Students investigate the planet Earth's infamous ring of fire and the life that thrives from it.  In this ocean environment activity, students investigate hydrothermal vents and how organisms thrive off their heat.  Students...

Four lessons introduce elementary ecologists to salt marsh and sandy beach habitats. In the first lesson, they place shells and other materials in vinegar to determine if they contain calcium carbonate. In the second lesson, they read a...

In this science worksheet set, students answer 14 short answer questions about the classification and adaptation of life in streams, rivers, and lakes. They also answer 15 questions about life "Where the Land Meets the Sea" and in a...

In this global warming worksheet, climatologists examine a few possible results of climate change. There is no specific reading from which learners extrapolate the information needed to answer the questions, so you will need to preface...

Learners experiment with various foods to determine fat and starch content. They rub jam, peanut butter, bananas, and other foods in a small circle on a piece of paper, and observe the results. If there is a high fat content in the...

Students examine the agricultural sources of everyday products and identify food products outside traditional farming circles. They discuss the background information, and complete activity sheets, locating various commodity locations on...

Pretend you are exploring a newly discovered species of fish in the Galapagos. Your budding marine biologists access FishBase Database's list of marine/brackish fishes and choose one to research. The link through this website does not...

The question posed for the class to consider; What would decay and what would not? They read the short passage on decomposition and microbes, then mark the items that would decay after a two-week period. A scientific investigation idea...

The first thing to know about this lesson plan is that the commercial fisheries data for the activity no longer seems to be available. That being said, there are fascinating links to other websites, some about the comparative odds of...

In this bug vocabulary skills activity, students match the 12 listed insects to the appropriate sentences that describe each of them.

Sure to activate young minds, this resource asks learners to consider how media influences their personal points of view. Pupils examine how animals are portrayed in the media to understand why they feel the way they do about those...

While this activity focuses on a study of the Hudson River, it could be used as a template for a discussion of map skills, converting measurements, and plotting a route. The activity includes vocabulary and other resources to make it a...

Using the prairie dog community as an example, middle school ecologists examine the food web. Pairs of learners take one species in the community and research its role in the ecosystem. They share their findings with the rest of the...

Students recognize what traits are inherited. In this inherited traits bulletin board lesson, students complete a chart showing what traits they have inherited and from whom.

Students comb the beach and gather remnants of unfamiliar life forms to make speculations about the origins of their discoveries. In this environments awareness activity, students work in groups to search for evidence of life on the...

Students conduct an experiment. In this temperate forest lesson, students discuss what kind of animal life can be found in the forest. They read The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad: A Book About Decomposition and complete an...

Students explore oceanography by researching migrating fish. In this Pacific Salmon lesson, students participate in a board game activity in which they move a salmon through their annual journey to the spawning habitat upstream. Students...

Marine invertebrates offer us many new options for developing pharmaceutical drugs, such as w-conotoxin MVIIA, which is extracted from the cone snail and is a potent painkiller. The lesson plan encourages scholars to research various...

What's black and white and can dive up to 1,800 feet under water? That's right, penguins! Learn this and many other amazing facts about these unique birds with this handy reference sheet.

Ever heard of a stygofauna or a stygobite? How about an anchialine cave? Set your young biologists on a quest to find information about organisms that live in and have adapted to life in caves located near the water. Class members then...

This worksheet calls for young scientists to create a diagram of a butterfly's life cycle and then answer a series of short-answer and fill-in -the-blank questions. The questions are broken down by the stages of a butterfly's life cycle:...

Learners work collaboratively to predict what life would be like as an Arctic Hare. Teams go on a hunt where scholars role play an owl, white hares, and gray hares. Independently, pupils record their findings and reflect on their...

Students explore plant life by creating their own gardens in class. In this food growing lesson, students discuss the types of gardening methods Native Americans used in order to keep healthy. Students plant corn seeds in their school...