Mother Nature's Gravel Company is open for business! The unit includes four lessons covering weathering and erosion. Experiments are simple to complete and young geologists compare notes to see who makes the biggest ice...

Students explore plant biology by conducting field experiments outside of class. In this desert plant instructional activity, students discuss how cacti thrive in such dry climates and how dense their populations are. Students utilize...

Young scholars, in groups of four,identify and analyze relationships among birds within a population, a community and an urban ecosystem. They fill out, while they're completing their experiments, a Populations of Birds Student Data Sheet.

Instill the concept of adaptation with the help of Blubber Gloves—ziplock bags, shortening, and duct tape. Scholars discuss how animals and plants keep warm in polar regions, record their predictions, and try on their Blubber Gloves to...

Learners examine types of plant structure. In this plant biology activity, students observe various types of plants, such as ivy and grapes, and discuss the differences in structure. Additionally, learners plant sugar snap peas, using a...

Young scientists design a picture of a saguaro cactus that shows the cactus and some of the animals and plants that interact with it. There are many of these special relationships between plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. Your...

Students construct a defined plot on school grounds and observed patterns in plant life. They count trees, shrubs, cacti and record on a data sheet. They compare data and generate a plant diversity overlook for their school.

How do various plants survive in different environments? They adapt! Kids determine which plant traits make them perfect for their specific environment. They consider three plants and can even complete a plant experiment. Note: Intended...

Students experiment with models to find how plants survive in the desert environment.  In this plant mechanisms activity, students make leaf models to understand how leaves conserve water. Students collect cactus in bags and observe...

Students perform an experiment to extract and observe DNA from plant Tissue. They read about the procedure and relate it to the procedure used to isolate DNA from an endangered plant species. This is lesson plan three in a nine lesson...

Learners examine how desert plants and animals are adapted to life in the desert. They listen to the book, "Seasons of Saguaro," conduct experiments to demonstrate plant succulence, and create and draw an animal or plant that...

Students practice pouring an agarose gel and loading the DNA into the wells to perform a genetic analysis of variation among individuals and between populations. They electrophorese the gel overnight.

Trace the links between a variety of math concepts in this far-reaching unit. Ideas that seem very different on the outset (like the distance formula and rigid transformations) come together in very natural and logical ways. This...

Students identify the location and characteristics of different regions throughout the world. Using this information, they compare and contrast the regions and discover how they change over time. They use the internet to research a place...

Students work together to discover the path water follows in plants. They create multicolored flowers. They label each part of the plant and note their function.

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.

Students do various activities to explain where the United States' desert region lies in relationship to the state in which they live, become familiar with plants and animals in the Sonoran desert, and make a story map of Roadrunner...

Young scholars create a "super weed" that prospers in teh harsh conditions on plant Weediv. They comprehend how weed adaptations give the plants an advantage over native plants. Students define the term adaptation. They give three...

Students create a rainstick decorated with repeated patterns of shape and color, out of paper towel tubes.

A lesson unit where students work in small groups to conduct an experiment with two cacti to test whether plants need water.

Investigate the theory that including desert plants such as mesquite and cactus in a diet can help control obesity and diabetes. Design a scientific experiment that will test this hypothesis, using control variables, observation and...