Curated OER
Endangered Marine Turtles
Students work in groups and experience what it is like to be a hatchling marine turtle by playing a board game. In this endangered marine turtles lesson, students research the threats to marine turtle hatchlings. Students then...
Berkshire Museum
Adopt a Schoolyard Tree
Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...
Curated OER
Get Charged!
Students explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit. In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop students...
NASA
Moon Phases and Eclipses
Starry-eyed astronomers draw different views of the Moon in order to introduce its phases. Then they experiment with a ball and a lamp to recreate the phases. A demonstration ensures every pupil understands the process, and the...
Curated OER
Cut-off Genes
Investigate the relationships between different deep-sea organisms by DNA sequencing. A worksheet provides instructions for DNA sequencing and space to work. They simulate gel electrophoresis by cutting out paper "DNA strands."...
Curated OER
Light Stick Chemistry
In groups of three with the lights off and the shades drawn, investigators place inactivated light sticks, in three beakers: one filled with ice water, another with lukewarm water, and the other with room temperature water. They wait...
US Department of Energy
Building the Basic PVC Wind Turbine
Here is a comprehensive and well-written lesson plan that results in learners building a standard wind turbine. Once built, teens can design a variety of experiments to test different factors. This activity is a noble undertaking that...
Florida International University
The Good, the Bad and the Nasty Tasting
Examine the benefits of chemical defense mechanisms. Organisms in oceans use chemicals to ward off predators. Duplicate this adaptation using a hands-on experiment in which you ward off your predators (your pupils) with some...
Curated OER
Why Do Some Things Float?
Students recognize that density determines whether objects sink or float. In this sink or float activity, students experiment with plastic in three liquids. students drop their objects into the liquids and observe and record their...
American Chemical Society
Air, It's Really There
Love is in the air? Wrong — nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are in the air. The final lesson in the series of five covers the impact of temperature on gases. Scholars view a demonstration of gas as a type of matter before performing...
Cornell University
Characterizing a Solar Cell
Young classes are sure to get a charge out of this lesson! Learners experiment with circuits of a solar cell. They practice determining current, voltage, and power for the circuit and maximize the voltage and current of the cell.
Curated OER
Physical Changes to Matter
Pupils explore matter by conducting an in-class experiment. They experiment with water's various forms by melting and freezing water, identifying its new shape. These observations are recorded to supplement later discussion. They also...
Curated OER
Matters of Milk and Marshmallows
Students observe a teacher demonstration o classifying matter by its physical properties of shape and size. After discussing the definition of matter, students describe the state of matter. They sing a song to the tune of "Bingo." In...
Curated OER
Earth Systems Science
Students perform experiments designed to grow plants and bacteria in a controlled environment. In this ecosystems lesson students investigate varying conditions for growing plants and bacteria.
Curated OER
Science: Conditions for Slime Mold Survival
Students perform experiments to determine the nutritional needs and physical space requirements for slime mold to survive. After formulating hypotheses, they seal the petri dishes and set up the experiment along with two controls. ...
Curated OER
Green Spaces
Young scholars map the green spaces around their school and predict the impact of population growth on green spaces in their region.
Curated OER
A Chemist in My Class?
First graders in kindergarten science class discuss matter. They make predictions and then identify mystery items in brown paper bags as either solid, liquid, or gas by using their senses. They discuss that a chemist is a scientist that...
Curated OER
Grab Bag Experiment
Students analyze and record data. In this lesson about graphing and gathering data, students learn about the step of an experiment. Students learn new vocabulary, sort beans, record the data, and graph the data. Students add a variable...
Curated OER
The Science of Sleep and Daily Rhythms
Students observe their own daily rhythms by going to bed earlier and seeing what happens to their day afterwards. For this sleep lesson plan, students experiment with their own sleep cycles and answer questions about what happened...
Curated OER
Physical Science: Bubble Prints
Students participate in a lab experiment involving soap bubbles and making bubble prints. They blow bubbles into the soap and add paint to make bubble prints. With extra time, they can play with a variety of bubble toys to see what...
Curated OER
Popcorn Science
Students identify and apply the scientific method through an experiment with popcorn. Then they identify what independent, dependent, and control variables are and create a list of different variables that affect popcorn popping....
Curated OER
Science: Electric Fields from Point Charges
Students examine electric fields using viewers to discover the direction of positive charges and the location of the field's strength. They experiment with positive, negative, like and opposite charges. Students also describe how...
Curated OER
Science: Building an Electric Motor
Students build their own electric motors and use them to conduct experiments. Following a step-by-step procedure, they make wire coils by wrapping wire around disc magnets and complete the process with clay, paper clips, alligator clips,...
Curated OER
Solar Cycle
Students explore the solar cycle through a series of experiments. For this space science lesson, students construct and evaluate solar cycle graphs. They explain how this phenomenon affects the Earth.