Is everything really connected? Take your class on a walk outside, where they will make observations and write them down on a worksheet. Once they are back in the classroom, learners will work to determine if and how things like birds,...

An excellent instructional activity awaits your young scientists! In it, learners are invited to explore the world of pulleys, levers, and planes; simple machines that make lifting heavy things much, much easier. They watch video, and...

Students explain basic principles of aeronautics such as gravity and lift. In this How Things Fly lesson, students visit the interactive, hands-on How Things Fly gallery at the Smithsonian. Students perform three experiments that...

First graders construct a KWL chart on sound. In this physics instructional activity, 1st graders describe different ways to produce sound. They explain how sound waves propagate.

Third graders create aquariums or terrariums to explain how creatures depend on living and nonliving things.

Learners differentiate between current and static electricity, conductors and insulators, explain how energy is converted from chemical to electrical, measure voltage of batteries, collect data on voltage, and predict voltage of...

Students discuss the concept of the common good. Using primary source documents, they read accounts from volunteers in the Dominican Republic and discuss how they work for the common good. They reflect on the topic in their journals to...

Students identify how to classify living things. They classify various concepts including family members, kinds of clothing, numbers, shapes, and vocabulary words. They discuss how to classify various concepts and classify pictures of...

Hands on science is the way to go! Learners conduct a lab experiment to help them explain how plants make food through photosynthesis. They test for the presence of starch in leaves using iodine solution and identify the basic things...

Young scholars study concepts of energy and energy transfer. They look at how these concepts apply to musical instruments. They study the law of conservation of energy. They use the concepts studied in the lesson to design a musical...

Students participate in a scavenger hunt using their sense of sight. They bring various texture materials from home and discuss how things feel. Students identify the smells inside five jars. They discuss things they hear and why hearing...

Students describe how resistors affect the flow of electricity. In this electronics lesson students examine transistors and what they do and how they work.

Learners investigate energy sources by examining photographs.  In this atomic energy lesson,  students identify and describe various pictures and how atomic energy is used in them.  Learners create a presentation...

Students are introduced to how they produce sounds. In groups, they participate in experiments in which they measure sound and identify their five senses. Individually, they make their own musical instruments using different objects and...

Fifth graders discuss the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers as they look at the energy pyramid. While working in small groups, they create an ecosystem that includes all or some of the given categories, and they...

Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...

Students read examples of behaviors in various animals. They design an experimental question about the behavior. They explain if the question involves the proximate or ultimate level of causation.

Fifth graders explore how a plane can stay aloft. For this engineless airplane flying lesson, 5th graders experiment to find how the design of a plane and Bernoulli's principle keep planes in the air. Student's create a plane and answer...

Third graders explore the concept of linear measurements and how they work. Coins are used to reinforce the process.

Students map magnetic fields of a magnet using a compass and predict where fields cancel each other to create 'Bermuda Triangles'. In this magnetism lesson, students use a compass to map the magnetic field of a magnet. They explain how...

Students explore and define electromagnets. In this electromagnet lesson plan, students access an assigned web site to research what an electromagnet is and how it works. They complete a database with information from the web site and...

Students are able to define habitat. They are able to identify the four things that living things need to survive. Students are able to describe how living things are adapted to their habitats.

Students learn what a micro-organism is. In this micro-organism lesson plan, students understand that micro-organisms may be too small to see. Students learn microorganisms could be bacteria, fungi, something beneficial or a harmful...

Middle schoolers observe slides of cork cells and discuss the use of microscopes. They view a power point presentation on "Looking Inside Cells" and take notes aligned with the PPT presentation. They collaborate with a partner to create...