Curated OER
Reading Weather Maps
Fourth graders the symbols that are used on weather maps. They develop five day forecasts based on information they gather from weather maps in the newspaper and on the Internet.
Curated OER
Rivers, Maps, and Math
Students use maps to locate and label the major rivers of North and South America. Using the internet, they identify forests, grasslands, mountain ranges and other landforms on the continents as well. They compare and contrast the...
Science Matters
Ring of Fire
Over a period of 35 years, earthquakes and volcanoes combined only accounted for 1.5 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in the United States. The 15th lesson in a 20-part series connects the locations of earthquakes and...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 2
West of the West's documentary Arlington Springs Man and a two-page scientific article about the same topic provide the text for a reading comprehension exercise that asks individuals to craft a one page summary of information gathered...
Curated OER
What Makes Day and Night? The Earth's Rotation
Learners discover that the Earth rotates on its axis in a cyclical fashion. They examine how this rotation results in day and night.
Curated OER
The Dynamic Earth
Learners participate in assessments related to the layers of the Earth. They read chapters of text, answer questions, watch videos, and identify and label continents and oceans on a map. They design posters, create vocabulary cards,...
Curated OER
We are the World - Writing about our Earth
First graders write facts about the Earth. In this Earth instructional activity, 1st graders discuss natural resources, recycling, and how to keep the Earth clean. They work in groups to create a small book with 3-5 facts about the...
Curated OER
Earth Matters
Students identify Earth's equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians.
Curated OER
Plotting a Hurricane Using Latitude and Longitude
Learners define and use "absolute location," latitude, and longitude. They locate on a map or globe the Earth's poles, circles, tropics, and beginning points of measurements for latitude and longitude.
Curated OER
A Comparison of Cloud Coverage Over Africa
Students use a NASA satellite data to contrast amounts of cloud coverage over different climate regions in Africa. They explore how Earth's major air circulations affect global weather patterns, and relate to local weather patterns.
Curated OER
Comparison of Snow Cover on Different Continents
Students use the Live Access Server (LAS) to form maps and a numerical text file of snow cover for each continent on a particular date and analyze the data for each map, corresponding text file to determine an estimate of snow cover for...
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...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Orbit Simulator
Researchers think they have evidence of a new planet deep in our solar system that is the size of Neptune and orbits the sun far beyond Pluto. The orbit simulator shows the orbits of our well-known planets, as well as Pluto and the comet...
Curated OER
Interior of the Earth
Sixth graders identify and describe the composition and physical properties of the layers of the Earth. They also explain how scientists used the scientific process to know about the center of the Earth. Finally, 6th graders read a...
Curated OER
Classify Rocks
Students classify different types of rocks. For this earth science lesson, students test different rock samples and construct a chart to record observations. They create a concept map that answers essential questions.
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Our Forests Need Fires?
Students consider how forest fires are both damaging and beneficial to forests. In this earth science instructional activity, students are read the book Fire! In Yellowstone by Robert Ekey and watch "Fire Ecology" and "Two Sides of...
Curated OER
Hands on Biome-Building
Young scholars explore Earth science by participating in an environment activity. In this biome lesson, students discuss the importance of a healthy ecology in order to sustain life, both animal and plant. Young scholars utilize a...
Curated OER
The Earth is an Orange
Students examine and identify the various types of maps. Using two types of maps, they compare the data that can be gathered from each one. They also identify and locate the continents and the oceans. They review the purposes of each...
Curated OER
The Tilting Earth
Fourth graders use a styrofoam ball on a stick to represent earth and a light bulb in the center of the room to represent the sun. They walk around the light, holding their sticks at an angle to show the tilt of the earth's axis. They...
Curated OER
Magnetic Earth
In this magnetic Earth worksheet, learners learn how a compass works with the magnetic poles of the Earth. This worksheet has 4 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Aerosol Lesson: Science - Graphing SAGE II Data
Learners examine and plot atmospheric data on bar graphs.
Curated OER
Anatomy of an Earthquake
In this earthquake activity, students read and study earthquake maps and statistics. They complete 8 short answer questions that follow.
Curated OER
Hurricane Katrina's Floods
In this ecology worksheet, students analyze and interpret flood maps of Hurricane Katrina and complete 8 short answer questions about them.
Curated OER
Making Topographic Maps and Mountain Profiles
Learners study how to mark inclines and construct a mountain profile. In this topographic map activity students mark contour intervals and draw mountain profiles.