Curated OER
Changing Planet: Withering Plants - Stressing Over Lost Water
Expectant earth scientists examine the bottom side of a leaf and learn the role of the stomata. They consider the gas exchange that occurs through these structures and relate how the climate is changing to its impact on food crops. This...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Ocean Acidification - the Chemistry is Less than Basic!
A video and laboratory investigation are highlights to this lesson on acidification of ocean water due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Using bromothymol blue (BTB) as an indicator, pupils analyze the amount of carbon dioxide...
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...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Fading Corals
Show the six-minute video, "Changing Planet: Fading Corals," and then demonstrate how calcium carbonate forms a precipitate in the presence of carbon dioxide. Separate your scientists into small groups to gather information about coral...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Infectious Diseases Classroom Activity
Here is a different approach: emerging epidemiologists first go home to interview family on the topic of infectious disease. Then they come to class and view a video and PowerPoint that explore how climate change may increase the...
Curated OER
Land Plan Challenge
Links to two different versions of this mapping activity are available. In "The Small Version," youngsters design a town, keeping the water supply in mind. In "The Large Version," they also design a town, but they consider services and...
Curated OER
Paleoclimate of the Hudson Valley
Students recognize how the climate of the Hudson Valley has changed since the last glaciation and be able to explain these changes. They reconstruct the paleoclimate of the Hudson Valley.
Curated OER
Historical Pollution in the Hudson: Part 2
Ninth graders practice how to format and enter data into an Excel spreadsheet, make a graph, and interpret graphed data. They recognize how the pollution in the Hudson River has changed over time, and explain the consequences of these...
Curated OER
Change Since 1609
Learners recognize how the climate of the Hudson Valley has changed since the last glaciation. They explain these changes using a reconstruction of the land use changes in the Hudson Valley composed of confetti, Ziploc bags and other...
Curated OER
Rollin' on the River: The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System
Middle schoolers take a close look at the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation system. They study how the Army Corps of Engineers built and monitor the system. Learners discover how a lock and a dam work, and study three benefits of...
Curated OER
Light and Starch Production in Photosynthesis
Learners are given the unique opportunity to see the contrast between parts of a leaf that have photosynthesized and parts of the leaf that have not. This visual image helps students see the results of this biological process. At the...
Curated OER
The Greenhouse Effect
In this Earth Science worksheet, students read about the Greenhouse Effect and the difference between natural and amplified warming. Following, they answer ten short answer questions related to what they read about global climate issues.
Curated OER
Disease, Environment, Health, Human Populations, and Modern Technology
What is a pandemic, epidemic, and a vaccine? What changes have occurred in health and environmental awareness with the advent of new technology? This 20 question multiple choice quiz asks kids to answer who, what, when, and where about...
Curated OER
Writing Exercises: The Environment and Sustainability
Sometimes it's good to challenge our kids with thought-provoking topics. They'll have to think hard and use what they know to answer these essay questions. They'll discuss how and why developed nations put a strain on the world's...
Curated OER
Our Poetic Planet - Writing Poems about the Earth
As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson plan on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided...
Curated OER
Environmental Justice in Chester, PA
Over several days, learners communicate and defend an argument regarding environmental justice issues in Chester, PA. After discussing the issue and viewing a video about the location of several toxic waste facilities in Chester, they...
Curated OER
Oils and Plastic
Peruse the properties of polymers with your materials engineers, chemistry aces, or emerging ecologists. The inquiries in this resource include puncturing polyethylene plastic bags, dissolving polystyrene cups, creating a polymer ball...
Curated OER
Limiting Factors for Populations
The "Bottled Bacteria" activity instructions are a bit unclear, but the remaining activities investigating limiting factors in ecosystems are well-written. Learners model the exosystem of a bear and a herd of deer. They set up a...
Curated OER
Don't Let the Earth Down
Writing a persuasive argument starts with a clear thesis. Using this resource, your class will write a persuasive paper on a conservation issue. They will then transform their argument into a 30-second public service announcement. If...
Curated OER
Exploring Biomes Lesson 5: You Need a Vacation
In cooperative groups, emerging ecologists research assigned biomes found in Arizona. Combining photos and facts, they use PowerPoint to produce a fully automated commercial that lasts 45 seconds. In addition to the lesson plan outline,...
Curated OER
Pollution and Lung Health
Learners investigate how pollution affects lung health. For this pollution and lung health lesson, students build lung models from a soda bottle and balloons, and then discuss how the emissions from fossil fuels can adversely affect lung...
Curated OER
What Contains Carbon?
Students explore elements by analyzing everyday objects and materials in class. In this carbon lesson, students define several vocabulary terms such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon, and carbonate. Students view a group of items,...
Curated OER
Raven Chapter 54 Guided Notes: Community Ecology
Providing a sweeping overview of population and community interactions, this ecology worksheet gets learners thinking. They differentiate between habitat and niche, describe and give exemplars of various animal and plant defenses,...
Curated OER
Showdown in the New Wild West
What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs. Radical...