Activity
Hands-on experiments, debates, data dives, and diagramming and design exercises put students at the center of their learning.
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Science & Society
All about Analyze This: An article type from Science News Explores
Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Analyze This that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Analyze This article. Each Analyze This article includes a graph or data visualization that is paired with questions for students to answer and a short story that provides context.
- Science & Society
Literacy Practice: KWL Strategy
Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice the KWL strategy. This note-taking strategy helps students organize their thoughts and reflect on their knowledge around a particular reading.
- Animals
Observations vs. Experiments: Two types of research design
In this lesson, students will compare and contrast observational studies with experimental studies and practice identifying the study types from provided examples. Then, they will apply that knowledge to two studies outlined in Science News articles. As an optional assignment, students will be asked to create an example of a possible study.
- Paleontology
Present day dinos
By studying fossils, scientists have nailed down the evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs. Students will consider how changes to the way some species are now classified highlight the evolutionary relationship between birds and dinosaurs. This guide also will discuss evidence for this relationship using an example fossil.
- Animals
Friends and foes: Exploring symbiosis and predation in nature
Have students explore ecological relationships among organisms through a case study on a newly identified fungus named after biologist Sir David Attenborough that zombifies spiders — taking over their bodies before killing them. Students will compare and contrast commensalism, mutualism, parasitism and predation and then use the definitions to identify examples.
- Science & Society
All about STEM Comics, called Wild Things: An article type from Science News Explores
How can comic strips help teach experimental design of research studies? Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Wild Things that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. Wild Things use comic strips that tell the stories of research studies on animals’ biology and behavior. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Wild Things article.
- Science & Society
Literacy Practice: 3-2-1 Strategy
Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice the 3-2-1 strategy. This literacy strategy is a quick way to check students’ understanding of a concept, reading or lesson. It helps them summarize and organize their thoughts by listing three responses to one prompt, two responses to another prompt and one response to a final prompt.
- Animals
Uncovering the ancestry of the marsupial mole
Use scientists’ latest findings about marsupial moles to have students explore natural selection. Students will use figures that depict evolutionary relationships among organisms — phylogenetic trees and cladograms — to trace ancestry and common characteristics. Then they will apply this knowledge by investigating common characteristics of different taxonomic groups associated with the marsupial mole, illustrating why this animal has been particularly hard to categorize and study.
- Life
Fungal Solutions
Across the planet, people throw away over two billion metric tons of waste every year. That waste feeds into environmental problems from climate change to pollution. So how can we reduce the amount of waste we produce? In this activity, students will categorize and record the waste they produce daily and reflect on the amount of “invisible” waste produced before they receive products. Students will then identify solutions for reducing each category of waste.
- Science & Society
All about Technically Fiction: An article type from Science News Explores
Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Technically Fiction that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. Technically Fiction articles focus on a fictional phenomenon and explain whether it could be possible and the science it would take to make it a reality. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Technically Fiction article.
- Life
Literacy Practice: Concept Map
Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice creating concept maps for any article. This literacy strategy boosts critical thinking and reading retention by having students organize information and connect important ideas, concepts and terms.
- Humans
Making use of nature’s designs
New discoveries about the natural world can inspire the design of human-made objects. In this activity, students will learn about how the overlapping feathers on birds’ wings prompted engineers to reimagine the design of aircraft wings. Students will explain how this is an example of bioinspired design and then create their own bioinspired designs.
