Amaze your scholars with an activity that uses a Cartesian diver to demonstrate Pascal's Law, Archimedes' Principle, and the Ideal Gas Law. Groups then repeat the process and make their own diver move up and down in a bottle.

The challenge: determine whether a tank will float. A design activity has groups work as engineering teams in order to determine the stability of given tanks and liquid contents. The teams need to determine the equations to...

Begin a unit on the heart, the parts and the function of the heart, and about heart disease with a resource that includes a lecture, a PowerPoint presentation, and research information.  The lesson is the first of a four-part series...

Get some laparoscopic training without the pain with an activity that challenges class members to find out what it is like to perform laparoscopic surgery. Teams perform three different tasks and quantify their performance. The...

It might be silly to determine the creep rate of putty but groups will enjoy making different formulations of silly putty and playing with them to understand how the different mixtures behave. The second part of the activity has groups...

Concentrate to determine the best reflector design. Pairs use the engineering design process to build a reflector to increase the current output of a photovotaic panel. Teams arrive at a final design and present it to the class along...

Develop a model of a wastewater treatment center. The last activity of the unit has pupils mix a lake water sample into a tank of water containing fertilizers. Over time, the algae from the lake water grows and removes the nutrient-rich...

Make the strongest beam possible using taffy? Groups mold a taffy-water mixture into a beam and a reinforcing material of their choice. To finish the final installment of a two-part series, participants test its strength by adding...

A PowerPoint presents features of polymers and two of its categories (thermoplastics and thermosets). Instructors conduct demonstrations to illustrate the Weissenberg Effect and the Barus & Kaye Effects of polymers in the first...

Can corn power the world? Young scientists learn about how corn and other plants can provide renewable biofuels in the second of nine lessons. They set up an experiment to investigate how different variables affect plant growth. All of...

Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.

Help your class understand the magnitude of the distance between Earth and Mars with an activity that asks small groups to use balloons to create scale models of the Earth, Moon, and Mars. Class members figure out the distances...

The last segment of the nine-part unit makes a connection between springs and linear equations. Groups hang weights from the spring and measure its length. Then, using the data collected, they calculate the slope to find the k-value...

Explore what it takes to service the Hubble telescope. In the set of three activities, groups investigate several aspects of the Hubble telescope, including robotic arms used during repairs, spacesuits, and extravehicular activity (EVA)...

Heat up your lessons on boiling points. The resource provides a three-part activity: first, groups find the boiling point of solutions; second, they create boiling point curves for salt and sugar solutions; and third, they mix a solution...

Water is a powerful force; harness it through watermills. The task at hand is to create a simple watermill that functions in flowing water for at least three minutes. Scholars work together in teams to design and construct such a...

Groups simulate an orbit using a piece of string and a water balloon. Individuals spin in a circular path and calculate the balloon's velocity when the clothes pin can no longer hold onto the balloon.

The London Bridge should not have fallen down. And here's why. After a brief history of bridges and the three main types, class members are introduce to the concepts of tension and compression, the two main forces acting upon bridges. 

What energy conversions occur in the operation of a device? Small groups investigate devices and the energy conversions that occur. The groups create energy flow diagrams with added conversion processes for each of the devices...

Discover the properties of water-loving and water-hating surfaces. In the seventh installment of a nine-part series, scholars explore hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces by conducting an experiment. They observe surface coatings,...

Think you can solve the energy problem? You'll first need to know about current energy use. Analyzing a set of circle graphs lets scholars see where energy consumption is the greatest, both by sector and by household use. They develop a...

Pairs simulate the energy usage of different countries by drawing beads from a bag, which contain different beginning ratios of non-renewable and renewable energy resources. The activity concludes with a series of questions to tie...

What is this thing called the Internet? A KWL activity elicits what the class knows about how the Internet works. Then pupils read a copy of a memo about the need to keep the Internet open and accessible by everyone. 

Is there a correlation or causation relationship between air pollutants? Groups develop a hypothesis about the daily variation of air pollutants, specifically ozone and CO2. Using Excel to analyze the data, the groups evaluate their...