Famous Scientist Teacher Resources

Who do you think of when you hear the phrase “famous scientists?” Is it Charles Darwin? Marie Curie? Alexander Graham Bell, perhaps?

Our teacher team has curated and reviewed high-quality resources to bring into a classroom lesson on famous scientists. We’ve even found some great lessons and videos about scientists whose discoveries were instrumental in their fields, but whose names don’t come to mind quite so quickly—Nicolas Steno, for example, or Mary Sherman Morgan, the woman who saved the 1960s space race.

Augment a discussion on the scientific method with a video on the Presocratics, who developed a model for the way we learn about our world. You can implement a lesson that challenges learners to match scientists with their discoveries, or an interview project about famous and influential earth scientists.

Lesson Planet is the perfect research partner in your quest for strong curriculum materials. And who knows—the next famous scientist may be sitting in your classroom!

Showing 328 resources
+
PPT
Curated OER

Light - Stop Faking It!

For Teachers 5th - 8th
This well-designed presentation covers many important aspects of the science behind light. In it, pupils view slides that have a lot of the important vocabulary associated with science, slides of famous scientists who made important...
+
Activity
Joy Uzarraga

Famous American Research Project

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd Standards
Designed specifically for lower elementary pupils, this is a great biographical research project in which students research a famous American, and then design creative poster boards to help them "become" the famous American they have...
+
Activity
Union Elementary School District

Famous Dead People Project

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Despite the slightly off-putting title, the instructions and activities detailed in these project guidelines for researching a noteworthy figure will serve as a fantastic supplement to your next famous person research assignment. 
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Handwriting About Famous Scientists

For Students 1st - 2nd
In this handwriting about famous scientists worksheet, students trace over a sentence about Thomas Edison and his inventions to practice their printing.
+
Instructional Video4:33
TED-Ed

The Most Groundbreaking Scientist You've Never Heard Of

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
Nicolas Steno invented stratigraphy, compared the anatomy of various animals, broke ground for geology and evolutionary theory—and yet he is not often mentioned in the history books. Learn more about the scientists who laid the...
+
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

The Black Scientific Renaissance of the 1970s-90s: African American Scientists at Bell Laboratories

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
A two-part lesson asks young scientists to research the contributions of African American scientists at Bell Laboratories. After presenting their findings, class members watch two demonstrations that introduce them to total internal...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Word Search-Scientists

For Students 3rd - 4th
In this science word search worksheet, learners search for 30 proper names of famous scientists. This is a light bulb shaped word puzzle with a word bank.
+
Instructional Video12:32
Crash Course

The Presocratics: Crash Course History of Science #2

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
How did early scientists arrive at the notion that everything was made of atoms? Meet the Presocratics during the second installment in an engaging History of Science series. Viewers discover how these pioneers developed a model for...
+
Instructional Video2:20
Teacher's Pet

History of Evolutionary Thought

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace jointly created the theory of evolution by natural selection. The video explains the scientists that came before and after this pivotal moment. Many still debate why we often forget about Wallace...
+
Instructional Video9:04
Stated Clearly

What Caused Life's Major Evolutionary Transitions?

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Scientists regularly observe evolution, but what are the major transitions? A short, engaging video explains the transition from genes to genomes, and then highlights the move from simple cells to complex cells. Finally, the narrator...
+
Instructional Video2:24
Be Smart

Building Curiosity

For Students 6th - 12th
Watch a team construct a Lego model of the Curiosity rover with an engaging video. It includes quotes about the importance of curiosity from scientists such as Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Jane Goodall, Richard Feynman, and...
+
Instructional Video4:43
Be Smart

How Many Species Are There?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Scientists discover over 15,000 new species each year. Despite studying life on our planet for all of human history, we still don't know how many species exist on Earth. An informative video from a biology playlist presents the dilemma,...
+
PPT
Science Geek

Measurement of Pressure and Temperature

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
We all have standards and scientists are no exception. Presentation covers standard temperature, standard pressure, temperature conversions, and absolute zero. It explains pressure using pascals, mm of mercury, atmosphere, and torr, then...
+
Instructional Video9:42
1
1
Crash Course

The History of Atomic Chemistry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Take a historic view of our knowledge of atoms with a video that explores the discoveries of many scientists including Leucippus, Democritus, Rutherford, Bohr, Heisenburg, and more. 
+
PPT
Mr. E. Science

Atoms and Bonding

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
I don't trust atoms because they make up everything. Budding scientists learn about famous scientists connected to atomic models, chemical, ionic, and hydrogen bonds. The presentation also presents how to count atoms in an equation,...
+
Instructional Video4:22
TED-Ed

Who is Alexander von Humboldt?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Never heard of Alexander von Humboldt? Don't miss the opportunity to tell your class about "the most important forgotten man of science." The narrator describes an array of Humboldt's scientific accomplishments in his five-year journey...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Famous Painters Quiz 1

For Students 6th - 12th
For this famous painters worksheet, students answer short answer questions about famous painters and the paintings they painted. Students complete 20 short answer questions.
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Famous Scientists

For Students 1st
In this scientist worksheet, 1st graders learn about the names and accomplishments of a well known individual.  Students read and trace the letters to complete 1 sentence about the person.
+
Writing
Curated OER

Guess Who Came to Dinner!

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
An exceptionally creative approach is taken to assessing your biologists' grasp of natural selection concepts. They are to imagine hosting Charles Darwin for dinner and having, to their surpise, a few other noted scientists crash the...
+
Learning
Luana Game

Women in Science DIY Kit

For Students 5th - 12th
A card game sheds light on famous women in science. Pairs or small groups collect and exchange color-coded cards. Four cards of the same color make a science lab. The first player to create three labs wins the game! Each card features a...
+
Instructional Video5:22
TED-Ed

How One Scientist Took on the Chemical Industry

For Students 6th - 12th
Rachel Carson's exposure to the dangers of chemical pesticides in Silent Spring not only lead to the development of the Environment Protection Agency, but also to her being accused of being a mass murderer due to the ban on DDT. Find out...
+
Instructional Video3:36
TED-Ed

The Exceptional Life of Benjamin Banneker

For Students 6th - 12th
Introduce your class to Benjamin Banneker, self-taught mathematician and scientist, with a short video that details some of the many accomplishments of the son of freed slaves and contemporary of Thomas Jefferson.
+
Instructional Video13:44
Crash Course

Earth Science: Crash Course History of Science #20

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
How old is Earth and how do scientists know the answer? Throughout history, many researchers, scholars, and leaders answered this question with varying degrees of accuracy. The 20th episode of Crash Course History of Science introduces...
+
Instructional Video9:09
Bozeman Science

History of the Atom

For Students 9th - 12th
Viewers learn about the history of our knowledge of atoms through the discoveries of eight different scientists: Mendeleev, Democritus, Dalton, Thompson, Schrodinger, Bohr, Rutherford, and Chadwick. 

Other popular searches