Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Build Your Own Aquifer
Ever wondered how an aquifer works? Introduce your class to the amazing way many people get water by exploring how underground aquifers work. Two fun hands-on activities are used to help kids understand what an aquifer is, how it works,...
ARKive
Biodiversity and Evolution
Why is diversity in biology so important for an ecosystem? Explore biodiversity, evolution, and natural selection with a presentation for your biology class. It features clear information, activities for further understanding, and...
Agriculture in the Classroom
Pumpkins... Not Just For Halloween
Celebrate fall with four pumpkin themed hands-on activities! After learning about pumpkins, scholars complete two activity sheets that reinforce estimation and word problems. They then plant pumpkin seeds and bake a pie in a bag.
Curated OER
Carnivorous Plants
Pupils examine how carnivorous plants get their nutrients from animals. In this food web lesson students examine how the plants attract their prey and are given many onilne sources to research.
Curated OER
Renewable vs. Non-Renewable Resources
Fifth graders identify renewable vs. non-renewable resources and comprehend why conservation of resources is important. They are asked what they think the words natural and resource mean. Pupils then put the words together to define...
Curated OER
Organic Farming / Agriculture
Want an organic farming resource packed with experiments, background information, science fair projects, and topics of interest for further research? Here it is. Young environmental scientists can explore concepts involved in organic...
Curated OER
Toward a Sustainable Agriculture
Read about sustainable agriculture and complete related Internet activities. After reading background information about the economics of sustainable agriculture and the problems with the industrial food system, your students click on...
Curated OER
The Biogeochemical Cycles
The majority of this presentation is a collection of diagrams and graphs that back your lecture on biogeochemical cycles. The last few slides define ecosystems and the Gaia hypothesis. You may find these slides valuable, but will...
Curated OER
A Tour Down the Hudson River
Students discuss how the Hudson River is an ecosystem made up of both biotic and abiotic factors. They view the PowerPoint the Journal Down the Hudson River. Students become aware of where the Hudson River begins and ends, the plant and...
Curated OER
Zebra Mussel Population Simulation
Young scholars are taught how to format and enter data into an Excel spreadsheet. They make a graph, and interpret graphed data. Students discuss the possible impacts of zebra mussels on the Hudson river. They graph zebra mussel data.
Curated OER
Aquatic Ecosystem Exploration
Students visit a local stream, pond, creek, or river and collect macroinvertebrates. They sort macroinvertebrates and identify each species using a dichotomous key. Students decide on trophic levels and construct a possible food web for...
Curated OER
What If There's No Light?
pupils discuss the importance of light and the consequences of living without it. Using a plant as a demonstration, students predict and observe what happens to a plant when it does not receive enough light. In groups, they experiment to...
Curated OER
Hudson Valley Rocks
Students identify each of the rocks provided and locate where in the valley they are found. They explain why the rocks came to be as they are in each location. In addition, they relate the exercise to how the Hudson Valley's geologic...
California Academy of Science
Where Do I Put My Trash?
Where does the trash go after you put it in the garbage can? The class discusses sustainability, recycling, compost, and landfills as they play as fun relay game. In teams, they race to be the fastest group to successfully sort their...
Curated OER
Composting
Using 2-liter bottles, junior ecologists create composting tubes in which they place nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials. They observe what changes occur over two weeks' time. Provide more specific direction to your class as to what...
Curated OER
Celebration of Trees
Second graders listen to various, grade appropriate stories about trees. They create their own construction paper trees and discuss the importance of trees to the ecosystem and the importance of taking care of them. Finally, 2nd graders...
Curated OER
The Tropical Supermarket
Third graders explore the sources of the various foods they eat. They examine how everyone is intricately connected to the ecosystems in which natural resources are produced. Students observe how the lives of people living in those...
Curated OER
The Delany Garden
Students design and create a garden. They select flowers in small groups and research them. They draw a diagram of the landscape for their garden and plant flowers and observe them as they grow.
Curated OER
Tree-mendous Game
Students play a game where they classify the different characteristics of trees. In this tress lesson plan, students also use tree vocabulary and describe benefits of trees.
University of Wisconsin
Rain Garden Maintenance
Maintaining a garden is an ongoing responsibility. This resource follows a series of activities in a unit that resulted in the planting of a rain garden. What you will find here are general instructions for watering, weeding, pruning,...
Curated OER
Biosphere Starts with?
How can your pupils test their biosphere vocabulary acquisition? They can do it by using a fill-in-the-blank worksheet like the one found here. Thirty-four common words and phrases surrounding the topic are included. There is a number 35...
Curated OER
3rd Grade Earth Science
In this Earth Science worksheet, 3rd graders answer multiple choice questions about minerals, properties, fossils, and more. Students complete 20 questions.
Curated OER
Profit From Pumpkins
Third graders cut open a pumpkin. In this math activity, 3rd graders complete the worksheet "From Seed to Pumpkin" and then clean out their pumpkins to see how many seeds are in it.
Curated OER
The Mysterious Plant Caper
Students investigate the basic parts of plant and that plants are living things which require water, air, light and nutrients for survival. They do this through a series of scientific experiements and multi-curricular hands-on activities.