Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics from making...
Space Awareness
Fizzy Balloons - C02 in School
Carbon dioxide is a very important gas; it is present in the air, used in cooking, and supports plant and animal life. Scholars investigate the properties of carbon dioxide with three different activities. They experience a color change,...
Curated OER
Water: Our Most Important Beverage
Third graders create a KWL chart about water. In this environmental science activity, 3rd graders demonstrate how much water on Earth is usable. They act out the different stages of the water cycle.
Curated OER
Water: Our Most Important Beverage
Third graders complete a KWL chart on what they already know about water and what they want to know. As a class, they participate in an activity in which they discover the amount of drinkable water on Earth and are introduced to the...
Space Awareness
Investigating the Atmosphere - Air Takes Up Space
How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...
Curated OER
What's Dancing in the Water?
Students learn about watershed, as well as the different forms and uses of water. In this water forms lesson, students brainstorm water sources and uses. Students read the book Water Dance and discuss water examples. Students complete a...
Curated OER
Effects of Weathering
Here's a great geology lesson for 3rd graders on weathering and erosion of soil. After a class discussion on how nature can "move a mountain," learners take a look at how a modern phenoma called acid rain can also cause weathering and...
Curated OER
Fred the Fish -- A River Ran Wild
Students apply cause and effect relationships to water pollution in a stream. In this pollution lesson students recognize the importance of clean water in their daily lives. Students accompany "Fred the Fish" as he travels down stream....
NASA
Let's Investigate Mars
Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of Earth's nearest neighbor.
Curated OER
Aquifer Model
Students, after researching and brainstorming about aquifers and locating aquifer maps of Texas, participate in the building of a model of an aquifer complete with a pumping station. They also answer a variety of questions at the...
Curated OER
Make a Windmill
Learners explore Earth science by conducting an energy experiment in class. In this windmill lesson plan, students identify how wind has been used to pump water throughout history and the latest developments wind energy has produced....
Curated OER
Surface Water Supplies And The Texas Settlements
Young scholars engage in a lesson that is concerned with the allocation and finding of water resources. The location of different settlement areas is considered as one looks how the water is distributed. They map some of the early...
PBS
Cloud Clues
It's cloudy with a good chance of learning! An inquiry-based lesson begins with an exploration of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials. Young scientists then connect their learning to the different cloud types as they take the...
Curated OER
I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore (Grades 2-5)
Young scholars give examples of erosion and weathering processes. They determine causes of America's Dust Bowl phenomena.Students define erosion as the condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind.
Curated OER
Properties of Soil
Young scholars encounter various pieces of knowledge utilizing lessons that addresses a diversity of learners with multiple intelligences. They cover various concepts: science, Earth, scientific inquiry, geometry, data analysis,...
Curated OER
Water, Water Everywhere
Studetns view a terrarium with water droplets on the wals. They discuss the ways the water could have got onto the wall of the terrarium. Students design an experiment to duplicate the process. They describe the patterns form their data...
Curated OER
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Students conduct a number of experiments involving evaporation and condensation. They view and discuss a video about the water cycle and then design posters about the rain based on the book "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs".
Curated OER
Investigating the Soil
Students explore the Earth's crust by researching pH levels and acidity. In this environmental safety lesson, students identify the pros and cons of acidity within soil and how it affects plants. Students collaborate in a pH level...
Curated OER
Glove Gardens
Young scholars investigate how seeds sprout. For this scientific inquiry lesson, students make predictions on which seeds will grow the fastest and observe the seeds over a period of time. Observations are recorded into a journal.
Curated OER
Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
Students identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and...
Curated OER
On the Surface
Students draw and label the 15 major rivers in Texas. They then draw and label another map with the major lakes and reservioirs of Texas. Students use the maps and locate and label the location of the following major Texas cities:...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Learners create an "animated" water cycle wheel that illustrates where water comes from and where it goes.
Curated OER
It's Rainin', It's Pouring
Students take a quick examine part of the water cycle, and the combined gas laws. The lesson plan lead them through the conditions necessary for cloud formation and allow them to create clouds in three different hands-on activities.