Ignite Curiosity in Science with Hands-On Activities

Boost Engagement with Hands-On Activities

Dive into the school year by planning science lessons that ignite students’ curiosity, support diverse learners, and enhance literacy skills—oh, and don’t forget to promote critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and collaboration while you’re at it! 

That’s a tall order, but using Britannica Expedition: Learn!’s content-rich lessons with embedded hands-on experiences can make planning easier. Expedition: Learn!’s four types of hands-on activities enhance students’ understanding of topics in all areas of science, allowing them to explore events and processes that affect their lives. Explore how our experts use The Earth System and Subsystems lesson to engage in hands-on learning—just in time for back to school! 

Explore how our experts use The Earth System and Subsystems lesson to challenge students to dig deeper with hands-on learning—just in time for back to school.

Challenge Students to Dig Deeper

Hands-on activities have been shown to have many positive effects on science learning. Using activities from a trusted source, with robust teacher support materials, enhances the experience for students and teachers alike! For example, share with students a local example of interactions of Earth’s subsystems, such as a recent weather event, local evidence of weathering and erosion, or nearby impacts of climate change. 

Then use Expedition: Learn!’s wide variety of lessons and hands-on activities to dig deeper! For example, have students model interactions between Earth’s spheres, analyze data about the occurrence of natural hazards, or research factors that affect average global temperatures to build their understanding of the world around them.

Getting Hands-On with Expedition: Learn! 

Use the hands-on activities embedded in many Expedition: Learn! lessons to engage students, enhance their understanding of key topics and current events, and promote three-dimensional learning. Each activity includes detailed teaching materials and answer keys with sample student responses. 

  • Model
  • Research
  • Investigation
  • Skills Practice

Each activity type is designed to promote understanding of concepts and develop essential skills in science through an active learning experience.


Britannica Expedition: Learn! is grounded in decades of research and evidence-based practice. Lessons can be used for whole-class instruction, small-group reteaching, or independent practice. Expedition: Learn! is the perfect solution to help students work toward standards mastery. Each lesson provides standards-based content and assessment items to support your science instruction. Book a demo of Expedition: Learn!

Expedition: Learn! in the Classroom

Explore other ways to use the featured lesson, The Earth System and Subsystems, alongside our full Content Spotlight, which features engaging activities, thoughtful discussion questions, graphic organizers, and more!

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About The Author

Molly Rhoadhouse

Science Subject Matter Expert
After working in the field of molecular biology, Molly shifted her career focus to educational publishing. As an independent business owner for more than 20 years, she contributed to a vast number of products for clients such as McGraw Hill, Pearson/Savvas, and Twig Science. Molly joined Britannica in 2021, where she has led the Expedition: Learn science team since its inception. In addition to her degree in Life Science, Molly has a graduate certificate in Instructional Design from the University of Wisconsin.

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Expedition: Learn! Scope & Sequence

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