Science class, built from the city outside the window.
The Lab is a free, NGSS-aligned resource for physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, environmental science, Earth and space science, anatomy and physiology, and data science. Every unit is built around downloadable labs, simulations, bell-ringers, and project ideas rooted in a real place. Our worked example is Detroit: its water, its power grid, its bridges, its music, and its people. Every lab then ends with a Bring It Home step, so students can investigate the same science in their own city.
Eight subjects, the city as the lab bench
Each subject page includes a High School / Middle School toggle, ready-to-teach bell-ringers, downloadable labs with teacher keys, an original simulation, project ideas, an exit ticket, a "Why Does This Matter?" section tying the science to real city systems (with Detroit as the worked example), and the careers that use it.
Physics
Forces, motion, energy, and waves — through crash physics, the power grid, bridges, and Motown acoustics.
Explore Physics →Chemistry
Matter, reactions, and solutions — through Great Lakes water testing, EV batteries, and corrosion in aging infrastructure.
Explore Chemistry →Biology
Ecosystems, genetics, and human impact — through the Detroit River's comeback and the city's urban farms.
Explore Biology →Engineering
The full design cycle — through bridge design, EV manufacturing, and housing retrofits for Detroit's neighborhoods.
Explore Engineering →Environmental Science
Climate, resources, and environmental justice — through urban heat islands and Southwest Detroit's air quality.
Explore Environmental Science →Earth & Space Science
Seasons, the water cycle, and deep time — through Detroit's sun angle, Great Lakes climate, and the salt mine beneath the city.
Explore Earth & Space →Anatomy & Physiology
Body systems and homeostasis — through the Detroit Marathon, asthma and air quality, and hearing.
Explore Anatomy →Data Science
Evidence and trends in real Detroit data — energy use, freeze–thaw potholes, and Great Lakes water levels.
Explore Data Science →NGSS Guide
What the Next Generation Science Standards are, the three dimensions, and where every Lab unit fits.
Read the guide →Everything you need to teach the lesson, not just plan it
Downloadable labs
21 print-ready handouts with objectives, materials, procedure, data tables, and analysis questions — each with a teacher key of sample data, answers, and common errors.
Simulations
Eight original in-browser simulations plus curated PhET and public data tools, so students can test variables before or after the hands-on lab.
Bell-ringers
Three warm-up prompts per unit with click-to-reveal discussion notes — ready to project in the first five minutes of class.
Project ideas
Extended, presentation-ready project briefs for students who want to take a concept further, individually or in teams.
"Why Does This Matter?"
Every unit connects to a real city system (transportation, water, energy, housing, sports, music, or technology), so the science has a street address. The worked examples come from Detroit.
Bring It Home
Every lab ends with a step that sends students to free national data (NOAA, USGS, EPA, CDC, iNaturalist) so they can repeat the investigation for their own city or neighborhood.
NGSS alignment
Each unit lists the specific performance expectations it addresses, so it drops straight into your pacing guide.
Tools that turn ideas into class periods
Search every lab, project bell-ringers full-screen, build a one-page lesson plan, and grab pacing guides, rubrics, and ready-to-use datasets for Detroit and seven other cities.
Lab Library
Filter 21 labs by subject, grade band, NGSS code, or Detroit theme.
Bell-Ringer Bank
56 warm-ups in seven formats, from Notice and Wonder to Survival Quick Write.
City Explorer
Switch the data labs from Detroit to real weather from Washington DC, Savannah, Tallahassee, New Orleans, Nashville, San Diego, or Dallas.
Project Mode
Full-screen bell-ringers and exit tickets with hidden answers and a timer.
Lesson Plan Builder
One printable page: standards, bell-ringer, lab, prep list, and exit ticket.
Pacing Guide
Three-week, day-by-day outlines for all eight units.
Project Rubrics
Five printable four-level rubrics for projects and lab reports.
Datasets
Real NOAA, Open-Meteo, and iNaturalist data plus labeled classroom models.
Every city is a working lab. Ours is Detroit.
Science sticks when it happens somewhere students know. Detroit is the Motor City and a Great Lakes city, an energy hub and a music capital, a place rebuilding its bridges, its housing stock, and its urban farms all at once. That makes it a rich worked example. The same six systems run through every city, so each Detroit story doubles as a template: teach it as written, then let students bring it home to their own neighborhood with the City Explorer and the free data sources in every lab.
From crash-test physics to the Gordie Howe International Bridge, Detroit's auto and transit history makes forces, motion, and structural engineering concrete.
Bordering the Detroit River and the Great Lakes — 20% of the world's surface freshwater — gives chemistry and biology units a real water system to test.
DTE Energy's grid, EV battery plants, and home heating costs turn thermodynamics and circuits into a household budget line.
Insulation retrofits, lead paint chemistry, and vacant-lot land use connect materials science and engineering design to neighborhood-level decisions.
Ford Field, Comerica Park, and Little Caesars Arena supply real projectile motion, biomechanics, and stadium-engineering examples.
Motown's sound is a physics lesson in waves and resonance hiding in plain sight — literally recorded a few miles from most Detroit classrooms.