's Natural Resources
Fourth graders complete a variety of activities as they study the European exploration of the Midwest, focusing on Indiana. They map the path explorers took, comparing the British with the French. They research why the explorers stopped...
Teach Engineering
Quantum Dots and Colors
Introduce teams to quantum dot solutions with an activity that has them expose solutions to a blacklight, observe the colors, and take measurements. Groups graph the data and analyze the dependence between particle size and...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Services - Water Purification
Middle schoolers see that ecosystems provide services to people that are essential to life as we know it. Reporters (drops of water) could interview the trees and soil in the surrounding ecosystems for news stories on how they helped...
Curated OER
Model Volcanoes
Students represent volcanoes with models and sketches. They research volcanoes and plan how to build a model. They, in groups, build a model volcano and cause it to erupt making observations before and after the eruption.
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Young scholars participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Young scholars understand that air is densest near the...
Curated OER
Environmental Studies: The Environment Rocks!
Rock exploration, so exciting! After reading the book Everybody Needs a Rock, the class makes sandwiches to better understand that the Earth is made in layers. They then use a description of the 3 types of rock to conduct an observation...
Wild BC
The Greenhouse Effect: The Role of CO2
Though this is meant to be second in a two-part lesson, the two are not dependent on each other. Pupils play the roles of visible light rays, light or dark surfaces, and carbon dioxide molecules. They interact and react according to...
Curated OER
Germs and Your Body
Students study germs and ways your body fights against disease. In this germs lesson students complete an activity that demonstrates where germs can get into your body.
Curated OER
Endangered Animals: Hawaii
Students locate regions in Hawaii where specific endangered animals live. They describe habitats, identify reasons why the species has become endangered, consider how a healthy environment for wildlife contributes to a healthy...
Curated OER
HABITAT for the other 90%
Learners examine the connection between the habitat needs of endemic species to the habitat needs of humans. In this habitat lesson pupils research the habitat requirements of a given family then develop an idea to improve the...