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Musical Plates
Sixth graders engage in a study of the plates and how they are part of the formation of the ever changing landscape of planet earth. They access web sites that have applications for observation and conducting different activities. The...
American Museum of Natural History
Journey to the Stars
Fifteen detailed pictures and informative captions delve deep into the exploration of stars—their life cycle and importance in the universe.
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Weather
Learners explore the earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate. They begin class with a discussion about weather patterns, atmosphere, and the layers of the earth. After the class discussion, students rotate through four stations to...
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Deep Thoughts
Students examine what lies within the Earth. They research and create scale models illustrating the layers of the Earth and write skits advocating a travel plan to send a probe into the Earth's mantle.
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How Pollution Disrupts Our Natural Environment
Students conduct experiments to illustrate global warming. In this air pollution lesson, students first examine how a layer of greenhouse gasses might impact the earth's atmospheric temperature, then evaluate how the layer of gasses...
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SCRUMPTIOUS SOIL
Students engage in investigations that lead to the discovery that earth materials consist of rocks, soils, water, and air. They build models of soil profiles, using breakfast cereal and other edible materials. They observe how water...
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TRB 5:2 - Activity 3: Earthquakes
Students watch a classroom demonstration, and experiment to discover the five ways that Earth's crust shifts along a fault.
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Recent Volcanoes And Earthquakes:
Students investigate the current model for the structure of the Earth. On a world map, they mark areas where they think earthquakes and volcanoes occur and compare those areas with earthquake and volcano location patterns.
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CUPCAKE CORE SAMPLING
Students explore what is beneath the surface of the earth is one of the jobs of a geologist. Rather than digging up vast tracts of land to expose an oil field, or to find coalbearing strata, core samples can be taken.
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VARVES: Dating Sedimentary Strata: Geology, Paleontological Patterns
Students count the number of varves (annual layers of sediment) in shale billets, taken from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The count is then extended to reflect the entire 260 meters of sediments where the billets originated.
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Geologic Timelines
Young scholars create a timeline of geologic events of the Phanerozoic Eon. In this geologic timeline lesson, students view a handout that shows a timeline of the Earth's history. They create their own timeline of the Phanerozoic Eon...
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Impact Craters: Holes in the Ground!
Young scholars simulate crater formation through a lab activity. In this space science instructional activity, students calculate how much energy is transferred during meteorite impact. They identify different factors affecting the size...
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'Round and 'Round it Goes!
Students discuss and interpret background knowledge on poster copy given on the water cycle. Students complete the included activity sheets using the poster as a reference in small groups. Students identify and name where water can be...
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Greenhouse in a Bottle
Students create models of the greenhouse effect using recycled 2-liter bottles. They discuss how their models compares to the real greenhouse effect the earth experiences.
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Weather History
Students study how weather is measured. In this climate lesson plan, students research how samples of the ocean floor reveal facts about the climate thousands of years ago. Students use clay samples to create layers that simulate real...
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Sun Activity
In this space science worksheet, students find the answers to the questions concerning the topic of the sun and they label the diagram for the sun.
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The Mountain Blows its Top
Students replicate a volcanic eruption. In this volcanoes lesson, students follow the provided procedures to show and describe how the inflation of a bulge led to the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
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King of the Mound
Students investigate water as an agent of change. They conduct an experiment involving a mound of soil, observe and record any changes that occur when ice melts on the mound of dirt, and create a drawing of the changes that take place...
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A Model of the Sea-floor
Students create a paper model to illustrate sea-floor spreading.
Science 4 Inquiry
Edible Plate Tectonics
Many people think they can't observe plate tectonics, but thanks to GPS, we know that Australia moves at a rate of 2.7 inches per year, North America at 1 inches per year, and the Pacific plate at more than 3 inches per year! Scholars...
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Science: Trouble in the Troposphere
Students research a NASA Website and record information about an assigned city's tropospheric ozone residual monthly climate. In groups, they graph the information for the past year. They form new groups and compare their city's...
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Environment: Battling for Oxygen
Students construct an interactive ozone depletion model using gumdrops and toothpicks. After analyzing the data obtained from the model, they record it on butcher paper and complete worksheets about oxygen.
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Types And Magnitudes Of Earthquakes
Learners investigate the concept of earthquakes and the different types of magnitudes. They research the Richter scale and how it is used to measure the intensities of earthquakes. Students then apply the concept by completing a...
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Comparison Activities
Students explore the size of the sun and it's temperature. Using the Internet, students visit given websites to compare the sun's diameter, outer layers, and mass to visual items students can relate to. They also compare the sun's...