Students engage in a fun, creative way to discover how the Earth moves. This instructional activity helps students explain why there is day and night. It can also create curiosity to further study the solar system and eclipses!

Students are introduced to the processes of evaporation and condensation as they observe physical changes in water. They observe how matter changes from a solid to a liquid state. Students are explained that steam is water in its gaseous...

Students classify and record objects they find "underground." In this observation lesson, students dig into bins filled with soil and encounter various objects such as bark, twigs, etc. Students classify their findings.

Students explore the concept of soil and decomposition. In this soil and decomposition instructional activity, students investigate bags of soil. Students then learn how  animals and other organisms help in the decomposition...

Students investigate how rocks are modified into construction materials. In this building up and breaking down lesson plan, students explore what happens to building materials over time and how people modify natural materials. Students...

Students examine why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In this sun lesson, students explore the sunset and shadows. Students prove that the sun's position changes during the day. Students investigate what causes a shadow....

Students examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Students will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...

Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...

Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...

Students drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. In seeing how falling water can...

Students study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.

Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. In this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...

Learners investigate how to use Moh's Hardness Scale. In this geology lesson, students examine several minerals and develop a hypothesis about which mineral is the hardest. Learners use the Moh's Scale Identification Chart to determine...

Students investigate a topic and prepare a quiz activity. For this space science lesson, students investigate one of the planets and construct a quiz for their classmates.

Third graders demonstrate the position of the Earth, Moon, and Sun in a solar and lunar eclipse. They list uses for manmade satellites and write a description of how a satellite would be use.

Third graders examine the effect of sunlight on the earth. Individually, they pick an article of clothing out of a bag and sort themselves based on the color of the shirt and whether it should be worn on a cold or a hot day. To end the...

Students study myths regarding four earthquakes myths. They receive a list of supplies each family should have at home to prepare for an earthquake and construct an "Earthquake Preparation" poster showing some of the most important items...

Learners review and discuss a variety of sayings, folklore and superstitions about spiders. They discuss this information and choose either an interesting fact or appealing foklore tradition to illustrate.

Third graders research and write about Cyrus Dillan. They explain one of Dillan's sculptures. Students locate six constellations and two planets. They research and write about the daily life of the Pawnee.

Young scholars write Sun and Moon poetry. For this poetry lesson, students research the sun and the moon.  They write poetry and create two class baskets for descriptive words about each.

Young scholars estimate how many drops of water can fit onto the surface of a penny and then test their hypothesis to find out. They also experiment with bubbles.

Students explore earth epochs, i.e, Permian, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordivician and through pictures they see what life on Earth and animals looked like. They organize Earth Epochs according to years going from greatest to least...

Pupils examine what happens to air when it is heated or cooled. They conduct an experiment using bottles and balloons, record and discuss their observations, and write a hypothesis.

Students investigate how satellites help people communicate with others far away and in remote areas. They discuss a scenario of someone travelling to an area with no mode of communication, observe a teacher demonstration, and create a...