National Park Service
Fire Ecology on the Rim
An engaging unit on wildfires includes three sections, including a background section with eight lessons and five activities, a field experience section with 13 lessons and five activities, and a conclusion section featuring an analysis...
Teach Engineering
Communicating Your Results
Groups analyze and interpret their data from previous research in order to develop individualized findings. The teams then use guidelines to help determine what aspects of their research to include on a poster. Class members then compare...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Environmental Engineering
A series on environmental engineering introduces the class to issues that environmental engineers work to solve. This first lesson focuses on air and land issues, and looks at ways to reduce pollution.
Global Oneness Project
The Value of Ancient Traditions
Imagine having to give up cell phones, computers, and TV? What would be lost? What gained? An examination of the Drokpa, a nomadic people who live in the grasslands of Tibet, provides class members an opportunity to consider how access...
Beyond Benign
Plastic Bags
Paper or plastic? Explore the environmental effects of using plastic bags through mathematics. Learners manipulate worldwide data on plastic bag consumption to draw conclusions.
Chemical Education Foundation
Teacher's Guide to Science Projects
Do you find the idea of having a science fair with all of your students intimidating? Use a guide that provides everything you need to know to make project-based learning manageable. The resource includes options for four different types...
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Waste and Recycling: Recycling Paper
We take paper for granted, while thousands of trees are being made into the paper we toss in the trash. Start a dialogue about paper reduction and recycling in class, and share the negative effects paper production has on our ecosystem....
It's About Time
Renewable Energy Sources - Solar and Wind
There has been a huge solar energy spill! Let's go outside to play in it. This lesson includes multiple experiments showcasing solar and wind energies. Scholars build a solar heater and an anemometer before testing the results. The...
Teach Engineering
Solar Water: Heat it Up!
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Water Bottles Everywhere
Young environmentalists examine how water bottle use is polluting the waters on our earth. In groups, your young scholars study the handout on their assigned topic and present their findings to the rest of the class. Leading up to this...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Demonstration of Water Pollution
In this teacher-led demonstration, your young environmentalists will observe and record how different types of water pollutants look when they are combined. From here, individuals will develop a hypothesis on how the water can be...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
How Water Pollution Is Cleaned Up
As a follow-up from the previous instructional activity, young environmentalists discuss the benefits of water filtration and whether or not it's the best option. Other alternatives including air stripping, bioremediation, and...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Make Your Own Water Pollution
Using the polluted water that was made in the prior lesson, your young environmentalists will mix pollutants together in an experiment. Then, they will design a water filter that will clean the polluted water to use in the next lesson....
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Cause and Effect of Water Pollution
Your young scholars will become aware of and be able to list the major types and sources of water pollution. Being able to recognize that the household, agriculture, and industry sectors of society contribute to water pollution, is the...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Types of Water Pollution
In groups, young environmentalists investigate water samples that are contaminated with different types of pollutants. Each group presents their findings to the class and fills out the "Types of Pollutants Chart." This lesson is meant...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Water Pollution
An introductory lesson to a unit on water pollution, young environmentalists are asked to brainstorm examples of pollutants in water. This lesson will help develop a sense of what water pollution is and where the pollutants come from.
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Ask an Engineer
A wrap-up to the unit, young environmentalists discuss and write about the difference in perspectives of a water keeper and water treatment engineer.
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
Curated OER
The Chesapeake Bay in Captain John Smith's Time
When Captain John Smith visited the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 1608, what types of animals and habitats did he encounter? Your young historians will analyze primary source documents to answer this question, as well as compare the...
Government of South Australia
Don't Waste Your Energy
Don't lift another finger, this physical and environmental science unit has everything you need to begin teaching your class about energy. Starting with a look at the greenhouse effect, these lessons and activities take young scientists...
Henry Ford Museum
Transportation Systems
Learners analyze the evolution of cultural attitudes through the lens of transportation, examining several artifacts, documents, and photographs. Topics covered include how American attitudes have influenced society's evolution into a...
Forest Foundation
Forests, Carbon & Our Climate
To conclude their examination of forest ecosystems, class members consider the role forests play in the carbon cycle and how forests can offset climate change.
Forest Foundation
Forest Families
Class groups play a Forest Families card game to reinforce concepts presented in the first six sessions of a nine-lesson study of tress and forest ecosystems.
Forest Foundation
Waste Not - Want Not
Recycling is the focus in the sixth of a nine-lesson series devoted to forest ecosystems. Class members read an article about the responsible use of natural resources and ways to reduce land fill.