Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Explore the advent of corn as a nutritional staple in the human diet. Observe popping corn and measure differences in the mass of the corn before and after heating, and make pH indicators using fruit, flowers or vegetables.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Science & Tech
Topics: Nutrition. Botany. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Point of View
Identify how air quality is measured. Investigate various human activities that negatively affect air quality, and identify and discuss human activities that positively affect air quality.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Ecology.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Trade Secrets
Identify chemicals that were produced and used but are no longer used because of health concerns, and identify current, potentially harmful chemicals. Examine the legal processes and other problems in controlling chemicals.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Science & Tech
Topics: Public/World Health. Chemistry. Ethics in Science.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Examine the structure and function of human DNA, and observe students' own DNA from extracted cheek cells. Discuss the ethical issues of DNA research, and develop a policy concerning keeping DNA samples.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Genetics. Human Biology.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Consider the innovation of the tankboat and how it solved a problem on D-Day during World War II. Explore the concepts of buoyancy and Archimedes' principle to design an innovative flotation device to carry heavy weights.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Design & Invention. Transportation.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Investigate the science behind traditional Zulu medicinal plants and the mushrooms used by warriors. Relate modern scientific analysis techniques to an understanding of traditional herbal medicine.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Science & Tech
Topics: Medicine. Chemistry. Scientific Inquiry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Examine the properties of ice and water to learn how ice and water coexist and how glaciers can have interior lakes.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Investigate the meaning of m in E = mc2 by examining the components of a chemical reaction and making measurements to confirm the conservation of mass in a closed system.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Energy.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Predict how much of the air is oxygen and then test the prediction by determining the volume of oxygen in air within a test tube. Estimate the amount of oxygen at the summit of Mt. Everest and defend the reasoning.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Math, Science & Tech
Topics: Measurement. Chemistry. Human Biology.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Extreme Oil
Investigate the exploration, refining and transportation of oil, and examine technological advances and equipment used to find and extract it.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Ecology. Energy.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: WPSU: Energy Education for the 21st Century
Examine the relationship between fuel properties and chemical structures. Discover the potential of biodiesel as a clean, renewable, domestically-produced fuel that could lower U.S. dependence on imported oil.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Energy.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Explore survival strategies of animals in freezing climates. Investigate the role of glucose (sugar solution) when used as an antifreeze and the relationship between temperature and metabolism.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Animals: Mammals. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Explore the way animals process oxygen and how this affects speed of movement. Collect and analyze data to calculate human aerobic capacity and investigate how different speeds affect stride rate and length.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Motion & Forces.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NewsHour Extra
Describe how nanoscale dimensions and nanotechnology allow scientists to control molecules at an atomic level, and create materials with unique properties. Explore the relative sizes of small objects through games and investigations.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atomic. Chemistry. Motion & Forces.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Mysteries of Deep Space
Determine how scientists test theories, and infer conditions that may have led to the formation of life. Construct a model of coacervates (precell droplets), observe its characteristics and compare them with the characteristics of living cells.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atmosphere & Space Science. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Discuss facts about Mars and investigate scientists' efforts to create fuel from materials found in space. Perform a simplified method of aqueous electrolysis to split water into its two chemical elements using electric current from a battery.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atmosphere & Space Science. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Explore how looking for answers to small questions have led scientists to explorations into materials science. Observe the stain patterns left by spills of various liquids, and create a "halo" effect with your feet when walking on wet sandy beaches.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Explore how principles of gas behavior relate to diving in order to plan safe underwater activities.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Science & Tech
Topics: Safety. Chemistry. Human Biology. Oceanography.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Observe the arrangement of atoms within nutrient molecules to explain dehydration synthesis, and describe bond saturation in fat molecules. Construct molecular models that represent substances that play an essential role in nutrition.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Science & Tech
Topics: Nutrition. Atomic. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NewsHour Extra
Calculate the percent of contaminating elements in coal, and summarize the path that mercury takes from coal to a human's body. Examine the dangers of mercury in humans, and discover how mercury emmissions can be reduced.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Ecology. Human Biology.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Examine the range of natural climatic variability prior to human influences and graph and analyze chemical concentrations from ice core data.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Math, Science & Tech
Topics: Data Analysis/Probability. Chemistry. Geology & Natural Disasters. Meteorology.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Discuss how alchemists used symbols and metaphors to describe different materials and procedures in alchemical texts and art. Interpret a medieval alchemical passage.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Scientific American Frontiers
Demonstrate how soil absorbs radioactivity by simulating the absorption of the radioactive isotope from the Chernobyl disaster into the lichen of Scandinavia. Use a chart to figure out the half-life of the isotope.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Chemistry. Ecology. Atomic. World History: 1945-1990.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Explore the elements found in the Periodic Table of Elements and what role some of them play in the universe. Test your knowledge of the elements and the organization of the table by completing a puzzle.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atmosphere & Space Science. Chemistry. Energy.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Collect micrometeorites from space -- remnants of the time when the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago. Create a sky dust collector, sort particularate matter according to attributes and identify micrometeorites by their fusion crusts.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atmosphere & Space Science. Chemistry. Geology & Natural Disasters.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Discover how planetary spectra can be used to search for life on other worlds, and analyze a mystery planet's spectrum for potential signs of life.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Atmosphere & Space Science. Chemistry. Energy.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Mathline
Collect data from a variety of experiments, and determine what type of model best fits the data. Explore a variety of relationships using pennies, pressure, temperature, light and pendulums to determine algebraic equations.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Math, Science & Tech
Topics: Applied Mathematics. Data Analysis/Probability. Functions and Algebra. Chemistry. Simple Machines.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Give a basic definition of a fullerene, construct a paper model of the 60-carbon-atom buckyball and discuss findings that there may be other types of fullerenes based on hexagons and pentagons.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Math, Science & Tech
Topics: Geometry and Spatial Sense. Chemistry. Design & Invention. Atomic.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Conduct experiments to determine the best possible treatment methods to protect colored paper and newspaper from sun damage.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Locate metals on the Periodic Table of elements and identify the properties of common metals. Define what an alloy is and explain how alloys can be used to produce objects that are used in homes and industry.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Scientific Inquiry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Understand how icebergs are suspended in water, differentiate between the floating behavior of ice and cork and describe the melting process of an iceberg.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Geology & Natural Disasters. Oceanography.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Understand how string theory supports the idea that the universe is made up of more than the four commonly experienced spacetime dimensions and consider how more than three spatial dimensions could exist in the universe.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Math, Science & Tech
Topics: Geometry and Spatial Sense. Chemistry. Motion & Forces. Atomic.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Investigate the four fundamental forces and determine the interactions that are governed by each of these different forces.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Motion & Forces. Atomic.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Learn about some of the elementary particles in the Standard Model and investigate the "recipes" for constructing a proton and neutron from the quarks described in the Standard Model.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry. Energy. Atomic.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Explore the gas laws involved in scuba diving. Research the sinking of the Andrea Doria ocean liner in 1956, and the the physiological effects on the divers exploring that site.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Research the first case of ricin poisoning in 1978, from a scientific and political perspective. Identify and rate potential sources of biochemical warfare available today.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Chemistry. Scientific Inquiry. World History: 1945-1990.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Ocean Realm
Investigate the nature of venom and the treatment of envenomation. Conduct an experiment to demonstrate how proteins such as venoms can be denatured.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech
Topics: Animals: Fish. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: The Nobel: Visions Of Our Century
Examine the discovery of penicillin to describe how the scientific method is used in scientific inquiry. Analyze and describe how household products affect mold and bacterial growth.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts, Science & Tech
Topics: Critical Thinking Skills. Chemistry.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
