Young scientists know it is hotter along the equator, but why is it also rainier? Through the process of completing two experiments and a worksheet, scholars discover the answer is the intertropical convergence zone. First, they...

Imagine an ecosystem without any light or oxygen, where living things convert carbon dioxide into food. This ecosystem is thriving and might just be the largest ecosystem on our planet, yet we know very little about it. The lesson...

Finding common ground and building conversation can often prove a difficult task for many. Help learners build this important social skill using this resource, which includes a Venn diagram worksheet and sentence prompts to help students...

What are the effects of an air quality alert? Expert groups receive one component of air quality information resources to study. Pupils then jigsaw into new groups and share their knowledge. Finally, they draft a statement of what they...

There is a specific zone, or distance from a star, that a planet must be in order to have water in a liquid form. The activity demonstrates how flux density depends on its distance from the source. A photovoltaic cell gets power to...

This challenge game activity focuses on not just following directions, but on active listening as the players receiving the directions are blindfolded. The players giving directions need to be clear and concise in telling the blindfolded...

A great unit! There is a lot of content that is personal so make sure you have created a safe zone in your classroom before doing this lesson. It will have much more meaning if your learners share their life with others in the class....

Plan ahead! Integrate science and language arts! Schedule your reading of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe to coincide with the arrival of spring. As pupils read Chapter 11 of the Lewis classic, they are assigned one of...

Model how the sun's energy strikes the planet and help your class relate it to a climate map. Assign small groups an individual climate zone to discuss. They reflect on and research how humans survive in the assigned climate and write a...

Is the ocean blue at all depths? Nope! Explore the science behind the light spectrum in deep, dark waters. The lesson recommends watching The Blue Planet: Open Ocean—The Deep, but it's not integral, or you can substitute another clip....

A reading of Brenda Z. Guiberson’s, Cactus Hotel, launches a study of animal habitats. Working with parent volunteers or teacher aides, groups travel outside the classroom to select a habitat, take digital pictures, and incorporate the...

Two lessons shed light on bullying in hopes to create a bully-free zone in your classroom. The first lesson defines bullying and allows scholars to reflect on their behavior. The second lesson focuses on choices and consequences. Both...

Prepare for the zombie apocalypse ... by studying quadrilaterals? Given a map of an imaginary town, scholars identify quadrilaterals created by streets. They then use Google Earth and Google Maps to find parallelograms, rectangles,...

Our oceans are composed of many complex relationships. Young oceanographers explore relationships between organisms, understand the world ocean's currents, and discover the effects of water pollution and how it behaves. There are...

In small groups, energy engineers research and make a topographic map of a marine natural resource. They report to the rest of the class pros and cons of extracting their assigned resource. The two activities may take up to four class...

As part of their examination of forest ecosystems, class members examine how foresters, biologists, botanists, geologists, and hydrologists work to together to develop a management plan for sustainable forests.

Explore animal habitats and reinforce speaking, listening, reading comprehension, and writing skills with a unit that focuses on the Arctic, desert, ocean, prairie, and rainforest. Enthusiastic scientists read informational text to...

Build and design to rock and roll. Pairs research building design in earthquake areas and use computer simulations to see the effects of earthquakes on buildings,. They then sketch and explain a building design that would withstand...

The first of a three-part series on bullying, this plan has class members present skits about bullying, write and sign an anti-bullying pledge, and complete a service project. For the skit, learners use information from previous lessons...

Seven pages of fascinating reading on marine debris preface the activities in this lesson plan. Four different activities are employed to simulate how the debris is distributed in the ocean and along beaches. Early ecology learners...

From shuttle run relays to ACTIVE Bingo, you'll be elated to have this PE resource packet in your tool belt for your next fitness lesson. After all, who wouldn't want to play a game called, "Elephants, Giraffes, and Palm Trees"?

Should identifying a tragic hero be based on a universal definition or a definition based on the morals and values of a specific culture? As part of a study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Sylvia Plath's "Colossus" and then...

Time to rock out! Discover the "life" cycle of the average rock using an illustrative stations lab and stimulating pairs game. Roll the dice to determine your fate: will it be melting in magma or chilling out to form igneous rock? The...

This demonstration of solar ponds can be used in an earth, environmental, or physical science setting. Lab groups set up a solar pond and model how it is able, due to a salt concentration gradient, to maintain heat for future use.