Resources: All

Find a resource
  1. conference x
  2. pbl x
  3. k12 x
  4. grade4 x
  1. Teacher Reflection: Wargel, Slow Boats, Fall 2017

    17 Jan 2018 | Teacher Reflections | Contributor(s): Karen Sue Wargel

    The slow boat activity worked well as a culminating activity for force and motion.

  2. Nanoscience and PBL Resources for Teachers

    13 Jul 2015 | Publications

    This document includes nanoscience resources separated by big idea. There are also resources based on the applications discussed in the 2015 RGS course and websites where you can purchase materials for nano activities. The PBL resources include examples, tools and articles. All of the resources...

  3. Design of a Green Roof

    03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Bryan Hubbard, James Daniel Lehman

    This grade 4 lesson addresses standards related to plant adaptation and response to the environment. Students are challenged to construct a model of a green roof for a house.

  4. Designing Safer Roadways

    03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Kendra A Erk, James Daniel Lehman

    This grade 4 design task focuses on forces, motion, and transportation systems by challenging students to design a roadway that will slow and then stop vehicles from running off the road.

  5. Water Canal Design Task

    03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Venkatesh Merwade, James Daniel Lehman

    This grade 4 design tasks focuses on erosion and the construction of a canal to bring water to a water park.

  6. PBL to the Rescue: Using PBL in a Human Anatomy and Physiology High School Class

    17 Sep 2013 | Seminars | Contributor(s): Brian Duncan

    This one hour video presentation given by Brian Duncan, an Attica, Indiana Jr./Sr. High School science teacher. He presents his experience using PBL to teach Human Anatomy and Physiology High School class to the Research Goes to School workshop in Summer 2013. Be sure to look at the supporting...

  7. Biofuel Candle Comparison Lab

    20 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Kathy Daniels

    This basic lab was developed to be used in a non-science classroom to help start student thinking about energy densities of different fuels in mathematical terms. The main objective is to get middle and high school math students to quantify observations of candles made from petroleum based fuels...

  8. Light Just Right

    13 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

    This 4th grade design activity focuses on electrical current and resistance. Students design a way to make a bulb light with differing brightnesses.

  9. Slow Boat

    11 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Bryan Hubbard, Alyssa Panitch, Tahira Reid, Kari Clase, Nancy Irene Tyrie, James Daniel Lehman

    This 4th grade design task lesson focuses on the concept of drag by asking students to develop ways to slow down a boat.

  10. Design of a Door Alarm

    10 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): David C Eichinger, Erin K Doherty, James Daniel Lehman, Venkatesh Merwade

    This grade 4 design task helps students learn about simple circuits by designing a door alarm.

  11. Exploring Whirligigs

    09 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Brenda Capobianco, James Daniel Lehman

    This inquiry lesson, for grades 3-4, involves students conducting a fair test investigation to determine the way an object (a whirligig) falls through the air and how this fall depends on its mass, surface area, and other factors. This lesson is an adaptation of a lesson developed by...

  12. The Case of the Pilfered Pin

    29 May 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

    This is an inquiry activity for grades 3-4. Students must measure temperature, mass, and length in order to solve a mystery.

  13. Pill Bugs' Habitat Inquiry Activity

    11 Nov 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

    This is an inquiry activity, aligned to grade 4-6 standards, in which students design fair test investigations to determine the habitat of pill bugs (roly polies).

  14. Think-aloud Protocol Analysis as a Measure of Students' Science Learning through Design Assessment

    28 Mar 2012 | Publications | Contributor(s): Todd Richard Kelley, Brenda Capobianco

    Research has indicated that authentic engineering design tasks hold the attention andinterest of students and can lead to deeper levels of science engagement (Fortus, Dershimer, Krajcik, Marx, & Mamlok-Naaman, 2004; Roth, 1996; 1997; 1998). However, there is a need for student assessments...

  15. Cooking with the Sun - Creating a Solar Oven

    17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental MaterialFor this activity, students will be given a set of materials: cardboard, a set of insulating materials (i.e. foam, newspaper, etc.), aluminum foil, and plexiglass. Students will then become engineers in building a solar oven from the given materials, keeping...

  16. Problem Based Approach to Instruction

    17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This chapter examines the problem-based learning approach to instructionfrom the perspective of instructional design theory and synthesizes the current knowledge and theory into some universal methods, situational methods, and principles for a theory of...

  17. Problem Based Approach to Instruction

    17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This chapter examines the problem-based learning approach to instructionfrom the perspective of instructional design theory and synthesizes the current knowledge and theory into some universal methods, situational methods, and principles for a theory of...

  18. PBL Learning Meets Case-Based Reasoning in the Middle School Science Classroom: Putting Learning by Design Into Practice

    17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This article tells the story of the design of Learning by Design™ (LBD), a project- based inquiry approach to science learning with roots in case-based reasoning and problem-based learning, pointing out the theoretical contributions of both, classroom issues...

  19. PBL Learning Meets Case-Based Reasoning in the Middle School Science Classroom: Putting Learning by Design Into Practice

    17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This article tells the story of the design of Learning by Design™ (LBD), a project- based inquiry approach to science learning with roots in case-based reasoning and problem-based learning, pointing out the theoretical contributions of both, classroom issues...

  20. PBL Developing a Driving Question

    17 Feb 2012 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Peg A Ertmer

    RGS Summer 2011 PBL: Developing a Driving Question