This article features science lesson plans to teach elementary students about the sun's energy, the relationship between light and heat, albedo, and the absorption of different surfaces. National standards and literacy integrations are provided for each lesson.

This article highlights hands-on or multimedia lesson plans about oceans. Science lessons are paired with suggested literacy lesson plans. All lessons are aligned to national standards.

This article provides links to lessons and units about birds, bird characteristics, and penguins. Ideas for literacy integration are included, and all lessons are aligned to national standards.

In this video adapted from the National Science Center, observe a demonstration to discover how helium gas is inert and hydrogen gas is reactive.

This brief article describes Samuel Morse and the code first used by telegraph operators in the 19th century. The time intervals used in transmissions are detailed, and there is a connection between the code and letter frequencies in the English alphabet. Included is a link to a printable page and a Morse Code font for Windows.

In this investigation, students visualize and compare volumes in solids composed of unit cubes and look for patterns in the measurements. They work systematically to organize and analyze the results. Ideas for implementation, extension and support are included.

This video segment adapted from FETCH! shows contestants experimenting with different materials to see which is the best insulator and thus best able to keep the lemonade at their stand cool for customers.

This illustrated essay from A Science Odyssey Web site explains the science behind radio waves, including the role of electrons and electromagnetic fields.

In this video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science, observe demonstrations of the fundamental idea that light travels in straight lines.

In this lesson, we learn how insects can fly in the rain. The objective is to calculate the impact forces of raindrops on flying mosquitoes. Students will gain experience with using Newton's laws, gathering data from videos and graphs, and most importantly, the utility of making approximations. No calculus will be used in this lesson, but familiarity with torque and force balances is suggested. No calculators will be needed, but students should have pencil and paper to make estimations and, if possible, copies of the graphs provided with the lesson. Between lessons, students are recommended to discuss the assignments with their neighbors.

This formative assessment item uncovers students' ideas about the conservation of water and the water cycle. The probe is aligned with the National Science Education Standards and can be used before, during, or after instruction. Resources are provided as well as instructional strategies.

In this fast-paced NASA Brain BitesŒ_íěÖ video, an astronaut demonstrates the impact of microgravity on the use of tools in space.

This video segment adapted from the Space Telescope Science Institute shows what the Hubble telescope found when it stared at a single, nearly empty spot in the sky for 10 days in 1995. The unexpected result was a picture of a multitude of galaxies stretching into the distance.

This article describes two hands-on lessons to teach elementary and middle school students about ice, glaciers, and climate change in the polar regions.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, contains content knowledge and instructional resources about icebergs and glaciers and the scientific principles of density and buoyancy.

Earl Ubell is a pioneer among science and health writers in America. After a long, distinguished career at The New York Herald Tribune from 1943 to 1966, he went on to work at both CBS and NBC News. Prominent in the emerging scientific writing community in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a recipient of the Lasker Medical Journalism Award 1957. Milton Stanley Livingston was a leading physicist in the field of magnetic resonance accelerators. Working first with professor Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California, Livingston was instrumental in the development of the Berkeley cyclotron. Moving to Cornell in 1938, Livingston was part of the core group who established nuclear physics as a field of study. Choosing to stay with the Cornell cyclotron rather than follow colleagues onto the Manhattan Project, Livingston was involved in the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes. At the time of this interview, Livingston was director of the Cambridge Electron Accelerator, a joint project of Harvard University and MIT.In this program segment Louis Lyons quizzes Earl Ubell about the lack of public knowledge and the perception of the nuclear bomb, while pressing Professor Livingston to explain exactly what nuclear fallout is, and the danger it presents.

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey looks at the invention of nylon.

This activity helps students develop a sense of the relative size of quantities in the categories of temperature, speed, time duration and loudness. Learners rank their estimates of given measures in order from least to greatest and justify their decisions. Students are encouraged to do research and carry out experiments when possible. The Teachers' Notes page includes suggestions for implementation, discussion questions, ideas for extension and support, and links to related activities.

In this video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Michelle Thaller introduces the world of infrared light and demonstrates how infrared cameras allow us to see more than what the naked eye can perceive.

This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.