Middle schoolers explore why when you examine the moon depends on its location in relationship to the sun and Earth. The moon never goes away or changes shape-we just see a different fraction of sunlight being reflected from the moon to...

Students investigate global warming. In this global warming instructional activity, students watch movies about global warming, discuss problems in their local community and see how communities have changed over time. Students realize...

Young scholars explain the reason for the changes in season. In this lesson examining the relationship between the Earth and the Sun, students use an applet to discover how the alignment of the Earth and the Sun cause the change in...

Students research and develop power point presentations that answer the question, "What is changing our forests?" In this ecology instructional activity, students research the niche of Pine Beetles and their increased effect on the...

Students research measurements of the moon and Earth as well as the distance between the two in order to create scale models of the Earth-moon system. With a marble to be used as the moon, they must determine how large to make Earth...

Students graph sea ice data and predict long term trends in the data. In this climate change lesson, students use sea ice data from the Arctic and Antarctic to construct line graphs. They use their graphs to predict the effects of global...

High schoolers investigate how the Earth's rotation affect the length of day. In this earth science lesson, students construct a sighting apparatus and record their observations over a few days. They analyze data collected and formulate...

Eighth graders are introduced to the Earth's hydrologic system including the cycling of water in the atmosphere and the movement of water on the surface of the planet using the Great Lakes watershed as an example.

Students discover how distance can change how our view of an object. Students build a representative model of where their home is located from different distances. They create three drawn models of their home from various elevations as...

Students research the evidence for prehistorically formed methane hydrates contributing to global warming. In this climate change lesson, students work in groups to research methane hydrates, global warming, The Cambrian Explosion, and...

In this magnetic storms and Earth's magnetic field worksheet, students use a bar graph showing the Kp Index for planetary variability. Students use the bar graph to answer 3 questions about the solar storms and their Kp values.

Students research about the importance of sea ice to world climate and sea organisms. In this earth science lesson, students create a model of present and future Arctic sea ice communities. They discuss how ice melting affects...

Students create a large (classroom-sized) timeline showing the history of life on Earth for the last 5 billion years. They are able to identify the events that are relevant to their taxonomic projects (the Origins and important...

Young scholars investigate the changes of their environment by experimenting with photography.  For this environmental observation lesson, students compare historic photographs of areas with pictures they have just taken....

Students research about the function of MPA's. In this marine science lesson, students explore how humans influence changes near these areas. They explore different MPA's in the Great Lakes region.

Students use fossil leaves and a mathematical formula to study climate change. In this climate change and fossil lesson plan, students determine the differences in temperatures during two different times during the Cenozoic era using...

Students analyze soil for types of pollen to determine the probably climate conditions. In this earth science lesson plan, students make conclusions on what a climate is like based on soils samples. Students use a model soil...

There are so many topics touched upon in this Jeopardy-style science game, that it is difficult to classify! The categories include electricity, matter, ecology, earth and space, and scientific investigation. This would best be used at...

Middle schoolers are able to explain the suspected causes of relatively recent climate changes, specifically the observed global warming. They discuss how unusual or extreme global warming disrupts the balance of the earth's geo-spheres.

Young scholars explore the effects of global warming. They examine the differences between weather and climate. After viewing a video, students summarize information on climate change and drought.

Middle schoolers examine natural climate fluctuations of the Earth and compare climate change in last 100 years to earlier climate changes. From this data students will begin to define current issues related to global warming.

Climate change affects even the largest and intimidating of landforms—even Mount Everest! A resource helps teach learners the connection between global climate change and its effects on Earth. Activities include videos, class discussion,...

How does a change in pH affect the ocean ecosystem? Scholars explore the idea by making an acid-base indicator in part seven of the 10-installment Discover Your Changing World series. First, they explore impacts of carbon dioxide in...

The climate at the equator is hotter than the climate at the poles, but why? The lesson goes in depth, explaining how the angles of illumination relate to the heating rate at different latitudes and seasons. Scholars use a strong lamp,...