NASA
Is It Alive?
Determining whether or not something is living can be more difficult than it seems. Put your young scientists to work defining their own criteria to identify life, then work with three samples to see if they are alive or...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Withering Plants - Stressing Over Lost Water
Expectant earth scientists examine the bottom side of a leaf and learn the role of the stomata. They consider the gas exchange that occurs through these structures and relate how the climate is changing to its impact on food crops. This...
Illustrative Mathematics
Logistic Growth Model, Abstract Version
Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense...
Nuffield Foundation
Investigating Osmosis in Chickens' Eggs
You might not be able to learn through osmosis, but you sure can observe it! Scholars observe and measure osmosis using chicken eggs. They control for multiple variables to determine which variables have an impact and how the impact...
Council for Economic Education
Employment Data: Is the Economy Healthy?
Low unemployment is an indicator of a healthy economy—right? Current employment data and research leads scholars on a quest to find the true health of the economy. They analyze research on Payroll Employment Data and watch a short video...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Accessing Prior Knowledge: Global Climate Change Survey
Begin a unit on weather and climate change by assessing prior knowledge of the topic. Learners respond to a survey with questions that ask what they think causes climate change, the effects of climate change, and if it is important...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
Sometimes, the best solution to a problem can be found by walking in someone else's shoes. Here, scholars use character cards to take on the roles of people around the world. They determine how their character's...
Leadership Challenge
Serving the Stakeholders' Interests
When school and community leaders are at odds, what's a young person to do? Grouped pupils examine the details of a difficult situation during the 10th in a series of 12 leadership activities. Presented with a decline in community...
Curated OER
Taking Care of Me
Students brainstorm on the effects of stress on the body. In this health science lesson, students write journals three times a week about how they feel. They determine strategies to cope with stress.
Curated OER
Turtle Hurdles
Students participate in a simulation in which they discover the threats to sea turtles throughout the world. In groups, they act out the life cycle of a sea turtle and describe the stresses that threaten their survival. As a class,...
Curated OER
Bully Prevention
Students examine the topic of bully prevention. In this character education lesson, students establish what bullying is, role play bullying scenarios, and discuss how to manage bullying incidents.
Curated OER
Recycling Survey
How many people really recycle recyclables and how do they feel about it? High schoolers create a survey to find out. Once they agree on what questions to include, they each interview four people outside of the classroom....
Curated OER
A Little Horse Sense
How have horses evolved over time? How do horse skulls reveal this evolution? How have the roles horses play changed over time? What kind of social structure do horse herds have? How should wild horse populations be managed? To find the...
Curated OER
Pendulums
First-time physicists experiment with pendulums in this physics lesson plan. They vary the weight of the bob, record how long each takes to complete ten period swings, and then calculate the time for one period. They repeat the...
Curated OER
Spraying Strawberries
Students examine the concept of dimishing marginal productivity. They role play the role of a farmer who has to decide how many times to spray his strawberry crop. They complete a chart and discuss the results.
University of Arkansas
Twizzling Fractions
Using food as a manipulative is one of the best ways to incorporate hands-on learning in the classroom. This hands-on approach allows young mathematicians to compare, order, and identify fractions with the use of Twizzlers® and...
Curated OER
Tree Cookies
Students identify heartwood, sapwood, and a tree's annual rings, infer from a tree's rings what damage or stress might have occurred in its life, and make a time-line of human history that coincides with a tree's rings.
Curated OER
How Balanced Are You?
Help young learners look at energy in and energy out. Discuss how different activities may require different amounts of energy in. Use the included worksheet to have them write or draw pictures of what they ate in one day and what...
Curated OER
The Public Choices of Senator Aspyer Tu Moore
Young scholars role play roles of people in the life of Aspyer Tu Moore. They analyze his public choices and solve a problem related to them. They answer questions to end the instructional activity.
Curated OER
Calculating Your Foodometer
Middle schoolers explore environmental issues by completing a food production class activity. In this carbon footprint lesson, students discuss the types of foods they eat, where they come from and what types of methods are used to...
Curated OER
Be An Expert
Part of a series of lessons about bring Native American stories into the classroom, this plan suggests having kids research and take notes on one group of Native Americans and then complete a project that they present to the class. Pull...
Curated OER
Columbus Day / Computer
Help your class explore holidays and important people. They will use a computer to find out important information on Christopher Columbus. The will research his voyages, ships, and history of that time period. They will then incorporate...
Curated OER
Understanding and Avoiding HIV/AIDS
Students explore myths and facts pertaining to AIDS. In this AIDS/HIV lessons, students listen to their instructor deliver a lecture regarding the disease and then play a true or false game based on the lecture.
Curated OER
Cool Liquids
Chemistry neophytes use a temperature probe to assess the change as five different liquids evaporate. The implantation section suggests that they take readings every five seconds for a total of four minutes. They graph the data, look up...