Curated OER
Threatened Species and Public Policy
Students discuss the Endangered Species Act and its impact on people and the environment. They read the act and watch video footage. They examine why sea turtles are endangered and efforts to protect them. They analyze numerical results...
Curated OER
In Outer Space
Students use the internet to gather information on the solar system. They identify the discoverer and unique characteristics of each planet. They compare and contrast each planet based on size, mass, and distance from the sun. They...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
New England's Ground Water Resources
Learn all about where ground water is stored, how it moves, and how it is accessed in a detailed and thorough 10-page reading. Whether supplementing reading for an existing environmental or earth science course or providing background...
Space Awareness
How Light Pollution Affects the Stars: Magnitude Readers
Did you know light can decrease visibility? Light pollution absolutely makes it more difficult to see stars. Scholars build a simple magnitude reader to determine the magnitude of stars. They use these data to estimate the impact of...
Curated OER
Planetary Jeopardy!
Space Science can be so much fun, especially when you play Planetary Jeopardy! This game tests students on what they know about Roman Gods, the planets and moons in our solar system, and the Earth's rotation.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Analogous Models
What goes into a museum display? A secondary-level STEM project prompts groups to design a museum display for the Tech Museum of Innovation. They create an analogous, interactive model illustrating a science concept to complete the...
Curated OER
The Battle for Ultimate Power
Students gain an understanding of how the powers of 10 and scientific notation can be used to represent the scale of things in the universe. They relate the number of stars in the universe to the number of grains of sand on Earth's beaches.
Curated OER
Planets in Our Solar System
Each member of a four-student group takes on a specific aspect of an assigned planet to research. After gathering information, the team works together to create a travel brochure and a presentation intended to convince other classmates...
Curated OER
Thirsty Rocks: Please "Porous" a Drink!
A simple activity goes a long way in demonstrating the property of porosity to your rock hounds. They will mass a specimen of dry sandstone and then soak it in a pre-measured amount of water. After seven minutes, they once again measure...
Curated OER
All About Matter
Twenty-four questions about matter, the states of matter and the properties of matter make up this interactive online worksheet. Your class will determine the volume of water, the shape of water and the shapes of matter.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Molecules to the Max!—Teacher's Discovery Guide
Molecules to the Max! refers to a movie released in 2009 about the world of atoms and molecules. A helpful discovery guide provides five posters on science topics typically covered at the middle school level. It also explains the...
Curated OER
Cryosat Mission
Beginning with general information on satellites and seasons, concluding with polar ice and the Cryosat Mission, this worksheet gives your earth scientists an opportunity to conduct some research. Most of the assignment consists of short...
School World
Moon Observation Project
Mrs. Flynt has designed a 12-day moon observation activity that is best assigned when daylight hours are shorter. Middle school moon experts record several factors, including the altitude above the horizon, the azimuth, the phase, and...
Curated OER
Scavenger Hunt: Home Sweet Habitat
In this animal habitat worksheet, students participate in a scavenger hunt that involves an in-depth study of animal habitats and then correlates that concept to the student's own personal habitat's.
Teach Engineering
Protecting Our City with Levees
Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.
NASA
States of Matter
Water, one of the basic needs of humans, is found in all three states of matter on Earth; no other planet—that we know of—possesses this quality. Here is a unit that allows learners to explore through experimentation what it...
Curated OER
Impervious Surfaces
Middle schoolers comprehend impervious surfaces. They recognize the problems caused by impervous surfaces. Students observe how land use can influence impervious surfaces. They chose four of the seven basic land surface, middle schoolers...
Curated OER
Analyzing Tree Rings to Determine Climate Change
Students examine how to locate and access data sets. For this climate change lesson students import data into Excel and graph it.
Curated OER
Landforms of Illinois
Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...
American Museum of Natural History
What Do You Know About PaleontOLogy?
Believe it or not, some dinosaurs are not extinct. Discover this and other interesting facts about dinosaurs in a 10-question online quiz. As individuals answer questions, the resource provides them with feedback and additional facts...
Curated OER
Solar System Hall Model
Not novel, but fun, this lesson gets your space science learners to model the size of the planets and the solar system along your school's hallway. Scaled measurements as well as actual distances are provided for both planet diameters...
Curated OER
Moon Phase Flip Books
What better way to study the moon phases than to see them in action? The directions on the handout only have kids cut out and tape on the moon phases to make the flipbook, but it would be even more powerful to include the name of each...
Curated OER
Dark Matter In The Universe
Middle schoolers investigate the concept of dark matter and how it occurs in the universe. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Students use the information by reading at least two articles about dark matter. They also...
Curated OER
Life Beyond Earth
Students investigate the solar system and what makes a planet habitable. They complete an online Webquest, simulate a NASA training program online, take an online quiz, answer discussion questions, and locate newspaper articles about the...