Curated OER
Games on Echolocation
Get a little batty with life science! This fun simulation game replicates how bats use echolocation to hunt moths in their native Hawaiian habitat. After creating blind folds and discussing some basic principles of echolocation, students...
Curated OER
I Wonder How the Manduca Life Cycle Compares To the Human Life Cycle...
Students study life cycles including developing their understanding of the human life cycle. They decide where they are in the human life cycle and provide reasons for that placement. They compare the human life cycle to that of the...
Curated OER
Earth Day Number Sense
Elementary schoolers count and order objects using numbers 1-300. They bring recyclable items from home. Students group the items, skip count by 2's, 3's, and 5's, and arrange the items on a number line. Recyclable plastic bags are put...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of a Butterfly: Kidspiration
Second graders view a video about butterflies and recall its life cycle. They will also complete a Kidspiration slide show to illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly and study a word list of butterfly vocabulary to include in their...
Curated OER
Go Fish
Help learners discover methods to estimate animal population. They will participate in a simulation of catching and tagging fish in order to estimate the fish population. They scoop and count goldfish crackers, record data, and use...
Curated OER
Animal Alphabet
Review the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes before having learners identify animals whose names begin with each letter. Working in groups of four to six, they make an animal alphabet book with the letter, a picture of the animal...
Curated OER
Build Your Own Cell
In this building your own cell activity, students identify cell vocabulary and facts, and create posters of a labeled plant cell and an animal cell. In this fill-n-the-blank and posters activity, students provide twenty-three answers.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: Plant Life Cycles
Young scientists view videos to watch the changes through the life cycle of a plant. Then they will germinate seeds on a sock and in a plastic bag. Finally, they answer questions about the sequence of plant growth and record changes in...
Curated OER
Can You Adapt?
Using the Montana State Quarter, learners engage in activities designed to help increase their understanding about how animals must change their social and physical behaviors in order to adapt to their environment. Excellent worksheets...
Curated OER
Using Your Senses
Here is a terrific lesson that uses a special State Quarter as a learning tool. This one uses the Alabama State Quarter. During this lesson, pupils learn about their five senses. They make observations about what is in paper bags using...
University of Minnesota
Motor Learning and Memory
What do our brains have to do with reaction timing? Everything! In a hands-on learning activity, young scientists participate in four card activities that measure reaction timing. Each activity gets progressively more complex, and...
Curated OER
Mirror Image
Why does practice make perfect? Give your class insight into procedural memory, where we learn to do new things — then continue to improve through repetition. By attempting to draw shapes while looking in a mirror, learners observe their...
American Museum of Natural History
Horse Gaits Flipbooks Walk, Trot, and Gallop!
Scholars follow seven steps to create horse-themed flipbooks. Three printable options allow them to choose from walking, trotting, or galloping scene.Â
Museum of Science
Garden in a Glove
Calling all green thumbs! Using a clear plastic glove, pupils create a plant nursery. Learners plant different types of seeds in a moistened cotton ball that is placed into each of the fingers in the glove. Leaving the seeds there for...
Museum of Science
Strawberry DNA
Humans aren't the only ones with DNA—fruit has it too. Using a extraction solution, pupils pull the DNA out of a piece of fruit. Learners crush up a piece of fruit with the solution and filter out the solids. Scholars then add cold...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Astronaut Training: Taste
Gravity isn't the only thing astronauts lose in space. Learners investigate why astronauts complain about a loss of taste while in space in a hands-on activity. They taste test foods while limiting their other senses and rate each food...
University of Waikato
Growing Soil Microbes
View how microbes grow in soil. Class members first create a Winogradsky column to grow bacteria. They then set up the column of mud in a plastic bottle and include a food source for the microbes and observe the column of mud over the...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Mesh Bag Collector
Who knew bugs could be so informative? A hands-on activity has pupils assess the sustainability of a water ecosystem based on the presence of invertebrates. The class places a homemade trap in a local pond, and after several weeks,...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Big Fish, Little Fish
Tag, you're eaten! A lesson on predator-prey relationships uses the game freeze tag as a model. Learners become either a predator or prey and play a game of tag as the prey tries to reach areas that house food and shelter. During the...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Colors to Dye for!
Nature provides a rainbow of colors at one's fingertips. A hands-on activity uses natural plant materials to create all-natural dyes. Plants range from fruits and vegetables to flowers and greens. After extracting the pigments, eager...
DiscoverE
A Clever Way to Water
Your plants will survive without you. Scholars create a device that can water plants using a coiled string. Along the way, they learn about adhesion and cohesion of water. The challenge is to keep the plants alive for at least a week.
DiscoverE
Building with Biology
Seeing is believing! Bring DNA to life for young biologists using a simple extraction lab. Individuals extract the DNA from wheat germ, then place it in a microcentrifuge tube for observation. They thread yarn or other material through...
Polar Trec
Drawing Diatoms like Ernst Haeckel
Why do scientists rely on drawings rather than just photographs of their research studies? The lesson introduces drawings of microscopic organisms and the importance of accuracy. Young artists draw organisms and learn why focus and...
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Investigating Evidence
Explore the scientific process through nature. Scholars become scientists as they develop a question, design an experiment, collect data, and analyze their results. A two-week lesson guides your classes through the process and provides...