Curated OER
Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
Curated OER
Comparing Microscopic Organisms in Fresh and Polluted Water: An Invitation To Inquiry
Students have the opportunity to develop and formulate ideas and explanations through the scientific standard of inquiry. They identify organisms by using an identification key for specific aquatic geographical area.
Arizona State University
Physics of Boats
Let's go sailing! An instructive unit includes six lessons with multiple activities to teach scholars about density, center of gravity, buoyancy, and the Archimedes Principle. They can complete the final project of building a boat...
Curated OER
Classifying Candy I
Students explore the observable properties of matter. They develop two binary classification systems using concrete objects. based on two different properties of the concrete objects.
STEM for Teachers
Electromagnificent
This physics pun really hertz, but this STEM lesson plan can help. The inquiry-based activity has young scientists create a testable question about electromagnetic strength; plan and implement their own experiments; and record and...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Survival of the Fittest - Variations in the Clam Species Clamys sweetus
It's not often that you come across a clever laboratory activity that is both imaginative and comprehensive! Using M&M's and Reese's peanut butter candies to represent two different clam species, young biologists test for "relative...
Rural Science Education Program
Cells, Genetics, and Biotechnology
For scholars tired of reading the textbook, this unit includes nine hands-on lessons. Through group work, lab activities, experiments, and even one inquiry-based lesson, scholars apply knowledge about cells, genetics, and...
Curated OER
Invent on the Spot
The best inventions come from a problem that needs to be solved! Given a container with holes in...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
Students analyze information from a variety of sources in order to create a hypothesis about the origin of an interesting family artifact.They create alternative hypotheses based upon available information to demonstrate that some...
Curated OER
Classification of Cerealites
Students create a dichotomous key. In this categorizing lesson, students create a dichotomous key for different types of cereal. Students classify the cereal into groups such as flakes and cereal with holes. Students discuss their...
Curated OER
Bird Eggs
Learners perform an experiment with different types of bird eggs to determine what factors make them strong and able to stay on a cliff without rolling off.
Curated OER
Color Dots 2
Students develop simple observations. They observe bleeding of colored inks with water, to understand mixtures, and to make generalized inferences from their observations.
PHET
Learning about Space Weather
Is the sun the only celestial body with magnetic fields? A guided discussion on the weather in space is designed with a mix of questions, discussions, explanations, and applications. Additionally, the resouce includes an...
Curated OER
Digestion & Nutrition: a Case Study
Middle schoolers explore digestion/nutrition and utilize scientific investigation skills. They complete meal logs for several days and graph their results. After analyzing their data, they write formal lab reports.
Sea World
Marine Animal Husbandry and Training
Step into the role of a zoo director with several activities about animal training and running a zoo. Kids calculate the amount of food each animal needs, design a habitat for penguins, decide how to breed bottlenose dolphins, and train...
Curated OER
Drinking Water and Water Purification
Sixth graders design experiments to compare the amount of bacteria in river water to the amount in purified tap water. They explore how water purification removes bacteria and pollution from the water. Students examine the steps of the...
Discovery Education
Cushion It!
Sugar cubes, collide! Groups design protection systems using bubble wrap to protect sugar cubes from being destroyed by falling batteries in the STEM lesson. They consider how the experiment relates to collisions in real-world...
Curated OER
Erosion
Students design and conduct an open-ended investigation using a variety of earth materials to answer a questions posed by the teacher: How does the erosion of sand compare with the erosion of gravel? After producing evidence that...
Curated OER
Ice Melting
Students design investigations to test various materials to prevent heat gain in frozen water. The task assess students' knowledge of scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection, measurement,...
Curated OER
Pendulums
Students construct a pendulums and experiment with what variables change or effect the rate at which they swing through an arc. They are assessed on scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection,...
Earth Day Network
Filtering Water
See the water filtration system up close with a fun science experiment. Young scientists work for several class periods to design a water filter using household objects, and then decide which filter material would be most effective...
Curated OER
On The Go! Forces and Motion
Students create a car using physics. In this forces and motion lesson, students create a car and test which changes in design change the performance of the car. Students complete a graphic organizer with the different changes...
Curated OER
Gridding a Site
Students establish a grid system over an archaelogical site. They label each grid unit. They determine the location of artifacts within each grid unit. They construct a scientific inquiry concerning the location of artifacts on the site.
Curated OER
Mercury in the Environment
Students develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry. They develop an understanding of chemical reactions, structures and properties of matter. They develop decision-making skills in natural and human-induced hazards.