Curated OER
Marine & Aquatic Habitats Activities - Walk in the Wetlands
Students research various types of fresh water wetlands and identify the common animal and plant life in these different ecosystems. They further analyze the need to protect these wetlands and explore their varied uses.
NOAA
Currents
A deep ocean current circles the globe at a force that is greater than 16 times all the world's rivers combined. Groups analyze the effects of submarine topography on deep ocean current speed. They then determine how this speed affects...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Thirstin's Wacky Water Adventure
Make a splash with young scientists as you teach them all about water using this activity packet. Thirstin, a cartoon glass of water, walks children through the water treatment process, teaches them about different sources of water, and...
Alabama Learning Exchange
WATER You Doing to Help?
Auntie Litter is here to educate young scholars about water pollution and environmental stewardship! Although the 15-minute video clip is cheesy, it's an engaging look at the water cycle and conservation. Learners start by illustrating...
Forest Foundation
Forest Watersheds
Where does the water we use come from? To understand the concept of a watershed, class members study the water cycle and then engage in an activity that simulates a watershed.
Chymist
Testing the Waters
Should you trust the water you drink every day? The hands-on activity has scholars test water from different sources for contaminants. Pupils perform chemical testing and make conclusions about pH, hardness, iron, chlorine, lead, and...
Curated OER
What Trickles Down?
Students explore different levels of permeability and compare the permeabilities of several different materials. They are introduced to the basic concepts of building design, landscape architecture, and environmental pollutant transport....
Center Science Education
Paleoclimates and Pollen
Demonstrate for your earth scientists how plant pollen of the past has become part of sedimentary deposits, providing clues about ancient climates. Then give them simulated sediment layer samples to analyze for different types of paper...
Curated OER
Biocomplexity Lab Activity: Creating Salt Water
The lesson seeks to intorduce to students the properties of salt water and how to create salt water. Teacher gives backgound information about salt water to students. From that point, students dscuss what elements are in salt water....
Curated OER
Shells on the Mountain Top?
Students work in groups to remove fossils from sediments, classifying as many organisms and parts of organisms as possible into major groups. They study the data from each formation and make conclusions about the types of organisms and...
Curated OER
Erosion Patterns
Fifth graders explore erosion and the different types of sediment. In this erosion patterns lesson students complete an activity and divide into groups and conduct an experiment.
Curated OER
Layers Upon Layers
Students model how layers of sediments are deposited. They use logic to derive rules or laws that can be used to examine layers of sediment in a cup and apply it to the real world.
Curated OER
Shaping the Land
In this shaping the land activity, students will match 7 vocabulary words relating to the movement of sediments to its definition. Students will read 10 statements about how water and glaciers impact sediment movement and answer true or...
Curated OER
Speed of a Forest Stream
Students study stream speed. In this stream speed lesson students complete an activity and formulate an opinion and study its effects.
Curated OER
Best Management Practices for Water Quality
Fourth graders examine best management practices for water quality. In this water quality instructional activity, 4th graders explore unused land to identify areas of runoff, erosion, and effects of water flow. Students discuss logging...
Curated OER
You Are What You Drink!
Students explore water treatment systems. In this water conservation ecology lesson, students identify and explain several processes used for water treatment and define related vocabulary after listening to content information given...
Curated OER
Water - The Transporter
Middle schoolers discuss the role of water in transporting sediments and dissolved particles. In this interdisciplinary lesson plan, students read about how water transports sediments and changes the landscape. They complete a variety...
Curated OER
Hudson Canyon Expedition Let's Bet on Sediments!
Students investigate and analyze the patterns of sedimentation in the Hudson Canyon students observe how heavier particles sink faster than finer particles. They study that submarine landslides (trench slope failure) are
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Chemical Signatures of Asteroid Impacts
What killed the dinosaurs and how do scientists know? Your high schoolers can examine these fascinating questions with a geochemical lens using the engaging 33-minute video, the accompanying data interpretation, and some thoughtful...
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section Two: Why is Biodiversity Important?
Explore soil, genetic traits, natural resources, and pollution in a series of lessons that focus on biodiversity. Kids complete experiments to learn more about the importance of varied genes and organisms in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Fossil Fuels (Part II), The Geology of Oil
More of a mini-unit than a lesson, these activities lead inquisitors through a survey of oil deposits. In the first part, they read about and view diagrams of sedimentary rock layers that trap oil. Next, they test porosity and...
Curated OER
Water Pollution
Fifth graders study the impact of human activity on water quality and on the ecosystems of Earth. After a discussion on the various ways that water can be polluted, groups of youngsters get together to figure out the best way to clean a...
Curated OER
Floods and Flash Floods
Junior geologists, hydrologists, or meteorologists simulate what happens during the flooding of a river and demonstrate factors that contribute to flash flooding. This outstanding resource provides a vocabulary list, online resources,...
Curated OER
Exploring How Rocks Are Formed
These lessons produced by the Illinois State Museum are quite good. In this one, third and fourth graders are introduced to the three basic types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. They perform activities which help them...