Curated OER
Keep It Clean!
Fifth graders investigate the how water becomes polluted and how it effects the environment, animals, and humans. They watch a video and conduct experiments.
Curated OER
WET Science Lesson #11: How Light Affects Water
Scientists listen to the story of Wadja Egnankou who works to save African mangrove forests. They experiment with refraction and the introduction of particulate matter to water. They conclude with creative writing about the need for a...
Curated OER
Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson plan mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map...
Curated OER
Environmental Concerns (1) Analysis of Lead in Paint (2) Analysis of Water
A scenario and background information are provided for two different open-ended experiments that experienced chemistry classes can perform toward the end of the school year. In the first, they design a method for testing flakes of paint...
Curated OER
Contaminated Drinking Water
Learners see if they can tell if our water is safe to drink by looking at it and tasting it. They perform an experiment using salt and vinegar to see when they can tell water has been contaminated.
Curated OER
Water Monitoring and Pollution
Pupils explore the effects of pollution on water supply and how to identify safe drinking water. They test different samples of water over regular intervals and analyze the results to see if they are cyclical or represent a growing problem.
Curated OER
Is It Safe To Go In? Water Quality of Bathing Areas in the EU
Students complete an experiment on water to study water quality. In this water quality instructional activity, students complete a taste test experiment about chemicals in water. Students then study their local water environments and...
Curated OER
Aquatic Habitat Water Quality Experiment
Fifth graders discuss the importance of water quality for humans and fish and make predictions about what happens to water that is polluted. In small groups, they conduct experiments to compare and contrast water that is unpolluted and...
Curated OER
Pollution in Our Watershed
Students conduct an experiment. In this pollution instructional activity, students review the vocabulary words watershed, pollution and pesticide. Students create watersheds, spray pesticides on them, create precipitation and observe...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Make a Difference!
We are very dependent upon other life forms around us to survive. Here, scholars explore relationships in the ecosystem with the help of Auntie Litter and the pollution patrol. They imagine a world without grass, making connections to...
Curated OER
Using Environmental Models to Determine the Effect of Acid Rain on an Ecosystem
Demonstrate to your middle school science learners how chalk breaks down in a weak acid. Discuss what affects acidic rain might have on ecosystems. Lab groups then choose one of two questions: "How does acid precipitation affect an...
Curated OER
Water Pollution Lesson Plan: Don't Trust Your Eyes
Students develop a list of actions they could perform that would protect our water resources from pollution. They formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments and draw conclusions about actual pollutants found in our water supply.
Curated OER
How to Clean Up an Oil Slick
Students explore how an oil spill is contained and cleaned up. They investigate an oil absorbing polymer that is hydrophobic, absorbs up to 19 times its own weight in nonpolar liquids, floats on water, and can be reused or disposed of by...
Curated OER
Contaminated Drinking Water
Students predict, experiment, and draw conclusions about the safety of drinking water. In this ecology lesson, students participate in an experiment to determine if they can taste or see contamination in drinking water. Data is collected...
US Department of Energy
Solar Distiller
Explore the sun's ability to distill contaminated water with this simple set of classroom experiments. After filling two glass bowls, one with muddy water and the other with salt water, they are covered with plastic wrap and placed in...
Curated OER
Water Filtering
Learners investigate how polluted water is filtered so people can use this recycled resource. They conduct an experiment in which they put "polluted" water through a filtering system. They investigate what happens at a water treatment...
Curated OER
How Pollution Disrupts Our Natural Environment
Students conduct experiments to illustrate global warming. In this air pollution lesson, students first examine how a layer of greenhouse gasses might impact the earth's atmospheric temperature, then evaluate how the layer of gasses...
Curated OER
Water, Weather, and the World
Students in a special education classroom examine the role of weather and water in their lives. Each day, they add a symbol for the weather outside and identify the proper activities for the weather on that day. In groups, they...
Curated OER
Water: Our Most Important Beverage
Third graders complete a KWL chart on what they already know about water and what they want to know. As a class, they participate in an activity in which they discover the amount of drinkable water on Earth and are introduced to the...
Curated OER
The Magic of Solar Thermal: How the Sun Can Be Used to Heat Water
Students are introduced to how the sun is used to heat water. For this solar lesson students identify the different types of solar water heating and demonstrate how it works.
Curated OER
Water filtration with Plants
Sixth graders explain how soil and plants effect contaminated water in nature. In this filtration lesson, 6th graders work in groups to test biofiltration units. Students determine which biofiltration units work best and how they can...
Curated OER
Acid Rain Effects
Get out the goggles and conduct a simple experiment to model and explore the harmful effects of acid rain (vinegar) on living (green leaf and eggshell) and non-living (paper clip) objects. Young chemists observe and describe the harmful...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Biodegradable Plastic Stuff
Students identify the four basic natural resources. They distinguish bettween renewable and non-renewable resources. Pupils recognize that all natural resources are needed by living plants and animals. Students list consequences for...
Curated OER
Chemical Consequences of Burning Fossil Fuels
Future scientists are introduced to the chemical consequences of burning fossil fuels, learning that fossil fuel combustion leads to the formation of oxides of three nonmetals: carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, all of which end up in the...