Science Grades 4-6

Scribbling machines are motorized contraptions that move in unusual ways and leave a mark to trace their paths. They are made from simple materials and set in motion by a vibrating offset motor causing them to bounce, spin, bump and move in interesting ways

Turn a toothbrush into a robot! BrushBots are easy and fun to build and race. The tiny vibrating motor turns the bristles into thousands of little legs, then they scoot like crazy bugs.

Resources to use with your class as they explore building things that move. If you click the links, there is a sign-in prompt -- but you can bypass the sign-in by clicking the image instead and you will be able to access all the Google slides associated with that image

A detailed lesson plan for Grades 6-8 students to design a working air filter.

How does mass affect momentum in a head-on collision? Students explore this question and experience the open-ended engineering design process as if they are the next-generation engineers working on the next big safety feature for passenger vehicles.

Help keep the Fidgits safe during a hurricane or earthquake. You need to design a way to bring emergency supplies to the trapped Fidgits. You'll need to design and build to get to the Fidgits.

This page was developed by a teacher who was competing in the Iditarod. It examines the importance of understanding friction and how it will affect a dogsled on the trail.

A free-to-download software that lets students build with virtual lego.

An engineering challenge to build a trap that can catch and hold a leprechaun cutout.

A lesson plan that focuses on design thinking to get students to build a solar oven (Grade 6)

Activities and videos from PBS that challenge students to think about developing green technology.

Move the pom pom ball 4 feet to the left or right from where it begins.

Can you design and construct a windmill to harness the power of the wind?

This 5-minute video explains shadows, including how the ancients used the sun and shadows as a way to tell time. The video describes an experiment to see how shadows move through the day.

Watch this video to learn how incandescent light bulbs are made.

Resources to use with your students as they explore the workings of light. Bypass the sign in by clicking an image

You can do three different levels of light experiments so you can learn all about light. Dive in!

Alfredo Moser's invention, a lamp made out of a plastic bottle filled with water and bleach, has been spreading rapidly around the world and it's expected to be in one million homes by early next year.

Expanding on the use of the Moser Light, a group in the Philippines thought of a simple green way to get the lights to work at night.

A news video that explains the cultural significance of the Northern Lights to Indigenous people.

In this video, Wilfred Buck shares an intriguing star story from his childhood.

Watch this fun video to learn new things about light that you didn't know before! Then test your new knowledge

An explanation about what light is and the different types of light that exist.

A wonderful online publication for children to learn about pollinators. (Alberta produced)

In this video, we’ll explore how the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration work and why they’re so critical for all life on Earth.

At first glance, plant and animal cells have a lot in common. But plant cells have evolved some wild features that set them apart from animal cells.

When you eat a salad for lunch, you’re digging into a giant pile of plant organs. That’s right—plants are made up of organs, only theirs follow a totally different set of rules from our own.

Plants—they’re just like us! Well, not exactly, but they do have skin and hair. In this video, we’re getting up close and personal with plants’ anatomy.

Today, we’ll find out what botanists study and how knowledge of plants can help you navigate everyday life. Along the way, we’ll uncover plants’ pervasive, civilization-shaping power—and find that they have their own ways of communicating.

This 60 second video clip is a classic Hinterland Who's Who video about pollination.

Resources to use with your students to explore how plants grow and change. You can bypass the sign-in by clicking the image instead and you will be able to access all the Google slides associated with that image

Check out this great video about pollinators; it's interesting and informative. There's also a link to the Hinterland bumble bee profile.

Watch this video to learn about the two kinds of angiosperms. You'll learn the characteristics of monocots and dicots.

Watch this video to learn more about the different parts of flowers and how each part does a certain job. Take the quiz after you watch the video.

Learn about the different types of gymnosperms and their distinctive features. There is a quiz to test yourself after the slide show.

This video will explain how scientists group organisms (living things) into kingdoms. Check out the karaoke song and the quiz to test your understanding.

Check out this slide show about the different types of mosses and ferns. Then try out the quiz to test yourself.

Check out this animated video explaining photosynthesis. After you watch the video, test yourself with the quiz.

Watch this video about how plants adapt to different environments. After you watch the video, you can take the quiz to test what you have learned.

Check out this slide show with magnified images of plant cells. If you're interested, you can try the karaoke song and the quiz.

This slide show has images of two types of plants without seeds: vascular and non-vascular. Test yourself with the quiz after you've reviewed the slide show.

This slideshow of images describes the jobs that the roots and stems have to keep a plant healthy. There's a quiz to test your learning.

Can plants talk to each other? It certainly doesn’t seem that way: They don’t have complex sensory or nervous systems, like animals do, and they look pretty passive. But odd as it sounds, plants can communicate with each other — especially when they’re under attack. Related Lesson

Why do some flowers close at night and open during the day? What gives plants this innate sense of time? Related Lesson

Here is a TED video about phenology (the seasonal cycle of plants and animals) and how climate change is having ripple effects in nature.

A great resource about the growth of trees, how trees adapt to their environment and the impact mankind has on trees.

This video comes from the American Chemical Society YouTube channel and offers a good description of the chemistry involved in the process of leaves changing color.

This three-minute video explores why leaves change colors. Canopy Meg will explain the science of leaves and seasonal changes.

This 5-minute video discusses the importance of maintaining a healthy bee population and how humans can help with this.

Help clean up the park. You'll need to sort the garbage and recycle.

This 3 1/2 minute video describes how farmers can use animal poop as energy for their farm. How does the anaerobic digester work to create energy and fertilizer? How can we use human waste as well?

The Story of Bottled Water describes the environmental and financial impact of using bottled water instead of tap water.

Part 2 of the Story of Stuff. Learn how we can change our attitudes to build a more sustainable world.

Learn how things are made and the hidden costs that you don't see when you buy stuff.

Explore the possibility of plastivores— organisms that can eat and break down plastic— helping reduce the plastic waste on Earth. Related Lesson

We’ve all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what happens to the plastic if we just throw it away? Related Lesson

Each day, the animal kingdom produces a LOT of poop! You can thank the humble dung beetle for cleaning up the world by eating a lot of it! Related Lesson

In this video, you can join Jean-Michel Cousteau as he and his team investigate trash on the Kure Atoll and in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

This is an interactive game from the City of Edmonton. Try this waste sorting game - sort the materials correctly and win fun items to build your own digital park!

Resources to use with your class as they explore waste.

In this game you get to experiment with the settings for a catapult machine. Every time you change the settings, you might be nearer or farther from hitting your target.

In this game, you get to experiment with the working parts of a machine to make it work to hit a cake button. Good Luck!

In this video, a team of archaeologists and engineers tests a theory of how the ancient peoples of Easter Island moved the massive statues from a cliff-top quarry to the coast and then raised them to an upright position.

In this animated video, students learn about mass: the measure of an object’s ability to resist being accelerated by a force.

Try out these activities to learn about the basic workings of three simple machines. Audio is provided; students can listen to the explanations.

An overview of six types of simple machines. Text description with audio files.

This 3-minute animated video has a song about simple machines. The song describes and illustrates different kinds of simple machines.

While the idea of a single person moving tons of weight on their own might sound impossible, chances are you’ve seen this idea in action at your local playground.

Resources to use in the class as students explore wheels and levers. If you click the links, there is a sign-in prompt -- but you can bypass it by clicking the image instead.