Students investigate the concept of sound and vibration. They use a tuning fork to make an observation. Students then propose the ideas of different experimental designs to test the concept. The ideas are constructed and then tested.

Students brainstorm types of accommodations needed for space travel. They create a table of categories for these accommodations and work in groups to research the categories. Each group puts together a five minute presentation to present...

Seventh graders investigate the basic characteristics and needs of living things. They identify the major parts of plants and animals by making lists. Students focus upon one living thing and speculate how if one part is changed how it...

Students apply the process of scientific inquiry to explore how living things are dependent on one another for survival. They match animals with their generalized food source. Students predict what happens to the organisms when their...

Middle schoolers review the components of the scientific inquiry method. In groups, they identify and describe the components and functions of all of the parts of a plant. Using a diagram, they label the parts of the plant chosen and...

Young scholars receive balloons representing the "Life Cycle of the Stars." As the attached script is read, students follow the directions for the color of balloon they are given. Young scholars chart the results for their star. They...

Students survey, graph and chart their prior knowledge about diabetes. They read a handout and complete a K-W-L chart. They develop a rubric to assess their diet and exercise and develop a shopping list, menu and exercise plan to share.

Students are introduced to the attraction and repulsion of magnetic forces. In groups, they observe how the forces react with different materials and record their data. They develop their own conclusions about the poles of magnets and...

Learners investigate the food chain. They brainstorm questions about the human food chain and explain what would happen to living things in the food chain if organisms or resources were removed. They role-play situations in which the...

First graders practice their phone number. In this phone number lesson, 1st graders discuss the importance of memorizing one's phone number. They practice memorizing their own phone number and recite it for the teacher. 

Winning a spin game is random chance, right? Pupils create a table to determine the sample space of spinning two spinners. Individuals determine the probability of winning a game and then modify the spinners to increase the probability...

Is it crazy to fall in love with your own work, or is that the purest love of all? Compare two renditions of the classic Greek myth Pygmalion and Galatea with a literary analysis exercise. After students compare the similarities and...

Jack London's heart for adventure has come to define the spirit of America and its frontier. Selected passages from the foreword The Cruise of the Snark take eighth graders through London's construction and voyage of his ship before...

William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...

Surrealistic painters like Marc Chagall and Wendy Rouse show viewers an expansive world in a small area. Young artists have a opportunity to create their own surrealistic paintings in response to a study of works by Chagall and Rouse.

Can you design the perfect chair? Scholars apply the engineering design process to design and build a prototype of a new type of chair from wires. They test their designs with a wooden artist model or stuffed animal.

Turn young mathematicians into landscape architects with this four-lesson series on area and perimeter. Beginning with a basic introduction to calculating perimeter and area using non-standard units of measurement, this...

What do Pascal's law, Archimedes' Principle, and Bernoulli's Principle have to do with fluid mechanics? The included PowerPoint presentation provides the basic definitions and equations associated with the three. A set of homework...

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...

Should driver's licenses be granted to unauthorized immigrants? That is the question class members grapple with in a lesson plan that asks them to first read a fact sheet that details the arguments for and against...

Once upon a time are four words most children are familiar with when reading a fairy tale. But do they know that fairy tales are a great way to learn the literary elements of reading and writing? Use a thorough fairy tale unit...

Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion,...

Give your class a chance to show what they know. In the last installment of a seven-part series, pupils summarize and review what they have learned in the series. They present their solutions for creating a biosensor to detect cancer...

It seems the post office has run out of stamps! Learners build all the values of postage available if the post office only sells five- and seven-cent stamps. The task provides an opportunity to create an expression in two variables and...