Interactive
PBS

Map a Model Solar System

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Creating a solar system map is a snap thanks to a hands-on activity! Science scholars explore the solar system by building it wherever they choose during an interactive from PBS's Space series. Users pick both the location and scale for...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

An Inflated Impression of Mars

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Help your class understand the magnitude of the distance between Earth and Mars with an activity that asks small groups to use balloons to create scale models of the Earth, Moon, and Mars. Class members figure out the distances...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Big is Barbie?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students measure various dimensions of a male and a female dolls body and scale them proportionally to average human measurements. They calculate the appropriate scale factor (magnitude) to enlarge their doll and apply that scale factor...
Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

What Can Tree Rings Tell Us About Climate?

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Tree rings are slightly thicker on the south side of the tree because it receives more sunlight. Part two in a series of five lessons helps learners analyze tree rings to determine the environmental conditions that caused size...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Proportionality: The X-Plane Generation

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students meet NASA researchers who describe the relationship between force, energy and motion. They discuss how NASA's experimental X-plane is being tested to make space travel more reliable and show how proportionality and ratios are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Designing Kites

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders sketch their own kites by creating a scale drawing of an original design.  In this designing kites lesson, 6th graders draw a rough sketch, then accurately draw their design on large paper with a ruler, measuring...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Andromeda's Scale

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students perform a classroom activity of measuring the angular size of something from several distances. On the Internet, they obtain and examine images with various magnification factors and estimate the angular size of Andromeda.
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Mixtures and Nanotechnology

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What does size have to do with it? Learners analyze different mixtures, both homogeneous and heterogeneous, to discover the properties related to the size of their particles. The activity connects these properties to those of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Layering the Air

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars study the layer of the atmosphere. In this lesson on the atmosphere, students discuss the composition of the air around us and how the atmosphere was formed. Young scholars create a scale model of the layers of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Leonardo Lives

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students investigate the concepts of force and motion. They describe how motion is created by force. Also students define a simple machine and the factors of application to creating force or motion. They analyze the plans of Leonardo De...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Protecting the Herd

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explain how immunizing a significant proportion of a population against a disease prevents epidemics of the disease (herd immunity). They list factors that affect the proportion of a population that must be immunized to prevent...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Protecting the Herd

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Learners simulate the spread of a fictitious disease using an internet-based simulation. In this biology lesson, students predict the factors that could affect epidemic. They investigate these prediction using computer simulation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fast Cars and Roll-Over

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students creat a ramp using cardboard and tape. They follow directions to perform an experiment to determine the degree of tilt needed to cause an empty milk carton to tip over. Students discuss their results in terms of center of gravity.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Satellite Eyes

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore the ways in which satellite images provide details of the Earth's surface and how they are capable of taking digital images of the Earth from space they vary in resolution and breadth. They view how cameras and lenses...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wildlife Sampling-Capture-Recapture

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders simulate the capture-recapture method of population sampling using beans. In this biology lesson, 7th graders calculate the total population of beans in the bowl. They assess whether this method is reliable or not.