We’ve assembled a database of resources vetted for both scientific accuracy and pedagogical soundness. Or check out the 6-8 Conceptual Framework to search by the concepts each resource addresses. Search by topic or by keyword:
Search grades 6-8 lessons and resources:
Found 24 resources:
Bill Berry and the construction of geologic time
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
This Science Short describes how index fossils can help us test hypotheses about long past events that we cannot directly observe. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
This is not the shrimp you’re looking for
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
This Science Short illustrates how paleontologists have reinterpreted fossil evidence to gain new understanding of life in the Cambrian seas. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Fair tests: A do-it-yourself guide
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Science Story
Discipline:
- General
Time: 15 minutes
Overview
Teach about test design in science using an example from everyday life: comparing chocolate chip cookie recipes. Get tips on using Science Stories in class.
Amazon fly
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 10-15 minutes
Overview
This short activity quickly engages the participants in the process of developing testable hypotheses. Students come up with multiple hypotheses to explain a set of observations and figure out how to test these hypotheses.
Benjamin Franklin: STEM Activity Toolkit
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- PBS and WETA
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Physical Sciences
Time: 1-6 hours
Overview
Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, Benjamin Franklin, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential figures. This STEM Activity Toolkit frames the context of the film series, and provides guidance for viewers to engage in discussions and activities around science, technology, engineering, and math.
Clipbirds
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: one class period
Overview
In this activity, students simulate bird feeding with "beaks" that differ in size. The proportion of big-, medium-, and small-beaked birds changes in response to available types of food. This is a lesson on evolution, but suggestions on how to incorporate the nature and process of science are included.
Dogs and turnips
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
In this lesson students attempt to assemble a meaningful sentence by successively turning over cards with words on them. The point is made that we change our ideas of what a story may be as we gather more information.
Dino-Data
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 3-4 class periods
Overview
Students examine data about dinosaurs and hypothesize about what the data can tell them. Students modify their hypotheses as more information is revealed and review what they have learned about how science works.
Exploring bouncing balls
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: one class period
Overview
Students explore the physical properties of a variety of balls and how they bounce. Students then reflect on the process they used by charting their pathway on the Understanding Science Flowchart.
Galaxy classification
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- Whitfield, Lisé
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Space science
Time: One class period
Overview
This is a modified version of Galactic Inquiry in which students learn about galaxy classification while also experiencing a simple simulation of peer review and community analysis.
Heating and cooling of the Earth’s surface
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Physical Sciences
Time: Two class periods
Overview
Students conduct experiments on the rate that sand and water heat up and cool down. Based on their observations, they make hypotheses about why materials heat up and cool down at different rates and then test their ideas.
Investigating a Crime Scene
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
Discipline:
- General
Time: 30 minutes
Overview
Two suspicious dogs and a shredded book provide a perfect combination for focusing on the process of science and to do so with a bit of a chuckle. This powerpoint has been developed so that you can ask for student responses throughout.
Inventing Tomorrow: Water Module
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10-12 class periods
Overview
This module uses a film about student Sahithi Pingali, who investigates water quality in her hometown in Bangalore, as a jumping off point for students to expand their understanding of eutrophication and the process of science.
Inventing tomorrow: Air Module
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- WGBH
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10-12 class periods
Overview
This module (on the right) uses a film about students José, Jesús, and Fernando, who investigate smog in their town in Mexico, as a jumping off point for students to expand their understanding of air pollution, global warming, and the process of science.
Introducing the Understanding Science Flowchart to middle school students
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 1-2 class periods
Overview
Students read a story about Walter Alvarez and then plot his scientific journey on the Understanding Science Flowchart. Students find that science is seldom a linear story.
Number patterns
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: 15-20 minutes
Overview
Students try to discover the relationship among six numbers. The objective of this activity is to engage students in a problem-solving situation in which they practice aspects of the process of science.
Mystery tubes
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- General
Time: One class period
Overview
Students are asked to determine what the interior construction of the mystery tube looks like. Working in groups, students pose explanations for what they are observing and test their ideas.
Xenosmilus
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: One class period
Overview
In this lesson, students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They "unearth" a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
What’s in a Word?
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- Schwartz, Renee
Resource type:
- article
Discipline:
- General
Overview
Word choice in the classroom can (mis)represent science. Use word lists to combat misconceptions about science that stem from vocabulary mix-ups. Find out how in this article distributed with permission from Science Scope.
Weathering and erosion
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
Source:
- Whitfield, Lisé
Resource type:
- lab activity
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 4-6 Class periods
Overview
Students will conduct a series of experiments to explore the processes and effects of weathering and erosion.
The great fossil find
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- classroom activity
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: one class period
Overview
Students are taken on an imaginary fossil hunt and form hypotheses about the identity of the creature they discover. Students revise their hypotheses as new evidence is found.
Scientific Process: The mysteries of life with Tim and Moby
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- BrainPOP
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Earth science
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
How does science work? This animated video introduces key ideas using the story of the how science uncovered the link between the dinosaur extinction and a massive asteroid impact. (Note that this video inaccurately characterizes the difference between hypotheses and theories. See Understanding Science 101 for a correction.)
How science works
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- OceanLeadership
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Earth science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This video uses the Understanding Science flowchart to describe how a team of scientists investigates climate change throughout Earth's history with ocean sediment cores.
How science works
Grade Level(s):
- 6-8
- 9-12
- College
Source:
- California Academy of Sciences
Resource type:
- Science Story
- video
Discipline:
- Life Science
Time: 10 minutes
Overview
This Science in Action video uses the Understanding Science Flowchart to follow arachnologist Charles Griswold and colleagues as they describe the process involved in an exciting new spider discovery.
