Students are introduced to the characteristics of a river system. In groups, they discover how rivers are formed and how it flows. They discuss the relationship between the river system and people and develop ways to keep the river...

Fourth graders determine how weathering, specifically ice, snow, and freezing water change the Earth's surface and rocks. After completing the investigations, they explain how heating and cooling expand and contract marbles until cracks...

Here is a comprehensive package in which middle schoolers learn about types of seismic waves, triangulation, and tectonic plate boundaries. Complete vocabulary, colorful maps, and a worksheet are included via links on the webpage. You...

Students study different formats of data and determine the nitrogen dioxide concentrations.  In this seasons lesson plan students understand the different relationships that NO2 can have.

Here is a geology lesson that is sure to get your charges excited. It's all about the process of weathering of rocks. Learners study natural events that can cause rocks to break apart. Some of these events are: ice wedging, plant...

Students research various websites focusing on Italy while enhancing student utilization of computer, keyboards and the Internet. They discuss their findings on the geography, history, topography, and culture.

In this moon worksheet, students review the different phases of the moon and differences between a lunar and solar eclipse. This worksheet has 13 fill in the blank and 5 true or false questions.

Students investigate the rock cycle. For this geology lesson, students read about the rock cycle on a website and discuss the steps of the rock cycle. Students visit a rock cycle website to complete a quiz. This is the first introductory...

Students investigate the greenhouse effect and why it happens.

Eighth graders study the effects of the water cycle. They create a graph of the air temperature versus solar radiation on a rainy and clear 24 hour period using data from a provided link. Afterward, they answer questions to determine the...

Learners engage in a lesson that is concerned with the water cycle and different states of matter. They conduct research using a variety of resources in preparation for taking a quiz. Then students take the quiz in correlation to having...

In this greenhouse effect cloze procedure instructional activity, students review a brief selection that is missing 16 words and then attempt to fill in each blank with a word they think the author might have used. A word bank is provided.

Pupils become plants in an interpretive play that depicts what happens throughout the seasons in a rain garden. As you narrate, students bloom, flower, and go to seed accordingly. The lesson is first in a series of lessons written for...

Students participate in a role play where they play clouds, the ocean, rain drops, and more in order to learn about the water cycle. In this water cycle lesson plan, students have discussions and learn vocabulary.

Students research how surface sea temperature changes throughout the year. They draw a time series of sea surface temperatures for each month of the year and a depth profile for a summer and winter month using an OceanExplorer Profiler...

Learners visit Time Machine's San Francisco Earthquake Era. They understand how the Earth's layers interact to cause changes in the Earth's surface. They review information about earthquakes and Earth's layers.

Students examine satellite images of Earth and contrast images at different scales. In this exploring Earth from space lesson plan, students use satellite images to contrast images at different scales, calculate distances from the scale...

Students examine trees and discuss how the environment effected the tree. They also predict what the area look like in fifty years.

Students make a windmill.  For this wind lesson, students learn background information about the windmill, complete an activity where they create a windmill, discuss using wind as a natural resource and brainstorm other inventions...

Students compare weather data and draw conclusions. In this climate change lesson plan, students determine whether data collected over a period of ninety years shows a warming trend. 

Students examine how volcanic eruptions affect global climate. They listen to first-hand accounts of the effects of a large volcanic eruption and illustrate a landscape to show understanding. They experiment with the loss of light and...

Students conduct a simulation to determine radioactive decay and half-life. Using pennies, dice or sugar cubes as isotopes placed in shoe boxes simulating rocks, they hold five trials representing 1000 years each to find the theoretical...

Young scholars explain diversity and abundance in marine life. In this oceanic biology lesson, students collect information for various geographical areas to collect a census of marine life.

Students recognize Michigan on a map and understand how its climate is affected by the Great Lakes. In this Michigan food lesson plan, students play a trivia game to identify the produce of Michigan. Students relate the climate in each...