Curated OER
Water Quality and Watersheds: A GIS Investigation
Requiring more than one class period, this resource takes earth science learners on a journey through a watershed. Using ArcGIS Explorer, an online geographic information system, they view maps of watersheds and surrounding landscapes....
Curated OER
Global Environmental Issues: Air and Water Pollution
Thinking about designing a project for your social studies or environmental science classes? Use an overview of a project that prompts class groups to research an environmental issue.
Curated OER
Fracking: Positive or Negative Impact?
Your teenagers may have heard of fracking, but do they really know what it is? And could they debate the benefits and risks? Educate your environmental science class with a lesson about hydraulic fracturing, non-renewable energy sources,...
Curated OER
Watering Our Prairie Farms
After reading an article about irrigation on Canadian farms, learners participate in a discussion. They individually write an opinion paper about the surrounding issues. A instructional activity like this can be used in an earth science...
Curated OER
Working With Environmental Issues
Students consider the source of disease and parasites in West Africa. In this environmental issues lesson, students read "Working with Environmental Issues," by Fred Koehler. Students participate in an activity that requires students to...
Curated OER
Water Contamination Challenge
Students play a game to analyze further the effects of water contamination. In this environmental concerns lesson, students play an online game about water contamination and may visit the additional links to further their studies on the...
Curated OER
Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson plan mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map...
Curated OER
Water Quality and Environmental Pollution
Learners use litmus paper to begin to discover the qualities of acids and bases. They learn about pH by testing clear liquids for acidity with purple cabbage juice as an indicator. The video Streamkeeper, with Bill Nye, and other video...
Kenan Fellows
Terrarium in a Bottle: Modeling the Atmosphere, Greenhouse Effect, and Water Cycle
You've heard of farm to table ... but what about farm in classroom? Junior agriculturalists embark upon a two-week journey into the science of growing things. Based upon the classic terrarium in a two-liter experiment, the lesson plan...
Curated OER
Greenhouse Gas Line-up
The actual lesson itself is not unique; groups discuss and rank different sources of energy in order of their cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. They compare their prediction to real data. What makes this resource valuable, is that it...
Curated OER
Hemispheres: People and Place
Here is an astounding series of lessons, designed for high schoolers, on environmental policy. By studying water conservation in rural India, the role of the government, and the reaction of the people, learners begin to formulate...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The Case of the Mysterious Renters
Upper-elementary kids examine the water usage in their own home, then use that data to solve a case in which a landlady is trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment being rented. Combine math, scientific method, and...
Curated OER
Global Water Crisis
Assign ecologists one of five countries that struggle with access to clean water. They research the water crisis in that country and then present information to classmates. A handout was designed for each country, and a worksheet on...
Cornell University
Fibers, Dyes, and the Environment
Nanofibers can be made through electrospinning or force spinning in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Pupils study the role of fibers and dye on the environment through a series of five hands-on activities. Then,...
Curated OER
Pollution and Environmental Studies- Daily Water Use
In this environmental studies worksheet, students create a data table to discover how much water each person uses on a daily basis and what it is used for. They complete a post activity to make and test solutions for pollution using a...
Virginia Department of Education
Freshwater Food Chains
What's in the water? Encourage your class to further explore this question and learn about pond ecosystems, food chains, and food webs as they complete this hands-on activity. They view the environment from a new perspective after...
Curated OER
Transportation and Environmental Sustainability
After listening to the book, We All Go Traveling By, 1st graders discuss different modes of transportation that they see out in the world, and the environmental impacts of each one. Kids work together to create a list of the types of...
Curated OER
Water Creative Writing
Young scholars red and discuss an example of a biographical essay. They read The Last of the Falling Tide by Car Hiassen, answer factual questions concerning the work, and create their own story about a natural place they are familiar...
Curated OER
Water: Read All About It!
Middle schoolers discuss newspapers and water and work in groups to develop their own paper focusing on water issues. In this journalism lesson, students discuss the value of newspapers and water as an issue. They work as a group to...
Curated OER
Water: Access and Use
Students get a personal sense for another culture's way of doing things. Develop a list of sources for water. Practice using the scientific method. Examine means for conserving, or for generating, reliable sources of water.
Curated OER
Testing Your Water
Students perform several water quality tests on groundwater from their area. They use test strips to determine the pH, hardness, alkalinity, nitrates, iron and chloride levels.
Curated OER
What's in Wetland Soil?
Students examine the organic and inorganic components of soil. In this environmental science lesson, students identify the factors that influence soil formation. They collect soil samples, conduct tests, and analyze the results.
Curated OER
Recreational Water Contamination and Beach Closurew
Learners work in teams to develop a presentation and handout representing a particular point of view in a recreational Water Contaminationand Beach Closure Debate. They synthesize their knowledge of recreational water, sewage, and their...
Curated OER
How Much Water?
Students investigate amount of water available in different countries around the world, compare it to their daily water use, and explore how unequal distribution of water can cause challenges to survival. Students then discuss need to...