Science Lesson Plans
Additional Science Content
Updated: April 8, 2002
Acid Rain and Air Pollution, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission — Grades K-8. Excellent content-rich lesson plans that include acid rain, air pollution, ozone depletion and rain forest deforestation. Background information is thorough and age appropriate, and includes data files of current air quality that can be interpreted and analyzed. A great springboard to a unit of study on local air quality in your community.
AIMS Activities Archived - AIMS Education Foundation — Grades K-6. A sampling of activities from AIMS Magazine with teacher friendly lesson plans and student activity sheets. Lessons also include Mind Boggler activities which can be used to motivate students to further investigation and inquiry. This site is linked to the AIMS home page where additional materials can be ordered.
Air Quality Lesson Plans - Dozens of plans, experiments, and activities sorted by grade level. From the Texas Natural Resources Commission.
Athena Earth Resources Instructional Material for Grades 4-8 covers several subject areas. Lesson plan topics include Wetlands, Earthquakes, and Geography. Projects stress collaboration and the use of technology. Great projects for teams of students.
Athena Oceans Instructional Material for Grades 4-8 covers several subject areas. Lesson plan topics include Ocean Currents, El Nino, and Whales. Projects stress collaboration and the use of technology. Great projects for teams of students.
Ben Franklin’s Discoveries - The Franklin Institute Science Museum — Grades 1-8. Teacher created activities based on the discoveries of Ben Franklin. Activity topics include electricity, solar energy and hot air balloons. Easy to use lesson plans could be used as a great addition to an integrated thematic unit on Ben Franklin.
Blue Ice from Online Class is a fee-based Internet-only class - Grades 4-8 where students "virtually" visit Antarctica. The curriculum includes daily activities exploring the animals of the Antarctic and their environment. Classes last 6 weeks and include all materials needed for the classroom teacher. An excellent resource for the teacher new to the Internet.
Bizarre Stuff You Can Make in Your Kitchen - Teachers - With Caution!! - We've listed this resource because it includes dozens of "kitchen science" experiments, many of which may be suitable for classroom use in certain circumstances. However, it also includes a few tricks that most adults probably shouldn't attempt, not to mention students. Please use this resource with caution.
"Building Big" Projects - Grades 4-8 - This is the teacher's guide to the PBS "Building Big" series which describes the engineering methods required to create a variety of huge structures. The exercises and demonstrations let students try their hand at small models that demonstrate the same principles used for larger structures. Lots of "hands-on" stuff for different grade levels and topics. Well worth a visit.
Consumer Testing in the Classroom - Grades 5-8. Put the scientific method to work in your classroom. This site offers project ideas for your students to design their own scientific experiments to test household products.
Cookie Jar Science - Part of the Teachers Helping Teachers Homepage- Grades K-12. This site features ten of the most requested teacher created science lessons and activities. Straight forward and easy to use for all grade levels.
Dip into the Thinking Fountain - The Science Museum of Minnesota- Grades K-6. Fun lessons and activities organized into a mind map that a student would create! A great way for you (or your students) to navigate through the site and pull out the pieces you need to make your units complete.
Do Science - Grades 4-8 - A delightful, informal collection of science activities and tricks built around themes like "science in the restaurant," - a collection of things to do while waiting for your food. These are simple, quick, and require minimal equipment. Well worth a look if you need to make a point in a hurry. Site has numerous related activities and links.
Energy Quest - from the California Department of Energy - A set of experiments and related resources dealing with energy use and energy conservation. This page is part of a larger energy site. While these experiments appear very useful, the quality of some other sections is spotty.
Exploratorium Science Snacks - This site was developed by the Exploratorium Regional Science Resource Center, San Francisco, Ca. – All grade levels - This site contains 107 "Science Snacks" (experiments and demonstrations...not edible!) They each begin with a photograph, list of materials, background information and procedure. These are well organized and although originally intended for High School, are of value to all levels and can easily be adapted. There are links to where materials can be purchased. These "Snacks" are high interest and easy to follow!
Explorer Science Lesson Plans - K-12 - This is an extensive collection of science lessons and laboratory procedures compiled by the Great Lakes Collaborative and the University of Kansas. The site offers a highly detailed outline of science concepts, and it provides a selection of different lessons and lab resources for each concept. All lessons are available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files which can be downloaded and printed on your printer. To get the Adobe Acrobat plug-in for your browser, head for the TeachersFirst Toolbox.
The Franklin Institute - Grades K-8. This collection of lesson plans from The Franklin Institute is a great source for designing an interdisciplinary unit on Colonial America. The site is linked to on-line exhibits from the museum.
From the Farm to Your Table: Where Does Our Food Come From? by Roberta Mazzucco, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Science and Social Studies, Grade 3-5 - Students learn about the food supply, pollutants, additives, and consumerism in this five to six week unit.
The Greening of Mars: The Changes Necessary to Sustain Life on Mars by Marcia L. Gerencser, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Science and Writing, Grades 4-5 - Teach about the problems on Earth and have them use this understanding to plan a balanced ecosystem on Mars.
Hands on Physics - Lesson plans - Grades 10-12 - A set of experiential lessons developed by the Concord Coalition for high school students. The lessons include:
Hands-on Technology - Grades 2-6 - A set of classroom experiments segmented by grade level, with complete instructions and materials lists.
Hurricanes - A collection of lesson resources from the Miami Museum of Science.
Interactive Science Projects - NJ NIE Project- Grades 3-12. Excellent site of interdisciplinary, project based units. The units are designed to use the Internet to communicate and collaborate with other students and experts from around the world. Realtime data available to students. Projects include links to the National Science Standards and NCTM math standards.
CRPC GirlTECH, The Center for Research on Parallel Computing, Rice University, a National Science Foundation Center - Science, math, computer: middle and high school - This site provides lesson plans, some which use Internet resources, to get girls interested in computers, science, and math. Dozens of lesson plans, some integrated with other subjects, are available, designed to be engaging and easy to use.
Global Warming - From Michigan State University & Ameritech.
Lesson Plans Collection - Columbia Education Center - These are collections of short science lesson plans from the Columbia Education Center, Portland, Oregon. They are grouped by grade level, with very brief descriptions for each plan. Most plans were submitted by teachers from the Pacific Northwest. There are three collections: Elementary Plans, Middle School Plans, and High School Plans.
Lesson Ideas from the Science Museum of Minnesota - Grades 3-8 - This regional science museum has collected several sets of lesson ideas, examples, and submissions by students and teachers. The site also includes information on how to create simple experiments using commonly available equipment. There are a number of idea starters, but you'll need to fill in the details to make the lessons work in your classroom.
Math/Science Resources - The Center of Excellence for Science and Mathematics Education (CESME) - Grades 9-12. This site includes units using graphing calculators and physical science. All units, including teacher lesson plans and student activity sheets are available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files and can be printed and used in the classroom. You can download the Adobe Acrobat reader from the TeachersFirst Toolbox. Virtual projects are in the process of being developed for this site.
Newton's Apple - Teachers' Guides - This site contains lesson plans and teacher guides from the past six seasons of the Newton's Apple PBS series. A good source for ideas, experiments, and follow-up sources.
Nutrition: It’s in Your Hands by Gwendolyn Robinson, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Science and Ecology, Grades 3-5 - Give students knowledge and life-long skills about health, nutrition, and their part in the environment.
Bill Nye's Nye Science Labs - Grades K-12 - This site is a new revision of the science lab collection developed by PBS's Bill Nye the Science Guy. There are dozens of resources at this site, but it's heavy use of Shockwave Flash may make navigation awkward if you have a slow connection or an old browser. If this isn't a problem for you, this site is well worth a look.
Oregon Geographic Association Science Lessons - Grades K-12 - This is a collection of 50 "best science lessons," apparently created by Association members for use in their classrooms. Lots of ideas; sparce illustration. This site is worth a look if you need a new way to teach a concept.
Pet Detective Webquest - Grades: K-3 - Subjects: Language Arts, Science: Living Things - This is a fun introduction to animals. Students will click on each link and answer questions about the pictures they download. They'll learn interesting pet facts - like what kind of pet the President has - and then choose a picture of a pet they would like to have and write or dictate a story about it.
Primary Science Lessons - Grades K-3 - This collection of short lessons is from a British source. It offers simple lesson ideas and a presentation format that can easily be printed out for reference or classroom use. Good resource for situations where planning time is short.
Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab - A collection of science experiments - grades 4-7 - which can be done at home or school. No guides as to how they might fit into curriculum, but plenty of warnings regarding parental supervision.
SamNet, Grades K-12. This site is a collection of lesson plans created by teachers attending the Science and Math on the Net workshop held at Kent State University. The lessons are primarily science but have excellent extension math activities. This site has a very helpful "Ask an Expert" link which lists FAQ with thoughtful answers.
Science and Detection: Making Connections through Einstein Anderson by Gail Hall, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Language Arts and Science - Grades 6-8 - By examining ways in which the scientific process is used by characters in detective stories, students will discover the many parallels between literature and science. Process skills involving observation, prediction, and information gathering are addressed in this integrated unit based on the Einstein Anderson detective stories and Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Science Quest - Grades 8-12 - Neat, Java-enhanced lesson plans for chemistry, physics, and biology. A few bugs in the Java code, but they don't seem to affect performance. These are marked as "don't try this at home" experiments, but they come with lots of illustrations and instructions.
Science Snacks - Grades 4-8 - San Francisco's Exploratorium has compiled this great collection of quick science demonstrations requiring minimal preparation and materials. The index page groups these by topic, and each page includes instructions and illustrations. Many of the projects are suitable for "do at home" activities. Great resource!
Wandering Wizards - The Southeastern Michigan Math-Science Learning Coalition - Grades preK-12. This site is a clearinghouse of hands-on, discovery based science lesson plans and experiments. Multimedia presentations linked to most lessons. Teachers can use the "Interactive Demos" as a fun way to present material. "Wandering Wizards" available for school visits in certain areas.
WebsWiresWaves - produced by the National Science Foundation — Grades K-12. The NSF designed this community outreach program to help children explore and understand ways of communication including simple cup and string, sign language, powerful networks and satellites. Thorough lesson plans include student handouts, background information, and assessment and extension ideas. Lessons can be used to connect students to the communities they are involved in.
Who Invented it? When? Chinese Inventions: An Introductory Activity - Social Studies/Science/Inventions: Grades 5+ - Learn about Chinese inventors and deflate erroneous stereotypes about Chinese technology. From the Ask Asia series.
Elementary Science Resources - Middle & High School Science Resources
Copyright
© 2001 by the Network for Instructional TV, Inc.
All rights reserved.
