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Earth Water Distribution and Water Consumption
Young scholars explore the need for conserving fresh water and understand that it is a limited supply. In this water consumption lesson students participate in an activity and answer questions.
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Identifying Watersheds with Topographic Maps
Students model a watershed and delineate one using topographic maps. In this hydrology lesson, students use aluminum foil to model a landscape and observe how water moves on it. They also observe the features of a topographic map and use...
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Convection and Wind
Students use water, beakers, hot plates, paper dots, and goggles to participate in a hands on activity where they see how a convection current creates wind. In this convection current lesson plan, students participate in a hands on...
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Climate Change
Students compare weather data and draw conclusions. For this climate change lesson plan, students determine whether data collected over a period of ninety years shows a warming trend.
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Water Cycle Bag
Students enclose water in an airtight bag and leave it in a warm area to view the water cycle. In this water cycle lesson plan, students observe evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. They then discuss what they learned about the...
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Soil Permeability
Students discuss how soil permeability is affected by permafrost. In this soil lesson plan, students freeze soil over night, and discuss how the environmental conditions of freezing affect soil and further affect vegetation.
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Trends Forecasting
Learners practice trends forecasting to predict the weather. In this forecasting lesson plan, students learn how meteorologists predict the weather by looking at weather trends. They then predict their own forecast, analyze the results,...
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Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?
Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa. In this seasons lesson students access data and import it into Excel.
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Redesign the Rover: Mars Research Year-Round
Pupils discuss the solar system, the planets, periods of orbit and revolution. In this space lesson students discuss the importance of the study of Mars and brainstorm ideas on how NASA might solve its Rover design problem.
Messenger Education
Can You Hear Me Now?—Communicating with Spacecraft
Radio signals transmitted to Pluto take five hours to reach their destination! In these two activities, young scientists explore data communication in space. In activity one, pupils learn how data is gathered and sent back to Earth....
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Virginia Department of Education
Succession
The final lesson in a two-part series prompts scholars to create newspaper articles and succession events. Applying their knowledge of the ecosystem and the past examples of succession, they predict what will happen in the future...
Florida International University
Pipeline to the Coral Reefs
Discover firsthand the effects of internal waves on coral reefs. Through a series of experiments, learners simulate internal waves and upwelling events as they make observations on the movement of water and other debris. They then...
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Weathering and Erosion
Fourth graders take a look at the effects of weathering and other geologic activities found in the environments in which they live. Along with a guided geologic walk outside of campus, there is also an effective in-class demonstration of...
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Arkansas: A Changing Climate, a Changing Land
Here is a instructional activity on the climate zones and geography of Arkansas. In it, learners look at maps (embedded) of different climate zones found throughout Arkansas. They engage in discussions regarding how global warming and...
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Sources of Energy
Fifth graders take a close look at how energy changes from one form to another within their surroundings. They also study the ten different sources of energy and determine which are renewable and which are non-renewable. This seven-page...
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Weather Instruments
Third graders practice making predictions about weather from conditions they observe on weather instruments and weather reports. Learners are introduced to the most basic weather reporting instruments: the thermometer, the wind vane, the...
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Is Your Spot Hot?
Eighth graders explore global warming. In this Earth Science lesson plan, 8th graders will look for Harbingers and fingerprints for different areas. The students will identify an area at risk and they will then create a...
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Surviving the Conditions
Students explore Earth science by participating in an environmental care activity. In this natural resources lesson, students discuss ways to protect themselves from the environment if they are ever in need of shelter in the wilderness....
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Rocks and Minerals
Students bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. In this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
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Seeing Sound & Sonar
Learners make inferences based on different sounds that they hear. In this inferences lesson plan, students will hear sounds of different objects and describe the sounds based on what they hear. They will answer various questions about...
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Linking Kwanzaa to Technology and History
Seventh graders use the Internet to research the holiday of Kwanzaa. Using the information, they create a brochure to promote the holiday to others. They email the information to a friend to end the lesson plan.
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Planet Earth Word Search
For this searching for the words about the planet Earth worksheet, students use the word bank to find words written from left to right, right to left, and diagonally. Students find 14 words.
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Physics The Earth and Beyond
Fourth graders will explore our solar system. In this physics lesson students create a model of the solar system to explore the movement of Earth, the Sun, and stars.