Curated OER
Keep America Beautiful: Thinking Green in the Classroom
Stress the importance of community involvement to preserve the beauty of our Earth with these great ideas.
Cornell University
Fibers, Dyes, and the Environment
Nanofibers can be made through electrospinning or force spinning in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Pupils study the role of fibers and dye on the environment through a series of five hands-on activities. Then,...
NASA
Is It Alive?
Determining whether or not something is living can be more difficult than it seems. Put your young scientists to work defining their own criteria to identify life, then work with three samples to see if they are alive or not.
Cal Recycle
Conserving Natural Resources
Trying to plan an engaging elementary science unit on natural resources? Conserve your energy! This five-part series of lessons and hands-on activities has exactly what you need to teach young scholars about the importance of conservation.
Agriculture in the Classroom
"Steer" Toward STEM: Careers in Animal Agriculture
Think like an engineer and an agricultural scientist over the course of 12 lessons in a STEM based unit. Young scientists take on the roles of animal physiologists, animal geneticists, agricultural engineers, animal nutritionists, and...
National Wildlife Federation
It's a Green Revolution: An Introduction to Eco-Schools USA
Eco-schools is a project of the National Wildlife Federation and empowers schools to manage their schools with a green focus. Scholars work to define environment and sustainability and springboard this into learning the eight pathways...
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Withering Plants - Stressing Over Lost Water
Expectant earth scientists examine the bottom side of a leaf and learn the role of the stomata. They consider the gas exchange that occurs through these structures and relate how the climate is changing to its impact on food crops. This...
Curated OER
Performance Art and The Waste Stream
Students research local waste management services, discuss findings, give opinions about what they have found, offer solutions and ideas, and create performance art, design art works, and fine art works to convey information on waste...
Community Resources for Science
A Whole New World of DNA and Proteins
Lead your young scientists into an exciting world as they participate in a role play and experiment focused on proteins and DNA. After researching the Central Dogma of Biology, individuals or groups participate in a classroom slide...
Global Oneness Project
Learning with Nature
Think outside the box - and think about education beyond the classroom walls - with a resource that has your critical thinkers watching a video about a nursery in Scotland that lets youngsters roam wild in a forest. Viewers reflect on...
Curated OER
The 400-acre wood
In this forest planning lesson plan, students visit the 400-acre wood website and work in groups to learn about the specific aspects of forest development. Students create, label and color a forest planning map and present their map to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
Unplugging from technology for one day per week will decrease your carbon footprint—are you up to the challenge? Part two in a series of three allows individuals to explore their personal carbon footprints. By first taking a quiz at home...
Baylor College
Food for Kids
Immediately capture the attention of your class with the smell of freshly popped popcorn in the sixth instructional activity of this series on the needs of living things. Young scientists first use their senses to make and record...
NOAA
It's a Roughy Life
Scientists recently discovered several previously unknown species at the Bear Seamount off the coast of New England. Scholars research these new species — benthopelagic, benthic, and seamount fish — and find out what makes them unique....
Curated OER
Environmentally Friendly
What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...
Curated OER
Publisher Brochures
Students create brochures on subjects they are studying in Publisher. In this nonfiction writing lesson, students use Publisher to create a brochure telling all the main ideas of a topic they are studying. Students use text boxes, fonts...
Curated OER
How Does One Cope With Life-Changing Events?
Second graders identify coping skills during times of stress. In this mental health lesson, 2nd graders read the story, Stressed Out Sally and brainstorm events that produce stress. Students rewrite a different version of the story...
Curated OER
What Should I Recycle?
First graders discuss a plan to minimize waste. In this waste management lesson, 1st graders read "Why Should I Recycle," by Jen Green and create a classroom recycling plan.
Curated OER
Waste Not, Want Not
Students consider the types of debris that litters beaches and conduct research on waste management. They then interview professionals in a particular field of waste management and write reports for a booklet about garbage and sewage to...
National Wildlife Federation
Quantifying Land Changes Over Time Using Landsat
"Humans have become a geologic agent comparable to erosion and [volcanic] eruptions ..." Paul J. Crutzen, a Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist. Using Landsat imagery, scholars create a grid showing land use type, such as urban,...
Curated OER
Now We Teach Six Rs
Learners explore recycling. In this ecology lesson, students sort classroom garbage into items that can be reused, reduced, or recycled. Learners brainstorm ideas for reusing items and discuss ways to celebrate Earth Day at home.
Curated OER
Tidepool Island Biogeography
Students experience and test island biogeography ideas by comparing diversity and abundance of rocky inter-tidal patches. Working, in groups of three, they investigate rocks and creatures found in a tidepool. Lesson plan designed for...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Are You Bigfoot?
Scholars independently explore several websites to calculate their ecological footprint. Using their new found knowledge, they answer six short-answer questions and take part in a grand conversation with their peers about how our...
Montana Natural History Center
Studying Grassland Ecosystems
At first glance, grassland ecosystems might seem dull and uninteresting, but once you start to explore it's amazing the things you'll find! Through this series of engaging lessons, activities, and experiments, elementary students examine...