Curated OER
Ocean Careers Exploration
Learners will work together in groups to gather information about careers in oceanography. They discover the need to have a diverse group of people on a team and then share their information with the class. Web links and materials are...
Curated OER
Suited for Space
A fantastic lesson on survival in outer space should excite your learners! Pupils explore the challenges that living, working, and surviving in space elicit. They focus on the spacesuit itself; how it protects astronauts, and enables...
Curated OER
Graphing Sea Ice Extent in the Arctic and Antarctic
Students graph sea ice data and predict long term trends in the data. In this climate change lesson, students use sea ice data from the Arctic and Antarctic to construct line graphs. They use their graphs to predict the effects of global...
Curated OER
Earth's Energy Cycle: Albedo
Students complete all of the steps in the scientific inquiry process to study Earth's energy cycle; most specifically temperature and the effects of albedo (energy reflected back from Earth's surface) on temperature.
Curated OER
Sucking Students into an Understanding of Air Pressure and Vacuums
Students develop and test their ideas about air pressure and vacuums by conducting several investigations into the movement of fluids in tubes.
Curated OER
Hurricanes and Tornadoes (Grade 4-8)
Students investigate the concepts of hurricanes and violent weather conditions. In this violent weather lesson, students access an Internet site and watch a video about how air masses behave, how a tornado forms, how hurricanes form, and...
Curated OER
Galaxies Galore, Games and More
Students practice skills used in scientific investigation while studying the three main types of galaxies. Students identify Earth as part of Milky Way galaxy, the parts of galaxies, and the types of galaxies, as well as classify...
NASA
Project X-51
In a nose-cone to nose-cone competition, which rocket will prevail? Teams form rocket companies to design and build a rocket while competing against other teams in an economic challenge. The team that comes up with the best benefit/cost...
Curated OER
Sedimentary Size and Structures
Students interpret the Earth's history from models. In this investigative lesson plan students create sedimentary deposit models.
Curated OER
Can You See What I See?
Young scholars gain an understanding of the methods used to explore the earth's surface. Students create a time line leading to the first satellite image of the Earth that includes the various methods utilized to observe the earth's...
Curated OER
Sky Show
Middle schoolers participate in a discussion of the sky and colors. They watch a demonstration of how colors can change. They examine the issue of if weather should be a part of their coursework.
PHET
Planet Designer: What’s Trending Hot?
Excite scholars to design their own planet in this first of five lessons. The lesson starts with a pre-activity assessment, a complete lesson plan that is easy to implement, and a post-activity assessment that would look great...
Science 4 Inquiry
Temperature of Inner Planets
Mars, Earth, and Venus contain atmospheres that generate weather. Young scientists explore the temperature of inner planets. They create a model simulating the greenhouse effect before researching and answering guided questions to...
Curated OER
What Is Natural?
Your junior highers will learn about which objects are natural and classify objects as abiotic or biotic. Your class will trace human products to their natural resources using matter cycles and then create their own definition of nature.
Orange County Water Atlas
Location, Location, Location…
Young geographers discover not only how to read and recognize coordinates on a map, but also gain a deeper understanding of latitude and longitude and how climate changes can vary significantly across latitudes.
Curated OER
Using Newsprint as a UV Detector
Students investigate the effects of UV radiation. In this earth science lesson, students explain how the time of day relate to UV abundance on Earth. They determine if weather affects the amount of UV that Earth receives.
Curated OER
Measuring Precipitation
A little engineering design is mixed into this lesson on precipitation measurement. Groups plan and construct a rain gauge, and use it to collect precipitation. As part of the PowerPoint presentation, learners view a satellite map of...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Melting Glaciers
Resource links to a video, satellite images, data, and photographs of glaciers provide emerging earth scientists the opportunity to examine how the ice has been retreating over the years. A data table is included for pupils to record...
PHET
Features of the Sun
There are so many things to discover about the sun! Pupils discuss their knowledge of the sun, explore its features, apply their knowledge by labeling photographs, and then reflect on their learning by working in groups to draw and label...
Curated OER
Are Butterflies Free?
Young scholars use remote sensing to study monarch butterfly migration and human interaction to save the Oyamel forest (Mexico) for butterfly and human habitation.
Curated OER
Sky Observations Sky & Cloud Windows
Young scholars observe the sky and weather to gather data. They conduct experiments to answer questions about the sky and weather phenomena. They measure, analyze and present data. They create sky windows by gluing sky colored paint...
Cornell University
Classification
Explore the scientific method of classification. An interactive activity asks learners to create a classification system for a group of objects and develop a flow chart to communicate their systems. In addition, individuals use a...
Curated OER
Soils
Students apply knowledge of soil, environmental impacts, economics, multiple human demands, and use given data for a proposed scenario in making land use decisions. They debate land use issues and/or scenarios and discuss a case study.
Curated OER
Pet Rocks
Students complete a variety of activities related to the physical characteristics of minerals. They classify and group candy, classify rocks and complete a Pet River Rock worksheet. Students try to guess which rock goes with each...