In this guided inquiry activity, students will use 2 marbles of different size and a box to investigate what makes the marbles move and what will cause the marbles to change speed and direction. Students record their observations and discuss their finding with the class after the lab portion of the lesson. Suggested teacher questions to guide the discussion are included in the lesson.

In this lab activity, students will compare two sample populations of sunflower seeds. Comparison of the two populations will be done through the generation of a histogram for each population. In completing this activity students will understand that scientists can demonstrate a selection event by data collection and graphical analysis of a population.

In this field activity, students will map a neighborhood wetland and generate various watershed questions. Students will identify engineered structures in or around this wetland and consider how flood water can be controlled.

In this lesson, students will determine ways to order the planets. Teacher directed inquiry will suggest that they first order the planets according to their distance from the sun. Students will then work on their own methods of determining "order."

In this lesson, students investigate the effect of soaking a gummy bear in water. They collect measurements of height, width, and mass before and after the soaking of the candy overnight. Students calculate percent change for each factor and graph the data on a bar graph. They then develop a new, testable question and follow through with the new experiment. A copy of the instructions and rubric is provided.

In this activity, students investigate a puzzle. They are given a set of cards with various properties. Each card has anywhere from 2 to 6 different properties depending on the level of the students and each set of cards has one or two cards missing. The object of the puzzle is to organize and group cards to look for a pattern in order to be able to predict the properties of the missing piece(s). Once the puzzles are completed the students learn about the process Mendeleev and other forerunners used in developing the first periodic tables

In this inquiry lab, students design and conduct simple experiments using elodea and Bromthymol blue to determine whether plants consume or release carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. Students will record their data which will be used to conclude whether carbon dioxide was consumed or released by the elodea. Through class discussion of student data, students will learn that carbon dioxide was consumed during photosynthesis. At the end of the class discussion students will be asked to answer 5 follow-up questions

In this project-based unit, students build a working catapult and prepare an extensive lab report explaining the physics behind its design and implementation.

In this lesson, students discuss forces acting on objects in a trajectory motion. They will review notes, study equations, solve projectile motion problems, and determine experimentally the impact point of a ball in projectile motion.

In this two day lesson, students collect three samples of soil from different locations on the school grounds. Students will observe the soil samples and compare them with other samples the teacher makes available. The class creates a data recording system for their observations and a class chart of their findings.

In this classroom activity, students will discover that when objects vibrate a sound is produced. Students will first observe different sound sources such as a music box or sound-making toys. They will then list their observations and come up with an answer to the question "How is sound made?" Groups will then come up with ways to test their conclusion to how sound is made and share with the class. As a class, students will conclude that vibrations cause sound and that a sound source is an object that is vibrating and a sound receiver is what detects sound vibrations.

In this lesson, students record the high and low temperature daily and observe change over time. Students create a graph to show their data. They analyze the data they collected each month and use it to make predictions about the weather.

Students will observe living things in a wooded area near the school. They will list all living things they observe in a journal along with a question about each observation. After returning to the school, students will be introduced to the vocabulary: producers, consumers, decomposers, and food web. Students will select a question that can be investigated and share with the class. The teacher will guide the class to use the same question to investigate. How do these living things affect each other? Each student will organize their data into the three categories of producers, consumers, and decomposers. Using one of their living things, they will create a food web with at least one living thing from each of the three categories. Students will predict what would happen if one of the living things in the food web became extinct or over productive. An extension will be to investigate living things at a wetlands area.

In this lesson, students investigate the link between ocean temperatures and hurricane intensity, analyze instrumental and historic data and speculate on possible future changes.

In this classroom activity, students will investigate the magnetic pull of a bar magnet at varying distances with the use of paper clips. Students will hypothesize, conduct the experiment, collect the data, and draw conclusions that support their data. Each student will record the experiment and their findings in their science journals. As a class, students will compare each group's data and their interpretation of the results.

In this lesson, students work collaboratively to investigate two models of motion and forces on plate tectonics. After the lab, students should be able to explain plate tectonics at a point on Earth's crust.

In this lesson, students will observe a demonstration on water bottles being played as instruments with different amounts of water in them. They will then investigate further by experimenting with water bottle liquids, rulers, or straws to determine how size or length of object affects pitch.

In this Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum activity, students build spreadsheets to study the effect of compound interest on accounts into which they deposit savings. They build a spreadsheet to examine the two basic cases: the future value of a single deposit, and the future value of an annuity. In both, they use the mathematical equation for future value to do the calculation, not the buiilt-in Excel function. The intention is for the students to see and work with the underlying mathematics. They apply their spreadsheets to a variety of problems, including the following question: For a given interest rate, how much does one need to deposit every year to accumulate two million dollars in the account at the time of retirement?

This activity is based on the "Keep in Time" video and allows students to measure the speed of sound in air in a way that is intuitive and visual. A quick and easy way for students to measure the velocity of sound is to look only at the first and last claps, but the video can also be a great way to practice graphing skills and graph analysis skills.

In this lesson, students focus initially on a sub-section of Earth's natural carbon cycle related to the biosphere involving the cycling of carbon through the processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and decay. Following that, they study an annotated representation of the full carbon cycle with reservoirs and the processes that drive carbon from one reservoir to others. Finally, students learn about the interconnectedness of the Earth system, feedback loops, and how changes in the carbon cycle lead to other changes in the system.