Teacher Resources

It’s not a flying car, but it’s the next best thing! Entertain while you educate your students with Flinn’s amazing personal hovercraft. This vehicle is perfect for the study of Newton’s three laws of motion. Apply a one-time force to the hovercraft ...

The first successful hovercraft, designed and built by English engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell, crossed the English Channel on July 25, 1959. As students build their own working models of a hovercraft, they learn the basic concepts of how a vessel...

Fluctuating fuel prices make green energy more appealing than ever! Integrate STEM design standards into your curriculum as students study the principles behind using wind energy to produce mechanical power. Each student group constructs a windmill w...

It's the return of the space race! Challenge your students to build a balloon “rocket” that will travel across the classroom. This hands-on, inquiry-based lab will teach students how to design an experiment as they investigate Newton's laws of motion...

Captivate the natural curiosity of your students with slingshot cars! In this hands-on activity, students investigate Newton’s Laws and gain a better conceptual understanding of these laws that govern motion. By increasing the force that accelerates ...

Ever wonder how a sailboat travels into the wind? Investigate the science behind this remarkable feat by building and experimenting with a basic sail car. This fun, hands-on activity provides a real-world application of Newton's third law-also called...

No glue-no mortar. Structures so strong they've “held up” for over 1700 years. With this hands-on kit students learn how force vector analysis is used in architectural strength-just like the ancient Roman structures. Students first analyze the Roman ...

Is a stereo speaker just another “black box” to your students? Let students discover for themselves how a speaker works using only two plastic cups, a coil of wire, magnets, and speaker wire to construct a real working speaker. Students will be amaze...

Create power! Demonstrate the fundamental principles of generators by converting the spinning mechanical energy into electrical energy that will light an LED. In this simple, easy-to-make device, two powerful neodymium magnets spinning in a coil of w...

In minutes, students can build a simple spinning motor using just a magnet, copper wire and a 9-V battery. Once they learn what makes the motor run, they can experiment with various designs to see who can construct the fastest-spinning motor! Excelle...

Show students a spectroscope, and they can see the spectrum of colors from visible light. Let them build a spectroscope, however, and suddenly students discover not only why white light is separated, but also why different light sources produce diffe...

Students learn how a telescope works. Students build two different types of simple telescopes-an astronomical and a terrestrial telescope-each with a magnification of 5X. They then experiment with the different telescope designs and determine how the...

Need a dramatic introduction for your energy conversion unit? Students are fascinated by a functioning steam engine! Trace all the energy conversions starting with lighting the match, to burning the dry fuel, to converting the water to steam, and fin...

How can an object less than a millimeter wide be measured? Students use a key-chain laser pointer to measure the width of three micrometer-size objects—a fishing line, copper wire, and a strand of human hair. As the laser light bends around each obje...

Dyes color our world and are found in everything from clothing to food. Yet only seven dyes are used to make all of the artificial colors seen in food made in the United States. Food processing is a rigorous undertaking—explore how these dyes may cha...

Food dyes have been used extensively for more than 100 years. Would you eat maraschino cherries if they were their natural color of beige instead of red? Explore the properties of the seven Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) artificial food dyes wit...

From nanofabric to nanobots, nanotechnology has created so much “buzz” that it’s hard to tell where the science ends and the science fiction begins. In this activity-stations lab, students explore some of the fascinating developments in the rapidly g...

Mimic the everyday process of electroplating with this easy-to-perform lab. Students apply a thin, decorative, and protective layer of copper onto a metal key. Students investigate the mass changes that occur as the two electrodes—the key and the cop...

Rust is expensive! The cost of iron corrosion for equipment maintenance, repair, and replacement tops $300 billion per year in the United States alone. What kinds of conditions or treatments will reduce or prevent the corrosion of iron? In this guide...