Curated OER
Aztec Floating Gardens
Aztecs created amazing hydroponic gardens called Chinampas, to grow their crops. Learners in grades k-7 engage in four mini-experiments to understand just how amazing floating gardens are. Tip: A perfect way to bring science into your...
Curated OER
Which Way to Grow?
Learners diagram and discuss the effect of gravity on the growth of plant roots. Designed to demonstrate the role that the growth hormone auxin plays in the direction of root growth. They set up the experiment to test their hypothesis...
Curated OER
Breakfast of Champions
Second graders classify foods using the food pyramid and write about the foods they eat. They distinguish between healthy and junk food and make healthy choices for their meals. They listen to the story "No Peas for Nellie" and discuss...
Curated OER
Nitrogen Fixation, OR What a Gas!
Learners illustrate the adaptation and co-evolution of organisms. They examine set up an experiment to determine the effect of adding the Rhizobium bacteria to a group of legume seeds.
Curated OER
Baby Peanut Plants
Science is a subject ripe with opportunities to read informational text. Kids read to learn about peanuts! They read an informational passage, fill out two comprehension worksheets, and then conduct a lab experiment on a peanut. The...
Curated OER
The Peanut Wizard
Peanuts inspire this lesson about George Washington Carver, called The Peanut Wizard in the included informational text. Class members read about peanuts and George Washington Carver and create a timeline of his life. In addition, pupils...
Curated OER
Jewish Culture Through Food Recipes
Young scholars engage in studying Jewish culture through the experience of tasting and eating different foods. They answer key questions that are used to guide the lesson. The foods of Americans is contrasted with the Jewish foods.
Curated OER
Erosion: Changing the Face of Earth
Fourth graders explore how the landscape of the planet can be changed by different elements of wind, water, ice and chemicals through hands-on activities. They examine pictures of areas around town and discuss anything they think is out...
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Discovery Science Center Activities
Fourth graders complete a variety of experiments to meet science goals. In this life sciences lesson, 4th graders make yogurt, discover the attraction of opposite charges in electricity, learn the effects of glaciers, and explore...
Curated OER
Using the Internet: Punnett Squares
Seventh graders discuss their own genetic traits. Using computers, they research the creation of Punnett Squares. They preform online experiments with peas, predicting the appearances of the offspring. They determine how genetic traits...
Curated OER
Anyone for Sugar?
Students inquire about how much sugar they consume on a daily basis. In this healthy habits demonstration, students examine how much sugar is in a variety if foods by spooning out teaspoons and placing into a bowl. Students discuss...
Curated OER
Properties of Liquids
Seventh graders explain that liquids are made up of tiny particles and how these spaces allow other particiles to fit in between larger particles. They then plan and carry out simple scientific experiments.
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Extracting DNA
Students explore DNA, genes, chromosomes and the chemicals that make up DNA. They research Internet resources to develop their knowledge of DNA. They conduct an experiment to separate DNA from peas and create a poster that they can use...
Curated OER
One, Two, Three. TMV
Learners, in groups, design their own experiments to determine how the mode of application of the virus extract affects the various plants that students have grown from seed.
Curated OER
An Investigation into Effects of Rhizobium Soil Bacteria on Nitrogen Availability
Learners identify the control and the variables in the experiment. They describe the growth of plants with and without nitrogen fixing bacteria, then name the bacterium responsible for making nitrogen available to the plant.
Curated OER
Planting
Learners form groups to conduct an experiment. They plant seedlings to test the effects of sunlight, water and soil, on the growth of seedlings.
Curated OER
Will they grow?
Third graders plant seeds and see how they will grow in a specific temperature and are questioned about different environments and how they think crops would grow there. They form a hypothesis, perform an experiment, and then collect...
Curated OER
Investigate Factors Affecting Nitrates in Groundwater
Students participate in an experiment in which they investigate the factors affecting the levels of nitrates in groundwater. Using examples, they explain the nitrogen cycle and identify the sources of chemical nitrogen fertilizers. ...
Curated OER
Extracting DNA
Students develop understanding of DNA by modeling the process of DNA extraction. They study DNA, genes and chromosomes. After the basic information, students do an experiment in which they separate out DNA from peas.
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
Mendelian Genetics
Although these slides seem full of text, the information is bulleted and clear. There is a list of vocabulary and then two slides to define examples of Mendelian inheritance and rules of probability. The remaining five slides look at...
Smithsonian Institution
Comparing Confederate and Union Soldiers
The Civil War, a war that divided a nation. Comparing and contrasting the Confederate and Union soldiers is not always an easy task, but the eighth of 15 resources makes it easy to teach the concepts. Exercises include watching videos in...
American Museum of Natural History
A Nature and Nurture Walk in Mendel Park
We are what we make of ourselves ... sometimes. Learners play a game to come up with the answer to a riddle. The game consists of determining whether different scenarios are due to nature or nature and nurture. With each correct answer,...
Curated OER
Woodsies "Extraordinaire"
Allow your class to use their imaginations and create fun creatures with various wooden shapes and other embellishments. What a great way to encourage your young artists to stretch their minds!