Lesson Plans (14 results)

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.

Paper Roller Coasters: Kinetic and Potential Energy

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

24 reviews

What goes up, must come down in this thrill-seeking lesson plan! How much energy does a roller coaster car need to make it through a loop? In this lesson your students will learn about kinetic and potential energy as they build their own roller coasters from simple classroom materials. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS3-2. Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.
MS-PS3-5. Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.

Building Junkbots—Robots from Recycled Materials

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

7 reviews

Junkbots are easy-to-build robots that you can make using a simple circuit and some recyclable materials. In this lesson, your students will learn about engineering design as they compete to build the fastest robot. No previous robotics experience is required! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

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.

What Factors Affect the Strength of an Electromagnet?

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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.

Vibrobots— Tiny Robots from Scratch

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

3 reviews

Vibrobots are tiny robots powered by a vibrating motor, like the type found in cell phones. In this lesson plan, your students will learn about engineering design as they build their own vibrobots from craft materials. No previous experience with robots is required! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Introduction to Arduino

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-12th

7 reviews

This lesson plan will introduce your students to physical computing: the process of building circuits and programming a microcontroller (an Arduino UNO®) to interact with them. The lesson is broken into seven activities that will walk your students through the basics of setting up the Arduino and interacting with circuit parts like LEDs, buttons, and resistors. This introductory material will help prepare your students for more advanced Arduino projects. Read more

New

Greywater Gadgetry

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-12th

Create a two-part system for filtering greywater. Teams will focus on communication and systems engineering as they build separate components to filter solid and liquid waste and then combine them into one device. Learning Objectives Students will: Consider the potential effects of drought and how greywater could be part of the solution. Design a system for filtering out solid waste or liquid waste. Consider effective communication strategies with their team. Collaborate on their design… Read more

Line-Following Robot

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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. 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.

Build an Arduino Self-Driving Car

Lesson Plan Grade: 8th-12th

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.

Build an Arduino Mini-Drone

Lesson Plan Grade: 8th-12th

1 review

In this STEM lesson, students will build a mini popsicle stick drone and use feedback control with an Arduino and an ultrasonic sensor to control the drone's altitude. Read more

Electric Play Dough

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th

3 reviews

If you love doing arts and crafts with your students, this lesson plan is for you! Teach them about energy, electricity, and circuits as they build light-up sculptures, using something they are all familiar with—play dough! Clear step-by-step instructions are provided and no previous experience with circuits is required. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Burning Calories—Literally!

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

4 reviews

Your students might know that they can burn calories, but do they know what a calorie really is? In this fun lesson plan, your students will measure the energy content of food by literally burning it using a device called a calorimeter that they will design and build themselves. This will get your students thinking about the chemistry of energy transfer as well as good nutrition, and gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "burning calories!" Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
MS-PS3-4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

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