Curated OER
WET Science Lesson #5: Pass the Salt Please! (How Road Salt Affects Wetlands)
As an anticipatory set, biologists listen to the story of Ruth Patrick, a scientist who used algae to detect water quality. They observe a demonstration of osmosis and diffusion. In their lab groups, they place Elodea stalks in...
Core Knowledge Foundation
A Time for All Seasons - Fall
The weather is cooling down and the leaves are starting to change color; fall is right around the corner. Celebrate this special time of year with this earth and life science lesson series that teaches children about the causes of...
Baylor College
Energy for Life (Energy from Food)
Energy comes in many forms, but how do living things get the energy they need to survive and thrive? In a simple, controlled experiment with yeast, water, and sugar, groups make observations about how yeast reacts with water alone, then...
Curated OER
Testing for Life’s Molecules
Want to hear a joke about sodium? Na. Young scientists test various materials to identify if they include protein, starch, and glucose by using the Biuret test, iodine starch test, and Benedict's test respectively. After practicing with...
Curated OER
Mealworms
Crawl into the world of the darkling beetle with this scientific investigation. Watch as the insects move through the larval, pupal, and adult stages of life, recording observations along the way. Discuss the necessities of life as young...
Lerner Publishing
Meet the Dinosaurs
Take your class of youngsters on a prehistoric adventure with this four-lesson series on dinosaurs. Accompanying the Meet the Dinosaurs books by Don Lessem, these lessons engage children in writing their own dinosaur books, making...
American Physiological Society
What Environmental Conditions Lead to the Hatching of Brine Shrimp?
Will changing the environment in which brine shrimp live impact their reproductive success? Young scientists get hands-on experience studying the habitat of brine shrimp in a two-week immersion lesson. The teacher's guide provides all of...
Curated OER
Marine Debris
Now is the time to educate tomorrow's citizens to care for the planet, and here is a lesson to help facilitate the process. Collect some marine debris and bring it into class. Have your class separate it into types and then test each...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Arctic Smorgasbord
Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...
Columbus City Schools
Get Your Organisms Organized
From large to small, show your class how to organize them all! Included within the guide is everything you need to take their knowledge of classification from the cellular to the species level. The worksheets focus on building vocabulary...
Curated OER
Science and Cloning
Here is an ambitious lesson which has learners take a look at which nations came up with the most important scientific inventions/advancements during the 20th century. Focusing on group work, cloning is explored. All of the worksheets...
Montana Natural History Center
Studying Grassland Ecosystems
At first glance, grassland ecosystems might seem dull and uninteresting, but once you start to explore it's amazing the things you'll find! Through this series of engaging lessons, activities, and experiments, elementary students examine...
Kenan Fellows
Half-Life
Scholars shake their way to understanding half-life with the help of candy. They observe and record which side candy lands on to graph the exponential decay in the fifth instructional activity of seven integrating chemistry and algebra....
EngageNY
Asking and Answering Questions: Studying the Life Cycle of a Frog
A lesson challenges learners to ask and answer questions about the life cycle of a frog. With a class read-aloud, partner discussion, and notebook reflections, scholars complete a three-page worksheet to prove their understanding of the...
Nature Works Everywhere
Sharks and Shorelines
Examine predator-prey marine relationships through an interactive lesson design. Learners begin by studying a specific shark species and then analyze real-time shark-tracking data. They also study threats to shark populations and...
American Forest Foundation
Who Speaks for the Trees?
Help young conservationists appreciate the important role that trees play in ecosystems around the world with this collection of six engaging activities. From a shared reading and class discussion of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, to in an depth...
American Chemical Society
What is Density?
Density: the reason a giant pumpkin will float, but a tiny cranberry won't. Lesson begins with a demonstration of two of the same-sized cubes having different densities. Then pupils take eight cubes, each of the same size, and have to...
NOAA
Sustaining Our Ocean Resources
Lead young scientists on an investigation of fishery practices with the final installment of this four-part unit. Using a PowerPoint presentation and hands-on simulation, this instructional activity engages children in learning how fish...
NOAA
Seafood and Human Health
Whether your young biologists realize it or not, humans play a significant role in marine ecosystems. To help them understand this fact children first create graphical representations that show homo sapiens' place in marine food chains,...
Curated OER
Classifying Deep-Sea Organisms
Young scientists access the EARTH Web site in order to engage in this lesson life forms found in the ocean. Student groups of 3 - 4 choose one set of deep-sea organism images. The groups decide how they would classify their organisms and...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
One Ocean: It Matters!
Here is the first of four poignant lessons on how humans and oceans interact, even if people live far from the coast. This particular lesson also examines studies that are taking place in Antarctica of how climate change is affecting the...
Baylor College
Lungometer
Life science learners construct lung-o-meters from gallon-sized milk jugs and then measure their lung capacities. For older students, have them graph the vital lung capacities of each person in the class. Cross-curricular pieces are...
Baylor College
Microbes and Disease
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...
National Wildlife Federation
Massive Migrations
Turn your students into flocks of migratory birds for this fun lesson on animal migration. Prior to the activity, the teacher creates four different migration routes in the classroom or any available open space, labeling nesting...