Curated OER
Stoichiometry in the Real World
Real world chemical reactions are used as examples for teaching stoichiometry. Viewers work through air bag inflation, fat conversion to water in a camel, rocket fuel combustion, and carbon dioxide removal in spacecraft. Make...
Curated OER
What Makes a Seed Breathe Faster?
Here's a five-star lesson plan in which inquisitors conduct sophisticated experimentation with cellular respiration in plant seeds. Placing seeds in a closed system they measure the amount carbon dioxide produced and relate it to...
Curated OER
Making a Cave
Students discuss caves. In this science instructional activity, students experiment with how dissolution, a chemical weathering process, leads to the formation of caves. Once the cave is finsihed students draw a picture or describe in...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
NASA
The Big Climate Change Experiment Lesson 1: Pre-Exploration
Most have heard of climate change, but what does it really mean? Scholars first answer a set of pre-assessment questions about climate change to help instructors gauge how much they know. They listen to a video lecture, watch a news...
Curated OER
Measuring Lung Capacity
Sixth graders explore measuring lung capacity. In this respiratory system lesson, 6th graders conduct an experiment on their fellow class mates that measures how much air capacity their lungs have. Students record and graph the data...
Curated OER
Rice Farming
Third graders investigate how farmers get more rice from their land. In this farming lesson, 3rd graders discover things that farmers to do produce more rice. Students study photosynthesis and illustrate pictures about it. Students test...
Curated OER
Acid Rain
Students investigate the quality of water using a variety of methods. They use a pH probe to measure the pH and study the effect of dissolved CO2 in the water. Students also observe the effect of the pH upon the dissolving of H2SO4 in...
Curated OER
The Biomass Balancing Act
Students work in groups to research biomass using the International Energy Agency's website. Students use evidence from the web search to assess biomass energy potential in Pennsylvania as part of a classroom "Alternative Energy...
Curated OER
Losing An Island
Young scholars examine carbon dioxide and determine the impact of greenhouse gases on the earths spheres. In this pollution lesson students complete a lab activity to see the impact of gases on the environment,
Curated OER
Everything Breathes!
Fifth graders test plants in the dark and in the light to see which grows better and produces more carbon dioxide. For this plants lesson plan, 5th graders also create ways for plants to go through photosynthesis that they can observe.
It's About Time
Volcanos and the Atmosphere
In the summer of 1815, snow fell every month in New England. Was this related to the volcanic eruption of Tambora in Indonesia earlier in the year? Young scientists design their own experiments to research the long-term effect a volcanic...
Curated OER
Aerobic/Anaerobic Respiration
Both aerobic and anerobic respiration are introduced in this succinct PowerPoint. The chemical equations for both are included. The last slides give instructions for a lab activity in which pupils use a gas sensor to measure the...
Curated OER
Exhaust, Gas and Pollution
Students watch a demonstration of how bromthymol blue is used to indicate the presence of carbon dioxide in a gas. They design their own experiments to test gasses which are suspected of containing carbon dioxide.
Curated OER
Where in the World is Carbon Dixoide?
Students conduct experiments designed to detect the presence of CO2 by using a BTB that changes color (blue to yellow) in the presence of CO2. First, students experiment with the CO2 from combining vinegar and baking soda. In part two,...
Curated OER
Take a Deep Breath: Air Today, Air Tomorrow
This is the introductory lesson in a series about air quality. Why is it so important that we breathe clean air? How can we make sure we're keeping our air clean? A discussion is the central idea of the lesson, and example questions are...
Curated OER
Microbes
Microbiology beginners feed different sweetening agents to yeast and measure carbon dioxide production to estimate energy contained in each. They set the trials up in zip-top plastic baggies and then measure gas volume by water...
Space Awareness
Global Warming of the Atmosphere
Scientists know the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today is higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years. Scholars learn about the amount of thermic radiation absorbed by air and what happens to the rest of the...
Curated OER
Greenewables
Young scholars form expert engineering teams working for the (fictional) alternative energy consulting firm, Greenewables, Inc. Each team specializes in a form of renewable energy used to generate electrical power: passive solar, solar...
Curated OER
Biogeochemical Cycles
Learners demonstrate comprehension of the energy sources of various cycles by completing mini stories. They demonstrate analysis of words by defining individual word parts and combining them to form definitions. Students demonstrate...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Air Pollution
Seventy percent of the air pollution in China is due to car exhaust. Under the umbrella of environmental chemistry, learners extensively explore air pollution. From the makeup of our atmosphere to sources of major air pollutants, classes...
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Curated OER
Visualizing the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
Students discover the differences between global warming and the greenhouse effect through hands-on classroom experiences. They use a 2-D globe and picture cards to identify the causes of both. Students visualize the human influence on...
Curated OER
Arbor Day
First graders study the importance of trees to our environment. they make their own version of the story by completing the following sentence and then completing an illustration for their writing. "A tree can be ______."