Let your brilliance shine like the sun. Future mathematicians and scientists consider given data on the abundance of different elements in the sun. The assessment task requires consideration of how these different abundances relate to...

In 1980, in the tropical rainforests of Panama, scientists discovered 1,200 species of beetles living in and around just 19 trees, with most of the species new to science—that's biodiversity! In the activity, learners work in teams to...

How do cohesion and adhesion work together? The third installment of a nine-part series teaches young scientists the difference between adhesion and cohesion. They also learn how cohesion and adhesion work together to cause capillary...

How do you measure surface tension? The fifth installment of a nine-part series is an experiment where young scientists use tubes of different sizes to measure surface tension. They calculate the average and standard deviation of the...

Explore terminology related to water droplets. The sixth installment of a nine-part series teaches young scientists about wetting and contact angles between water droplets and surfaces. It also distinguishes between hydrophobic and...

The Lotus Effect ... is it not some kind of yoga pose. In the last installment of a nine-part series, young scientists observe the Lotus Effect on lotus leaves and water-repellent cloths. They observe how motion and damage affect the...

Use a graph to tell a story! Given a graph, young scientists create a story to match. They must provide their own axes labels and description of the scenario. The graph has increasing, decreasing, and constant sections.

Scientists in California developed a bionic eye that allows blind people to see edges of objects in black and white and costs $145,000. In the activity, groups of scholars discuss bioengineering, focusing on the human eye. They then...

Welcome to your new job as an astrophysicist, astrobiologist, engineer, or research scientist at NASA. Your job is to search for alien life in our solar system! Throughout a unit of activities, learners search the galaxy through...

You never know what you will find next in the deep sea ecosystem. So far, scientists have found items that work as anti-tumor agents, anti-inflammatory agents, agents that stop uncontrolled cell division, and much more. The lesson plan...

Sediment samples from the ocean bottoms tell scientists about climate change, pollution, and changes in erosion for the area. Groups of learners focus on sediments and their movement through water. During a hands-on activity, they...

How did our universe really begin? Explore the Science Big Bang Theory and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with this multiple activity-based lesson that demonstrates that the increase of density due to the decrease of temperatures,...

Lewis dot diagrams, Lewis dot structures, and electron dot diagrams are all the same thing. Young scientists learn how to draw Lewis dot diagrams and come to understand how dots and dashes represent valence electrons and ionic or...

Varve: a deposit of cyclical sediments that help scientists determine historical climates. Individuals analyze the topography of a region and then study varve datasets from the same area. Using this information, they determine the...

Our young scientists have now specifically identified a problem, and this step helps them think of possible solutions. An outline, including guidelines, for brainstorming helps scholars stay on the right path. The resource includes...

Young scientists race from Earth to Mars and back, trying to complete mission objectives while avoiding radiation in this game for 2-4 players. To identify the winner, players must graph their mission points and radiation points at the...

Tune in! Young scientists use an AM radio at home to monitor solar output. The long-term project would be ideal in a flipped classroom or as an out-of-class project. 

High school scientists build their own magnetometer and use it to map the field surrounding a bar magnet. Excellent background resources is included, as well as a diagram of how to build the magnetometer.

So you built a magnetometer, now what? High school scientists use their magnetometer made in a previous lesson to map the union of magnetic fields of dipole magnets. They experiment with different alignments and draw conclusions about...

No GPS allowed! High school scientists continue to explore magnetic fields with a hands-on activity. After mapping the ambient magnetic field in the classroom and completing data analysis, they write about the similarities and...

Young scientists build on their previous knowledge and apply it to coronal mass ejections. By plotting the path of two different coronal mass ejections, they develop an understanding of why most don't collide with Earth.

Ninety-seven percent of scientists who study climate agree that human activity is warming the planet. Learners explore carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, a gas causing this warming, through a hands-on experiment. Once complete, they...

The steps of the scientific method examine a problem, make a prediction, and attempt to solve the problem—similar to the path most stories take. In the activity, individuals see how stories can explain natural events similar to the way...

Beginning with a pre-lab, kindergarteners trace the letters in the word earthquake and discuss what happens in an earthquake. The lab portion allows young scientists realize that earthquakes trigger shaking of different intensities...