Sample science lesson plans
Free, standards-aligned high school science lessons — biology, chemistry, physics, and AP. Each one is a full, ready-to-teach plan. Make a free account to unlock the printable worksheet, slides, and unit test for any lesson.
🧪 Chemistry
All Chemistry lesson plans →Designing a Fair Test: Density of Saltwater Solutions
Students will design and conduct a controlled experiment to determine how salt concentration affects the density of water, correctly identify independent, dependent, and controlle…
Read the full lesson →Ionic vs Covalent Bonding: Predicting Bond Type from Electronegativity
Students will distinguish ionic from covalent bonds by calculating electronegativity differences between two elements, classifying the bond as nonpolar covalent, polar covalent, o…
Read the full lesson →Designing a Controlled Experiment: Alka-Seltzer Reaction Rate
Students will design and conduct a controlled experiment investigating one factor that affects the rate of an Alka-Seltzer reaction, correctly identifying independent, dependent,…
Read the full lesson →Designing Real Experiments: Variables, Controls, and Honest Conclusions
Students will design a controlled experiment, distinguish independent/dependent/controlled variables, collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, identify sources of er…
Read the full lesson →Rutherford's Gold Foil — Inferring the Nucleus from Deflection Data
Students will model Rutherford's gold-foil experiment by rolling marbles at hidden targets, then use their deflection data to explain how experimental evidence forced the shift fr…
Read the full lesson →Designing Controlled Experiments: The Mystery Powder Investigation
Students will design and conduct a controlled experiment to identify an unknown white powder, correctly distinguishing independent, dependent, and controlled variables, and evalua…
Read the full lesson →Subatomic Particles, Ions, and Isotopes: Why Atomic Masses Aren't Whole Numbers
Students will identify the location, charge, and relative mass of protons, neutrons, and electrons; distinguish atoms from ions and isotopes; and calculate weighted average atomic…
Read the full lesson →How We Learned What an Atom Looks Like: Five Models, Five Experiments
Students will describe the development of the atomic model from Dalton to Schrödinger and explain how specific experimental evidence (cathode rays, gold-foil scattering, hydrogen…
Read the full lesson →How We Learned What an Atom Looks Like: 200 Years of Atomic Models
Students will describe the development of atomic models from Dalton to Schrödinger by matching each scientist to the experiment they performed and explaining how the experimental…
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⚛️ Physics
All Physics lesson plans →From Particles to Properties: Why Molecular Structure Determines How Materials Behave
Students will communicate — in words, diagrams, and a written justification — how the arrangement of particles and the electrostatic attractions between them determine a designed…
Read the full lesson →Newton's Second Law: Quantifying ΣF = ma with a Modified Atwood Machine
Students will analyze experimental data from a modified Atwood machine to support the claim that acceleration is directly proportional to net force and inversely proportional to m…
Read the full lesson →Designing a Rubber-Band Car: Converting Elastic PE to Kinetic Energy
Students will design, build, measure, and refine a rubber-band-powered car that converts elastic potential energy into kinetic energy, calculating efficiency from measured input a…
Read the full lesson →Engineering Collision Safety: Designing to Minimize Peak Force
Students will apply the impulse-momentum theorem (FΔt = Δp) to design, test, and iteratively refine a bumper that minimizes the peak force on a cart during a collision, justifying…
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💻 AP Cybersecurity
All AP Cybersecurity lesson plans →Detecting Attacks on Data and Applications
Students will analyze log and file-integrity evidence to detect and classify a cyberattack, distinguish detection controls from prevention controls, and evaluate which monitoring…
Read the full lesson →Protecting Applications: Secure-by-Design, Input Validation, and Least Privilege
Students will apply secure-by-design principles by (1) rewriting a vulnerable input handler to use server-side allowlist validation, and (2) configuring Linux file permissions wit…
Read the full lesson →Public Wi-Fi Threat & Defense Lab: Sniffing, Evil Twins, and Layered Controls
Students will analyze public-network attack scenarios (MITM, rogue AP, evil twin) using packet-capture evidence and device settings, and will select and justify layered defenses (…
Read the full lesson →Leveraging AI in Cyber Defense: Anomaly Detection, False Positives, and Human-in-the-Loop
Students will analyze how machine-learning-based defenses detect anomalies, evaluate the trade-off between false positives and false negatives in a security context, and justify w…
Read the full lesson →AI-Based Cybersecurity Attacks: When the Red Flags Disappear
Students will analyze how AI-augmented attacks (AI-generated phishing, deepfake audio/video, and automated reconnaissance) weaken traditional detection cues, and recommend layered…
Read the full lesson →Walking Past the Firewall: Physical Vulnerabilities and Attacks
Students will analyze physical attack vectors — tailgating, piggybacking, shoulder surfing, rogue devices, and insider negligence — against a described facility, and justify which…
Read the full lesson →Best Practices for Public Networks: Threat Models and Layered Defenses
Students will analyze the risks of public Wi-Fi networks (open networks, MITM, rogue APs, evil twins) and evaluate layered defensive controls (disable auto-connect, HTTPS-only, VP…
Read the full lesson →Spotting Spoofed Login Pages: URL, TLS, and Verification Habits
Students will analyze suspicious login pages by inspecting URL structure, TLS certificate details, and visual indicators to determine whether a page is legitimate or a credential-…
Read the full lesson →Understanding Social Engineering: Hacking the Human
Students will identify and classify social engineering techniques (phishing, spear phishing, pretexting, vishing, smishing, baiting, tailgating) in realistic scenarios, explain th…
Read the full lesson →Cyber Foundations: CIA, Risk, and Layered Controls
Students will analyze a security scenario by (1) identifying which element(s) of the CIA triad are compromised, (2) distinguishing threat, vulnerability, and risk, (3) reasoning a…
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