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What Factors Affect the Strength of an Electromagnet?
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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3 reviews
Making an electromagnet from a battery, nail, and wire is a classic science demonstration. But instead of just demonstrating this for your students, let them explore it themselves! In this lesson they will discover how different variables affect the strength of an electromagnet. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS2-3. Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
2026 Ball Run Challenge for Grades 6-8
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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18 reviews
Add a twist to a classic activity with this fun lesson plan. Your students will design and build a ball run for a ping pong ball using nothing but paper and tape. Their goal is to make the slowest ball run possible. How long can they make it take for the ball to go through their ball run? An optional variation is available if you would like to give students an extra challenge. The 2026 Engineering Challenge has ended. You can still do this challenge with students informally. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
2026 Ball Run Challenge for Grades 9-12
Lesson Plan Grade: 9th-12th
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4 reviews
Add a twist to a classic activity with this fun lesson plan. Your students will design and build a ball run for a ping pong ball using nothing but paper and tape. Their goal is to make the slowest ball run possible. How long can they make it take for the ball to go through their ball run? An optional variation is available if you would like to give students an extra challenge. The 2026 Engineering Challenge has ended. You can still do this challenge with students informally. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • High School - Science & Engineering Practices
Aluminum Foil Boat Design: Surviving the Stormy Seas
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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4 reviews
People have used boats to transport things around the world for thousands of years. Unfortunately, those boats can be vulnerable to stormy seas and they can capsize. This lesson expands on the classic "aluminum foil boat" project. Normally, students would build a boat from a sheet of aluminum foil and see how much weight it can hold—in still water—before sinking. In this project, they will find out how well their boats hold up to waves! Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
  • MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Block That Noise!
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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4 reviews
Do your students ever wish they could block out an annoying noise or music they don't like? In this fun lesson plan, they will design sound-insulating containers and measure how well they work using a mobile phone and a sensor app. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Build an Arduino Self-Driving Car
Lesson Plan Grade: 8th-12th
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2 reviews
This eight-part lesson will guide you through building and programming Arduino-controlled autonomous cars with your students. Each part contains a detailed step-by-step video and a supplemental lesson plan PDF with learning objectives, assessment opportunities, and appendices with circuit diagrams and example code. You can present the material yourself or have students follow along with the videos and pause to work on their autonomous cars. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • HS-ETS1-2. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
Can You See Through Me?
Lesson Plan Grade: 1st
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21 reviews
In this lesson, students explore firsthand what transparent, translucent, and opaque mean, and how they are related to light. They will place a variety of materials in front of an illuminated object and predict if and how well they will be able to see the object through the material sheet. In doing that, students will realize that different materials allow different amounts of light to pass through. Remote learning: This lesson plan can be conducted remotely. The Engage section of the… Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
CUT! How Does CRISPR Work?
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-12th
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6 reviews
In this lesson plan, students will take a closer look at the most recent developments in gene editing. Specifically, they will learn about the CRISPR technology using various interactive simulations and other resources. Based on their gained knowledge, students will create a model of the CRISPR-Cas9 components and create a stop-motion animation video of the molecular mechanism of CRISPR-Cas9. Remote learning adaptation: This lesson plan can be conducted remotely. Students can work… Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-LS4-5. Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
  • HS-LS1-1. Construct an explanation, based on evidence, for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins, which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.
Designs in Nature: Investigate the Branching Structure of Trees
Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-2nd
Nature is full of objects with many different shapes. Some of these shapes display obvious regularities or distinct patterns, such as stripes, waves, symmetry, or spirals. Each of these natural patterns has evolved over a very long time and serves a specific function that usually helps a plant, animal, or other organism to survive. In this lesson plan, students explore the branching pattern of trees, plants, and leaves. They will make drawings and a leaf rubbing to compare different branching… Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • K-2-ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
Doctor, What Does My Plant Need?
Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten
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6 reviews
In this lesson, students will role-play a consultation between a plant scientist and a plant owner. The goal is for the plant scientist to identify what is wrong with the plant based on the information given by the plant owner. As they evaluate what the unhealthy plant has or doesn't have, students will realize that plants need four things (air, water, light, and soil) to live and grow. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
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