Curated OER
Fire and Fire Suppression
Students explore forest fires and forest service's new stategies. They study a case of natural burn and the impact of lowering the intensity of a larger forest fire.
Curated OER
Water Quality Monitoring of Natural Water
Students create their own monitoring program for natural water. They collect samples from an appropriate sampling site. They perform chemical and biological analyses of their samples. They present their information to the class.
Curated OER
Astronauts Train in Deep-Space Brine
Students examine an article on astronauts training in deep space brine then discuss what they learned. In this investigative lesson students get into groups and design an exercise that includes isolation, silence and conflict...
Curated OER
The Intertidal Zone: Tides and How Creatures Survive
Students study the properties of ocean water and tides and learn about animals that live in intertidal zones. In this intertidal zone lesson plan, students participate in classroom stations to learn about fresh water and salt water, cold...
Curated OER
The Trash We Pass
Students engage in a study of trash and how it is disposed of in the environment. They also research the impact of recycling and its effects upon the disposal amounts. Students calculate the advantages of recycling using real world...
Curated OER
Bats Migrate South
Pupils examine the life of bats in Illinois. Using the internet, they research the history of the bat in Illinois and describe the way they find prey by using echolocation. They report their findings to the class and answer any...
Curated OER
Waste Management
Students set up a recycling program in their school. They first estimate the kinds and amount of trash generated and brainstorm ways to reuse the recyclables and create flyers explaining how their program will work at the school.
Curated OER
Air Pollution: A Local and Global Problem
Learners work together to solve the problem of air pollution. Using the Internet, they research the pollution problem in one city. Using the data, they develop their own solution and pitch it to the class. They must identify the...
Curated OER
Show Me the Way To Go Home
Students place a pencil perpendicular to the ground and trace its shadow between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM. They measure the length of the shadow, periodically over several hours, in either English or Metric units. Using the data, they find...
Curated OER
Buddy, Are You Ready?-Preparing for School Emergencies
Students explore natural disasters by reading stories about volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. They explore safe behaviors in order to understand what to expect in a catastrophe. Students practice safe evacuation procedures...
Curated OER
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Students explore how to locate the location of an earthquake and why earthquakes happen more frequently in some areas more than others.
Curated OER
The Urban Explosion
Young scholars investigate the uncontrolled development of the world's major cities. They define key vocabulary terms, view and discuss video excerpts, and complete a project that involves drawing a "perfect city," developing a plan to...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Your Family Does What?
Sixth graders compare and contrast their own personal culture with that of Japan. They fill out questionnaires, compile the results, and match them with Japanese answers to the same forms. Students create a Venn diagram of the...
Curated OER
Spring Has Sprung
Spring lesson plan ideas can allow students and teachers a chance to use the outdoors as a classroom and a source of study topics.
Curated OER
Linking Algebra to Temperature
Students convert between two units as they calculate the temperature. In this algebra lesson, students collect data on seasonal climate and create a graph. They make conjectures based on their data collection.
Curated OER
Changes Close To Home
Middle schoolers interview the senior citizens in their community. While interviewing them, they identify perceptions they have about the local climate. Using the internet, the compare the results of the interview to those of public...
Curated OER
Beach Zonation
Students identify and separate the different zones of the beach by observation. They investigate beach zonation by gathering and comparing sand samples gathered from different areas of the beach.
Curated OER
THe Trash We Pass
Young scholars identify the sources of pollution and waste in their community. They examine the process of recycling and how to eliminate some of their family waste.
Curated OER
A Place in Time
Students become familiar with an eruptive history and related world events and impart a sense of the immensity of geological time. They explore timelines by creating their own, then are introduced to major eruptive periods of Mount St....
Curated OER
Adapting to Survive
Students examine how the climate and environment affect people in Alaska. They identify the five regions of Alaska on a map, conduct Internet research, write a report on the climate differences in the five Alaskan regions, and write a...
Google
Cs Education at Google: Cs First: Create Your Own Google Logo
A set of three activities where students learn how to use the programming language Scratch to create Google logos, including ones for Valentine's Day and one for Earth Day.
Harvard University
Eyes on the Sky, Feet on the Ground: The Earth's Orbit
Students perform many inquiry activities related to Earth's orbit. Included are recording daily temperatures, observing the sun's path over several weeks, tracking sunrise and sunset times, and angle of sunlight. Diagrams make lessons...
Other
Siemens Stem Day: Life Science: The Time of Our Life [Pdf]
Middle schoolers will learn about ancient organisms as they create a timeline showing when they appeared on Earth.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Kinesthetic Astronomy: Longer Days, Shorter Nights
This kinesthetic activity demonstrates to students that the Earth's tilt is what is responsible for shifting light patterns and the change in seasons.