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Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students use NASA satellite data to correlate cloud cover over Africa to the solar declination.
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An Internet Lesson on the Planets

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders research one of the planets in the solar system based on questions that they develop using information from the Internet. They create a travel brochure using the research information.
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Biggest Trees in the United States

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars use the Internet (or printed sources) to locate information. They fill in missing information on a graphic organizer (chart) and use the data to answer questions. The research skills help students to develop higher order...
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Analyzing the Relationship between Snowpack and River Flow

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students use the Internet to research current and past snowpack levels and river gauging station readings. They determine the relationship between snowpack and river flow. They predict future river flow.
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Rock River Watershed

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover what a watershed is and which one they live in. Using the internet, they research why watersheds are important to an ecosystem and how to keep them from getting polluted. They use a map to locate various items within a...
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Geology and it’s Influence

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students compare current geological map and the one from 1800's. In this earth science lesson, students discuss differences between the two and explain the factors that caused the change. They write an essay about how these changes...
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Tracking Sunrise and Sunset

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students collect, record, and graph the sunrise and sunset times. They explain how the relationship between the tilt of Earth's axis and its yearly orbit around the sun produces the seasons.
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Fossil Fuel and the Ticking Clock

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Students study energy sources to learn about fossil fuels and environmental concerns. In this energy sources lesson, students watch demonstrations for various energy examples. Students find hidden pennies, make a bar graph on their data,...
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How's the Weather?

For Teachers K - 12th
Students explore earth science by researching the Internet. In this weather pattern lesson, students utilize the website weather.com to analyze the weather in different geographic locations. Students view charts and graphs based on...
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A DISAPPEARING ACT Astronomy: Do Stars Always Shine?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners observe why stars are not visible during the day with a classroom demonstration using an index card punched with holes.
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Worms in a Bottle

For Teachers K - 12th
Students gain a better understanding of the worm and its role in the recycling of organic materials into simpler forms by constructing worm bottles and observing for 60 to 90 days.
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A Moving Experience

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Learners visit Time Machine's San Francisco Earthquake Era. They understand how the Earth's layers interact to cause changes in the Earth's surface. They review information about earthquakes and Earth's layers.
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The Formation of Soil

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers identify the different components that make up soil. For this earth science lesson, students create a pamphlet for next year's class. They analyze how erosion and weathering shape the Earth.
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Water: The Liquid of Life

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders complete a lesson on the properties, types and amounts of water on Earth. In groups, they travel between stations to identify water resources in Illinois and pollution sources. They complete the lesson with a field trip...
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Recycled Water?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars participate in a hands-on activity to investigate how water is recycled in a small environment, and determine how water is cycled on earth.
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The Phases of the Moon

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students view an applet to study the phases of the Moon in relation to the orientation of the sun, moon, and Earth.
Lesson Plan
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How Does Temperature Vary Over Time?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the temperature flucuations on the Earth. After defining new vocabulary, they identify the flucuations of the Earth on a map. As a class, they develop a hypotheis on the temperature variation by examining the data.
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Rock Cycle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explain the processes involved in the rock cycle. In this earth science lesson, students identify the different kinds of rocks. They complete a worksheet during the activity.
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Solar Storms

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate the cycles of solar activity. They plot the solar activity and use the graph to answer a number of questions and explain the relationship between the solar storms and sunspots and the impact on earth and space travel.
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Energy Audit

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the level of energy usage on a local and national level. Using the internet, they discover ways to conserve energy every day and how over-consumption of energy negatively affects the environment. In groups, they...
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Weightlessness Demonstration

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers explore the concept that free-fall eliminates the local effects of gravity. They discuss what an Earth-orbiting spacecraft experience is like as well as the terminology of weightlessness. Their lab experiment commences.
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Shedding Light on the Weather with Relative Humidity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Learners study weather using a graphing calculator in this lesson. They collect data for temperature and relative humidity for every hour over a day from the newspaper, then place the data in their handheld calculator and examine it for...
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How Do Things Fall?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students study forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects. Students discover that, since gravitational constants are different...
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How Microbes Help Ecosystems

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders observe different microorganisms under the microscope. In this biology lesson, 6th graders draw and describe the samples they see. They study the root nodules of plants and explain how the plants benefit from those bacteria.

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