Free science lesson plans designed to engage students through hands-on experiments and activities. Chemistry, life sciences, physics, engineering and more, for elementary, middle and high school teachers.
How is it possible that our eyes can see things that are not really there? In this fun lesson plan, your students will explore how our vision works with the help of two short experiments that involve some fascinating optical illusions. Let your students discuss why they see a hole in their hand, or why they see colors that were never there, and let them construct their own explanations.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
MS-LS1-8.
Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Students explore how force, mass, and acceleration are related in this hands-on lesson plan. By experimenting with pushing a box across the table while varying force and mass and measuring the box's acceleration with Google's Science Journal app, students discover Newton's second law of motion for themselves.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
HS-PS2-1.
Analyze data to support the claim that Newton's second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.
In this fun lesson plan, students will measure how the amount of carbon dioxide in their exhaled breath changes with exercise levels. Carbon dioxide is a product of cellular respiration, so the lesson highlights how breathing is connected to cellular respiration and energy production in our body. They will make the measurements using a simple colorimetric test and a phone with Google's Science Journal app.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
Explore genetic variation through the world of taste in this problem-solving lesson plan. Working both individually and collaboratively, students figure out what kind of tasters they are, what this means about their own genetics, and how genetic mutations can lead to functional differences. This activity provides a hands-on, personalized opportunity to learn about how genotypes and phenotypes align.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
MS-LS3-1. Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
MS-LS3-2. Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.
Kindergarten students associate the sun with light and warmth. This lesson helps them expand this knowledge by getting their hands dirty! They will fill cups with soil, water and rocks and place them in the sun and shade for a while. By finding out how they can tell where a cup has been stored, they will learn how the sun affects Earth's surface.
In a follow-up lesson, Create Shade to Protect from the Sun, students figure out how to protect a territory from getting too hot in the sun.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth's surface.
Do you need a fun, easy way to teach your students about the scientific method? Try this lesson that uses rockets made from nothing but paper, tape, and straws.
An elementary school version of this lesson plan is also available.
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Can your students lift a book off the floor with just one finger? Find out and learn about simple machines in this fun lesson plan about levers.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
Have your students read about autonomous (also called self-driving or driverless) cars in the news? How can you build a car or a robot that will stay on the road without a human driver? In this project, your students will find out by building a robot that can automatically follow a line around a homemade race course, while learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and electronic circuits.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
How was magnetism responsible for the destruction of dozens of ships during World War II? In this lesson, your students will
explore the concepts of magnetic fields and forces using the example of World War II magnetic mines. With the help of a magnetometer and
Google's Science Journal app, students will investigate what factors affect the strength of a magnetic field. Then they will use
their knowledge to try to discover the location of hidden "mines" and investigate how they can cloak a…
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
MS-PS2-3.
Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
MS-PS2-5.
Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting
forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
Rainstorms can be powerful! Can you guess how much water poured down during the last rainstorm you experienced? Do you know if a brief downpour yields more or less water compared to a daylong drizzle? In this hands-on weather lesson, students design, build and use their own rain gauge to get answers to all of these questions.
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NGSS Performance Expectations:
3-ESS2-1.
Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
3-ESS2-2.
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
