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We All Need Trees
Students complete a guessing game. In this tree products instructional activity, students view various household items and try to determine if they were made from trees. They discuss their findings and then read books about trees.
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Pyramids
Students make pyramids. In this sports and sciences instructional activity students work cooperatively with their group members to build human pyramids. The focus is on safety and working together regardless of personal differences.
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Be A Nutritional Entrepreneur
Students research and define nutrition. They choose a definition of nutrition or a nutritional theme around which they design a restaurant. This activity helps students answer the question "What is a nutritionally balanced meal?"
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Ecological Pyramids
Students apply the ecological pyramids of numbers and biomass with an activity using topographic maps. In this trophic level lesson, students work in groups using a topographic map to determine the number of organisms that can live in an...
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Oobleck
Second graders observe the properties of Oobleck. In this science and observation lesson, 2nd graders examine Oobleck and make a list of 10 properties that they notice. They explain their observations.
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DNA Extraction
Learners participate in a lab activity in which they extract DNA from a strawberry. After mashing the strawberry into an even, smooth puree inside a bag, they add extraction buffer and mix the strawberry with the buffer. They filter...
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Sun's Path
Students explore the movement of the sun across the sky. In this science lesson plan, students use clear plastic hemispheres and markers to record how the sun moves across the sky. Students write directions so the activity could be...
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Creating Weather Journals
Students create weather journals. In this weather science lesson, students use digital cameras to record the daily weather and write a paragraph in a weather journal.
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Force: Push and Pull
In this force learning exercise, students answer short answer questions about pushing and pulling different objects. Students complete 15 questions.
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My Happy Habitat
Learners observe and discuss the Idaho state quarter to begin an activity in which they define and draw different types of habitats. They discuss the habitats that the migrating Peregrine falcon, which appears on the Idaho quarter,...
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Surface Water Model
Students examine, through demonstration and experimentation, how water moves through watershed, identify pollutants that can enter water system from different land use activities, and discuss ways people can help prevent water pollution.
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Cloud Formation
Fifth graders discuss the weather and cloud formation. They rotate, in groups, through various activity stations set up in the room. Stations include activities such as researching types of clouds, drawing pictures of the water cycle,...
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Let's Make Stew!
Students investigate how to create a vegetable garden and complete related activities. In this vegetable garden lesson, students receive agriculture notebooks to complete vocabulary for the gardening lesson. Students read 'Still-Life...
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Activity #15 The Cartesian diver
Students comprehend that the Cartesian diver is a dropper and the water and air inside it. They vary the volume of the air and the amount of water, the diver can be made to be either more or less dense than water. Pupils squeeze the...
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Activity #8 U Are So Dense!
Middle schoolers watch as the teacher demonstrates: if a single liquid is placed in a U-shaped tube, the level of liquid on both sides are the same. When the mass is greater on one side than the other, liquid is pushed from one side to...
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Activity #17 Liquid Density and Temperature
Students comprehend that hot water rises up through cold water but cold water does not rixe in hot water. They comprehend that water at temperatures above 4oC decreases in density with increases in temperature. Students answer lab...
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Mussel Identification Activity
Students identify given species of animals, such as various
mussels, by sets of physical characteristics as they use a key. They also read about mussels on the Illinois River and look at mussel species in the online database. Finally,...
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Activity # 13 Float or Sink?
Pupils have seen that solids, which are more dense than a liquid, that sinks in that liquid and solids, which are less dense than a liquid, that floats on that liquid. They use a metal boat to float in water. Pupils comprehend that...
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Activity #16 Dancing Spagehetti
Learners experiment with floating the spaghetti, the gas functions like a life preserver. Pupils comprehend that a person is slightly more dense than water. They comprehend that a life preservers are made of low-density materials. The...
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Science Under Control
Students investigate and assess scientific issues for which government regulation has been or might be enacted. Using their research, students write letters to lawmakers supporting or contesting related legislative efforts.
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How Science Works: Natural Selection
Students are introduced to the topic of adaptation and discuss how various animals adapt to their environment. In groups, they participate in a simulation in which they are selected based on criteria. They discuss the results and relate...
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Forest Activity: Interpreting a Graph
Students research forest growth online. They analyze the parts and contents of a graph, then summarize in narrative form the changes in the forest over time.
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What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
Students investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
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The Dirty Water Project
Students investigate different methods (aeration and filtering) for removing pollutants from water. They design and build their own water filters. Students identify the pollutants in a water sample using sight and smell, explore what...