Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...

Go on a tour of the ocean through the lens of a scientist. Learners read maps of the ocean floor, study tide behavior, examine wave motion, and analyze components of soil. Each lesson incorporates a hands-on component.

Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students...

Bring the ocean floor to life! Earth science scholars discover the process of deep sea mapping in the third installment in a series of five lessons about ocean exploration. The teacher's guide includes helpful resources, worksheets, and...

In the study of wind energy, scholars build a small windmill and observe how it transfers wind into mechanical energy. Learners will make connections to the previous lesson with concepts such as the creation of wind...

In 2006, New Horizons began its mission to fly to Pluto. As it continues its journey, scholars track its progress with the help of an informative website, all the while reinforcing measurement concepts with the construction of a scaled...

In 1980, in the tropical rainforests of Panama, scientists discovered 1,200 species of beetles living in and around just 19 trees, with most of the species new to science—that's biodiversity! In the activity, learners work in teams to...

Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...

Hydrologists create a concept map about how water is used and a sentence strip defining water and describing its unique properties. Small groups work together to fill a small milk carton and compute the mass of water inside. The next...

In May of 1981, the Winter Park Sinkhole in Florida first appeared and is now referred to as Lake Rose. Scholars learn about the causes of sinkholes through an inquiry project. Then, they analyze recent data and draw conclusions to...

Curious physical scientists follow a lesson on the properties of water with this lesson on distillation. They observe a miniature water cycle model that filters dirty water into clean water. These two lessons combined are an enriching...

Did you know scientists can tell the age of an asteroid by looking closely at its craters? This final lesson of a six-part series focuses on two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, in order to demonstrate the concept of dating asteroids. Scholars...

Put your students' map skills to the test with this engaging cross-curricular project. Given the task of developing new hiking trails for their local community, young cartographers must map out beginner and intermediate...

Introduce gas laws using the popular topic of SCUBA diving. This activity makes a connection between the gas laws and the effect of pressure and temperature changes during diving. Young engineers complete introductory experiments to...

Geology geniuses analyze sediment samples with a hand lens and sort according to physical characteristics. They also learn about the processes of cementation, compaction, and lithification within the rock cycle. The lesson plan is...

Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science lesson plan, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over...

A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...

At the heart of this resource is a beautifully detailed PowerPoint presentation (provided in PDF form) on the overall physical geography of Australia, basic facts about the country, Aboriginal history, and Australia culture and lifestyle.

Young geographers discover not only how to read and recognize coordinates on a map, but also gain a deeper understanding of latitude and longitude and how climate changes can vary significantly across latitudes.

Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...

Collaborators sort a set of cards into biotic and abiotic categories. Then, as a class, they discuss their work and relate each of the abiotic components to climate change. Finally, they form a web of components by connecting those that...

Sometimes scientists learn more from unexpected findings than from routine analysis! Junior oceanographers dive deep to explore hydrothermal vent communities in the fourth lesson in a series of five. Scholars examine data and look for...

Clever! Participants don square-foot cardboard shoes to mark out the rain garden plot that they have spent the last few weeks designing. In this way, they are practicing scale modeling as well! Note that this lesson is part of a unit,...