Curated OER
Fighting Soil Erosion
Pupils complete hands-on activities and watch a video to learn about soil erosion. For this erosion instructional activity, students use hands-on studies to investigate soil erosion. Pupils then visit the given websites to identify the...
Curated OER
"Weather" or Not?
Students complete a three week unit about weather and how it affects our behavior. They read and discuss various books related to weather, conduct an experiment about the tilt of the earth, plan a field trip based on temperature,...
Curated OER
Challenger's Lost Lessons - The Lost Simple Machines Lesson
Students investigate the characteristics of simple machines. In this simple machine lesson, students investigate work as a product of applying constant force. They answer questions about what happens on Earth and what may have happened...
Curated OER
Soil Erosion
Second graders complete activities to observe the effects of erosion. For this erosion lesson, 2nd graders define erosion and learn the process. Students complete an erosion experiment.
Curated OER
Structure of the Earth System
Eighth graders describe the steps in the water cycle. They discuss factors that affect runoff and explain the differences between stalactites and stalagmites. They discover the importance of ground water.
Curated OER
The Reason for the Seasons; Science, Geography
Students think about what causes the seasons to change, reflect on what they know about seasons and how their lives affected by seasonal changes.
Curated OER
Is the Earth Warming? a Test of the Effect of Increased Carbon Dioxide on the Thermal Properties of Air
Students investigate the environmental and economic effects of increased carbon dioxide (CO2) content in the atmosphere.
Curated OER
The Day The Earth Shook
Learners explore structural engineering through three design challenges. They examine information about some architectural features that work and those that don't during an earthquake. Students build and test their structure and record...
Curated OER
Science: The Water Cycle
Students examine the various stages of the water cycle. In groups, they complete a hands-on activity by creating model water cycle. Students design posters representing each of the seven stages of the water cycle.
Curated OER
Physics: Forces and Motion
Learners recognize the effect of Earth's gravity on an object's weight. In this force and motion lesson students understand the role of gravity when you drop an object. Learners experiment with small items. Students measure in Newton's....
Curated OER
Severe Weather
Fifth graders identify the causes and effects of several different kinds of
severe weather phenomenon. They read an excerpt from John Muir's book The Mountains of California and research one of the following severe
weather phenomena...
Monroe City Schools
Clouds! Clouds! Clouds!
Here is a beautiful lesson on clouds designed for your 1st graders. Learners study three different types of clouds. They construct drawings of cumulus, cirrus, and stratus clouds. The Cloud Book, by Tommie dePaola is used to...
PHET
Planet Designer: Kelvin Climb
It's time to get those creative juices flowing! This second instructional activity in a series of five continues allowing pupils to design their own planets. It the same format as the first, but, this time, allows students to alter...
Curated OER
My Angle on Cooling: Effects of Distance and Inclination
Learners discuss what heat is and how it travels. They discover that one way to cool an object in the presence of a heat source is to increase the distance from it or change the angle at which it is faced.
Science Friday
Capturing Carbon Dioxide
Why don't we just capture carbon dioxide in the air and store it somewhere else? A hands-on lesson allows scholars to explore a complex concept. First, they will create a carbonated beverage, and then they will determine...
Curated OER
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Even though volcanoes look alike, they can be very different based on the types of lava that erupts from their surface. Learn about strata volcanoes, shield volcanoes, and the varying viscosity of lava with an engaging hands-on...
Space Awareness
Oceans on the Rise
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
Curated OER
Creating/Improving the International Space Station
Students research space and gravity and understand the difficulties humans have while on the International Space Station. In this space lesson plan, students listen to personal accounts of astronauts on videos and present designs to...
University of Colorado
Can Photosynthesis Occur at Saturn?
In the 19th activity of 22, learners determine if distance from a light source affects photosynthesis. Participants capture oxygen in straws and find that the amount of water the gas displaces is proportional to the rate of photosynthesis.
Curated OER
Tides - The Ins and Outs of Tides
Get your junior oceanographers to generate tidal prediction graphs on an interactive website. They will feel like experts in the field, or shall we say, experts in the ocean! This is a brief, but worthwhile activity that could be used to...
Curated OER
Exploring Mars
Learners, working in small groups construct scale models of the planets and solar system. They examine images of Mars and discuss what might have caused the features. They record facts about their planetary research in their journals and...
Curated OER
Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System
Thoroughly written, this plan walks you through every detail of having your high school astronomers design scale models of the solar system. Complete instructions on building to scale, lesson plan procedures, and associated worksheets...
NASA
Discovering the Milky Way
What do you call a tiny collection of galaxies? A puny-verse! Young scholars graph data gathered by scientists studying Cepheids. They attempt to identify a relationship between the variables through standard and logarithmical...
Cornell University
Constructing and Visualizing Topographic Profiles
Militaries throughout history have used topography information to plan strategies, yet many pupils today don't understand it. Scholars use Legos and a contour gauge to understand how to construct and visualize topographic profiles. This...