Curated OER
The Celestial Sphere and Circumpolar Motion
Students investigate the celestial sphere and circumpolar motion. For this science lesson, students view an applet, The Celestial Sphere and Circumpolar Motion. Students discuss the Earth's rotation and stellar movement.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Our Earth: Challenge Activities (Theme 8)
This packet, the first in the series of support materials for the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on our earth, contains enrichment activities for learners who have mastered the basic concepts of the lessons. Kids...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
Scientists use ice core samples to obtain temperatures of the earth from 400,000 years ago! The third of five lessons instructs pupils to interpret historical climate data to see changes over time. In part I, participants interpret...
Colorado State University
What Makes a Gas, a Greenhouse Gas?—The Carbon Dioxide Dance
Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy
Energize an environmental science unit on natural resources with this collection of instructional materials. From simple coloring sheets for primary grade children, to guiding questions for a high school research...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Day the Mesozoic Died
While this is not the traditional, step-by-step lesson plan, it is chock-full of material that you can easily incorporate into your earth history unit. Its main purpose is to serve as a guide to using a three-part film, The Day the...
BioEd Online
Spiders in Space
Does a spider spin its web differently in space? What other ways might microgravity affect an arachnid? Pick a topic to research, plan an investigation, and follow astronauts on the International Space Station as they perform some of the...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Occurrence and Extraction of Metals
Steel is a man-made alloy or a mixture of metals. Lesson 18 in this series of 36 focuses on metals and their extraction from Earth. Individuals read about, discuss, and answer questions after learning how people find most metals, the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
Wrap-up a unit on global climate change with a lesson that examines the causes and effects of climate change. Learners fill out a chart that represents what they think causes climate change—natural and human-based—and what they think...
Curated OER
The Origin of Life
In this origin of life worksheet, students write answers to five questions. They describe characteristics of the first life forms and how scientists believe oxygen accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere.
Curated OER
Gingerbread Spacecraft
Students explore the different parts of the Cassini spacecraft. In this space science lesson, students create a model of the spacecraft using food products. They compare and contrast their model with the real one and evaluate its...
Curated OER
Understanding Topographic Maps
Underclassmen create a cone-shaped landform and then draw a contour map for it. Then they examine a quadrangle (which was easily located with an online search), and relate it to what they experienced. The accompanying worksheet is...
Center Science Education
Weather and Climate Data Exploration
Access local temperature data online, graph averages, and critique it. Learners listen to a scenario where weather and climate are confused, and then answer questions to differentiate the two. The lesson plan itself is compact, but there...
Curated OER
Reflections on Earth: Exploring Planet Earth from Space
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...
Curated OER
Space Science
Eighth graders study the objects in our solar system. In this space lesson plan students identify and describe planets, then classify them as terrestrial or gaseous.
Curated OER
Solar System: The Four Inner Planets and Earth's Moon and Astronauts
Second graders read THe Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System. For this language arts and science lesson, 2nd graders explore the four inner planets. Students view the inner planets using Google Earth.
Curated OER
Harvesting Oil from the Earth
Fourth graders research sources of fossil fuels especially oil while determining how scientists take core samples from an Earth model. They look at oil consumption and production in the US and throughout the world.
Curated OER
Google Earth Scavenger Hunt
Learners complete activities to learn how to use Google Earth and study Alaska. In this Google Earth lesson, students complete a Google Earth scavenger hunt to find facts about Alaska. Learners complete two worksheets for the topic.
Curated OER
Earth Acrostic Poem
In this Earth activity, students write an acrostic poem for the planet Earth. Students write a phrase starting with each letter of the word Earth to describe it.
Curated OER
Comparing Earth and Mars
Learners work together to compare and contrast Mars and Earth. Using the internet, they answer questions given to them by their teacher and calculate answers showing their work. They graph their answers and discuss the results of the...
Curated OER
Earth and Space Science
Students investigate space travel. In this science lesson, students discuss the space station and its representation in orbit. They talk about food, travel and survival in space with the correct equipment.
Curated OER
Doin' The Moonwalk
If you are looking for an outstanding lesson on the Moon for your budding astronomers, look no further! This outstanding plan is full of wonderful, meaningful activities for your charges to engage in. Pupils will discover why there are...
Curated OER
Wind Power
What a wonderful way to explore wind power! Through this lesson, learners get a background in the history of wind power, create their own wind turbine, and the test their designs. This is a terrific way to tie scientific principles to...
Curated OER
Earth's Energy Cycle: Albedo
Students complete all of the steps in the scientific inquiry process to study Earth's energy cycle; most specifically temperature and the effects of albedo (energy reflected back from Earth's surface) on temperature.