Students are asked to build a nest that will keep a bird and 3 eggs safe. Nest must hold a bird and 3 plastic eggs and balance on tree branch.
This video shows the Grand Canyon and discusses how it formed.
Students are introduced to planetary research in order to increase their ability to recognize the planets and their surface features.
Students view images of the solar system (planets and moons) and record observations. They will also generate a list of questions they would like to find information about and conduct research to gather answers. Findings can be submitted in written form or presented orally to the class.
This article provides a brief discussion of the importance of teaching students to analyze data and representations of data as well as two resources that can help teachers implement these strategies into their instruction.
This article provides an overview of how teachers can use bibliotherapy to help students deal with social, emotional, and behavioral issues.
Students learn about the physics behind how a bicycle works. In an associated activity, students find out how to bike more efficiently by calculating gear ratios.
Learners will become paleontologists for a day. They will discover this career and undertake the challenge of designing a fossil excavator structure to remove newly discovered fossils stuck in a cave crevice. As a class, graph the results on the amount of weight each structure could lift without breaking.
In this lesson students can relate the predator/prey relationship and limiting factors concepts to animal populations within the outdoor classroom.
This module provides students a basic understanding of the atomic structure.
This interactive resource provides video clips of actual earthquakes to help students better understand the Richter scale and the Mercalli Intensity Scale.
Students use on-line earthquake hazard maps and other relevant geological information to assess hazards to life and property associated with hypothetical earthquakes of various magnitudes. Then, working collaboratively, they will use this information to develop strategies that might be used to reduce damage and loss of life in their local area.
In this classroom activity, middle school students examine the wide-ranging sizes of dinosaurs. The activity opens with background information for teachers about the enormous range of dinosaur sizes. In a classroom discussion, students describe the size of some dinosaurs. Then, working from an existing grid, students create either a to-scale drawing of a Tyrannosaurus head or a life-size drawing of a Protoceratops.
This worksheet assesses student understanding of basic genetics and patterns of heredity.
This worksheet assesses student understanding of basic genetics and patterns of heredity.
This tutorial by Bill Nye explains how to make a simple barometer using a jar and a balloon. The barometer is an old and accurate first look at predicting the weather by examining the pressure of the atmosphere. Students will discover how atmospheric pressure and surface gravity help meteorologists forecast the weather.
In this tutorial students will learn about static electricity. Students will also be able to explain what happens when neutral, positively charged, and/or negatively charged objects come into contact with one another.
This experiment from Bill Nye explains how to make a tornado in a bottle. Students will learn how gravity and air mass work together when creating a tornado contained within 2 bottles. Students will also discover how wind speed increases when colliding with warm air to create real world disasters that are known to be much more intense than hurricanes.
This video shows how Biltmore uses renewable energy through solar and biodiesel processes, in addition to sustainable forestry.