Berkshire Museum
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Sorting Through Personal Choices
Raise children's awareness about the importance of conservation with this hands-on science instructional activity. Start by breaking the class into groups and having them collect trash from around the school or local park. Students then...
Curated OER
Determining pH
Students evaluate pH levels through a solubility experiment. In this pH levels lesson, students list characteristics of acids and bases. Students complete their own pH level experiment. Students go to the GEMS Alien Juice Bar website to...
Curated OER
A Statistical Study of Three Biomes
Learners collect data from one of three selected biomes. Data are then organized and statistically analyzed. This project engages students of different backgrounds grouped cooperatively in a relevant outdoor hands-on learning experience.
Curated OER
The Study of Urban and Suburban Environments within the Mystic River Watershed
High school students examine their own water-based environments, within the Mystic Watershed. As the learners engage in inquiry-based, hands-on projects, critical thinking skills and problem-solving, the project will lead them to cross...
Curated OER
Robotics
students identify and research robots in various roles in society, and create robotic arms and multimedia presentation based on their findings.
Curated OER
Biospheres in Your Backyard
Pupils collect data from a local river biome. They use the information for metric conversion and graphing equations. They study the components of what makes up a biosphere and how math is used to analyze one.
Curated OER
Growing Learners: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Investigating Plants and Flowers
Engage young scientists in these inquiry-based lesson ideas to spring into learning about nature.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Spectroscopy Mission
In this mind-bending activity, young engineers explore this question of whether or not light actually bends. Using holographic diffraction gratings, groups design and build a spectrograph. The groups then move on research a problem...
Curated OER
Your 4-H Focus on Food Labels
Facilitate healthy eating habits with this collection of activities. This worksheet, made for 4-H originally, covers nutrition, health, and fitness. Middle schoolers focus on the life skill of making healthy lifestyle choices. They...
Curated OER
Around-The-World-Zoo
Junior biologists design and maintain a website about a zoo by researching, classifying, and providing the correct habitats for the animals they choose to have in their zoo. This technology-based project can last over an entire semester...
Curated OER
Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...
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Peer Review Meets D.I.Y.: Publishing a Student Science Journal
Peer review of science laboratory reports? You bet! First, learners work in pairs to review a scientific article. Then they trade lab reports for peer review. The end result is the publication of a classroom scientific journal!
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.
Teach Engineering
Working Together to Live Together
Whose home is it anyway? Design teams plan a housing development in which they must also protect a native species. The teams consist of a project manager, civil engineer, environmental engineer, and graphic designer. Teams present their...
Polar Trec
Calorimetry Lab
Young people between the ages of 11–13 need on average about 2,000 calories per day. Within the lab, groups learn about calorimetry and respiration. They explore how it pertains to humans and animals living the Arctic where cold...
Teach Engineering
Copycat Engineers
It's often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Young engineers learn about biomimicry, which uses nature to generate engineering ideas, in the fifth lesson of nine in a Life Science unit. Working in groups, they select...
Teach Engineering
Solar Angles and Tracking Systems
The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...
Teach Engineering
Projectile Magic
What do the movies October Key and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone have in common? The fourth installment of a five-part module presents equations regarding projectile motion and how to rearrange them. Scholars view video clips...
Teach Engineering
Exploring Bone Mineral Density
Bone up on bone density. The second installment of the seven-part series has pupils read articles on two different websites to learn about bone density and its measurement, as well as X-rays and other imaging tools. A quiz assesses their...
Curated OER
Overview of the Instructional Model and Focus Questions
Students design STELLA model based upon scientific research done on monarch butterfly lifecycle; model allows students to predict how many larva will be produced during the winter and thus collect the correct amount of food to sustain...
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Watershed Investigations
Students explore the components of a watershed and the factors that affect it. They read a topographical map and use geometry to determine the area of a watershed. Students estimate the volume of a body of water and perform runoff...
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Force and Gliders
Young scholars explore physics by creating data graphs in class. In this flight properties lesson, students read the book Flying Machine and identify the force, resistance and construction necessary to keep a glider in the air. Young...
Curated OER
The Flat Stanley Project
Students read the book Flat Stanley. In this environmental stewardship instructional activity, students participate in earth-friendly activities based upon the book. This instructional activity includes ideas such as using recycled...
Curated OER
Climate and Periodic Functions: Science & Math Integration
Students complete a lab that introduce the scientific concept of climate on Earth. Following the lab, they complete further research on climate. Using average monthly temperatures students construct a mathematical model and analyze the...