Curated OER
River Reflections
Sixth graders create podcasts and video public service announcements. In this environmental advocacy lesson, 6th graders study the local watershed and become advocates for their local environment. In the process, they create podcasts and...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Stream Consciousness
Fourth graders study how environmental engineers monitor water quality. They use environmental indicators to determine the quality of stream water in their area. They count the number of macroinverabrates and use the information they...
Curated OER
Piece Like a River
Students investigate water formations by creating a puzzle. In this water properties instructional activity, students create a giant river puzzle by drawing on large butcher paper as a class, then dividing the image up into many...
Curated OER
FOLLOW THAT WATER
Students build simple stream tables and vary the angle of the stream tables in order to simulate different flow rates and compare the results. They observe various features formed in a stream table by flowing water and compare these to...
California Academy of Science
Pollution in Our Watershed
The concept of a how pesticides and other chemicals pass through a watershed can be difficult for younger learners to grasp without a concrete example. In the activity here, some blank paper, markers, and a spray bottle are all you need...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
A short, but nicely done, presentation on the basics of the water cycle. In it, learners view slides which describe the fascinating process of how the sun creates water vapor, which creates clouds, which create rain, which flows into...
Curated OER
Unit 2: Global to Local: Understanding My Place in the Hydrosphere
What does the ground around your home have to do with water pollution? Young ecologists learn about their local watershed and create their own cause-and-effect models of the hydrosphere.
Curated OER
Landforms of Illinois
Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...
Curated OER
Gliding Glaciers
Glaciers are the star of the show in this Earth science lesson. In it, learners gain an understanding of how glaciers are formed, how they move, and what types of landforms they create. This lesson plan is written in the classic format,...
Curated OER
Volcanoes!: Forecasting the Path of Mudflows
Students construct a mockup of a volcano by crumbling up newspapers and piling them into the shape of a volcano. They place a tarp over the newspapers making sure the tarp is large enough to simulate a flat area at the volcano's base....
Ask a Biologist
It’s a Plankton Eat Plankton World
For as small as they are, plankton sure play an enormous role in maintaining marine ecosystems. Dive into an investigation of these tiny organisms with a hands-on life science activity in which children cut out pictures of sea animals...
Curated OER
Sequence of Events: The Watershed
Class members simulate a watershed with a painters drop cloth, placing objects underneath to create landscape variation, making "rain" with a watering can, and using red drink mix powder to track the path of precipitation. They observe...
Marine Institute
Water Pollution
Sixth graders investigate the various types of pollutants found in water and ways to help prevent water pollution. Through a hands-on experiment, students create samples of polluted water by mixing water with vegetable oil, dirt, and...
Curated OER
Lotic Environment Lesson Plans
High schoolers create and conduct experiments on a "classroom river habitat." They manipulate the biotic and abiotic factors so that they are able to compare an artificially prepared river model to a naturally occurring lotic ecosystem.
Curated OER
Backwards Goes It Does
Young scholars create a three-dimensional model of the Chicago river watershed to determine the flow of the river at its mouth. They use prepared clear gelatin and topographic maps to discover that the building of canals actually...
Curated OER
Tracking the Salt Front
Students manipulate Hudson River salt front data from October 2004 -
September 2005 to locate the high and low points of the salt front for each month, They determine the range for each month, determine the modal range for each month,...
Curated OER
Sand Travels
Students examine how sand is formed by erosion and that it can be moved by streams, rivers, and ocean currents in this unit of lessons. They study waves and currents, and structures that change how sand moves by creating story charts,...
Curated OER
The Great Water Hunt
Students examine a globe to locate the bodies of water present and create a representation of those bodies of water for further exploration of the concept. Extensions of their observations are made at school, home, and the community.
Curated OER
Dinosaurs 1: Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Students explore the time of the dinosaurs. In this extinction lesson, students watch a video clip about different dinosaurs and are asked about what they observed. Students talk about how dinosaurs hatched from eggs and compare that...
Curated OER
Pond Life
Students explore pond ecosystems. In this living environment lesson, students observe the local pond and identify the living things they find by drawing pictures. Students observe organisms that were found in the pond by using a...
Curated OER
Pond Life
Environmental explorers create an experiment related to ponds and then present their finding to the class. This resource is extremely open-ended. It needs more concrete objectives and procedures for meeting them.
Forest Foundation
The Sustainable Forest
As part of their examination of forest ecosystems, class members examine how foresters, biologists, botanists, geologists, and hydrologists work to together to develop a management plan for sustainable forests.
Curated OER
Geologic History of Long Island Sound
In this geologic history of Long Island Sound worksheet, students read about how the Long Island sound was formed through rivers and glaciers advancing and retreating. Students answer 5 questions about the reading and the formation of...
Curated OER
The Greenhouse Experiment
Students create a town with all the elements to sustain human life. They discuss how the activities of the people in the town may create greenhouse gases. They make a connection between small unrelated activities and their cumulative...