Curated OER
Beginning Statistical Inquiries into the Scientific Method: Jelly-Side-Down
Students describe what happens when a piece of jellied toast is dropped off a table. From these observations, students pose a question concerning which side of the jellied toast land on the floor.
Curated OER
Scientific Method in Action
Students investigate the current environmental movement by cleaning up their own campus. In this environmental care lesson, students practice cleaning their "environment" by picking up trash on their campus and decrease litter by...
Curated OER
Inquiry in Science Using an Animal Behavior Model
Students observe a planaria without a microscope and with a stereoscopic microscope. They draw the planaria and describe its motion and eating habits. Students research planarias various body systems and behavior. They design an...
Curated OER
Can You See What I See?
Students gain an understanding of the methods used to explore the earth's surface. Students create a time line leading to the first satellite image of the Earth that includes the various methods utilized to observe the earth's surface.
Curated OER
Bouncing Light
Students design an experiment to investigate how light reflects. In this physics lesson, students apply the scientific method in conducting the experiment. They collect data and formulate a conclusion.
Curated OER
Chefs of the Week
Students, as members of a team, are asked to prepare one meal to feed one person in a day. They analyze their meal and their daily menu for the nutritional content and explain this during an oral presentation.
Curated OER
Let's Investigate Tooth Decay
Students conduct a simple investigation to explore tooth decay.
Curated OER
Determining the Age of Fossils
Students examine the concept of radioactive dating. In this radioactive dating lesson, students investigate how to determine the ages of fossils and rocks as they learn about half-life radioactive decay.
Curated OER
Making Marbles
Learners perform a simulation in which they work for a toy company and have to figure out how many marbles of different sizes can be made with the provided material. They must design their own experiment to figure this out.
Curated OER
Temperature School
Students observ the cooling and warming of room temperature, hot, and ice cold cans of water by measuring the change in temperature over time. They then attempt to develop explanations for the observations made and apply their findings...
Curated OER
Balls and Ramp
Students role several balls of different weights down a ramp and into a paper cup and record how far each ball made the paper cup move. They then answer questions that help them analyze their results and reinforce the idea that energy...
Curated OER
Plastic Wrap
Students compare the price and quality of different kinds of plastic kitchen wraps and then rank them from best to worst. They take into account how well it comes out of the roll, if it seals well, it is tangles, how much weight it...
Curated OER
Three D Constellations
Students are introduced to both celestial coordinates and to the first rung on the distance determination ladder. They convert spherical coordinates to Cartesian coordinates to construct a three dimensional model of a constellation...
Curated OER
Chemical Changes
Students explore chemical changes. in this lesson about the properties of chemical changes, students do experiments, observe, and record results. Students complete four experiments in order to observe chemical changes. In each experiment...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Polar Trec
Down to the Deep Virtual Lab
At a depth of 3,000 m in the ocean, the pressure is 300 times that at sea level! In the activity, individuals predict what will happen to Styrofoam cups submerged 3,000 meters into the ocean. They then convert these units to soccer...
NASA
Determining the Nature, Size, and Age of the Universe
Prompt scholars to discover the expansion of the universe themselves. Using photographs of other galaxies, they measure and then graph the size and distance of each. Finally, they draw conclusions and prove the universe is...
American Chemical Society
Designing an Absorbency Test
Time to soak up some learning! A hands-on lesson teaches learners about the absorbency properties of substances. They conduct tests by dipping different materials in water to determine which hold water and then complete a handout to...
Curated OER
Gravity Versus the Mighty Egg
Middle schoolers design, revise and construct a method for protecting an egg from cracking when it is dropped from a height. They work in small groups to develop their protection method and then collect and analyze data as a class when...
Curated OER
Measuring Wind Speed
Students study wind speed and collect wind speed data. In this wind speed instructional activity, students visit a website to learn about the local wind speed forecast for their week. Students discuss wind and wind speed. Students...
Curated OER
How Does Light Travel
Seventh graders design an experiment to determine how light travels. In this physics lesson, 7th graders collect and analyze data. They formulate a conclusion and share results with the class.
Curated OER
Classy
Students explore the classification system in this seven lessons unit. The diversity of life forms and their characteristics are examined using a microscope. Kingdoms, classes, and families are investigated.
Curated OER
Exercise and Heartrate
Fourth graders experiment to find the effects of exercise on the heart rate. In this exercise and heart rate lesson, 4th graders create questions about exercise and heart rate. Students use the scientific method to test and analyze...
Curated OER
Making Cents of Density
Middle schoolers utilize their knowledge of the physical properties of matter such as mass, volume, and density to solve a problem. They utilize the scientific method to solve a problem. Pupils analyze their data to determine whether...