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Does Humidity Affect Cloud Formation?
Learners use NASA's S'COOL database to identify factors that affect cloud formation.
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Classification of Clouds
Students view progressive slides of cloud formations and identify which type of cloud is shown as it forms. They estimate the cloud's height while viewing each image.
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Soil Formation
Seventh graders investigate how soil is formed. They analyze types of soil samples, examine soil using a magnifying glass or microscope, complete a chart, conduct a soil and plant experiment, and construct a soil profile.
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Greenhouse Effect
Pupils investigate the greenhouse effect. In this environmental lesson, students investigate why the greenhouse effect changes the climate through an experiment. Pupils use vinegar to simulate how acid damages the environment.
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Clouds and Rain
Students study how clouds form, what different types there are and what rain is. In this atmospheric lesson students make a cloud and create evaporation.
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Create a Cloud in a Bottle
Students investigate the conditions needed for cloud formation and explore how pressure and temperature effect cloud formation. In this atmospheric pressure lesson students complete a lab on cloud formation.
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Formation of Rain
Students sequence the steps leading to the formation of rain, and design a model to represent these steps. This task assesses students' abilities to classify, generalize, infer, interpret and communicate data, and construct a pictorial...
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Water-Holding Capacity
Students design and conduct an experiment to compare the water-holding capacity of sand, soil, and moss. They measure the change in weight for each material after adding the same amount of water to each material.
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Seasonal Cloud Cover Variations
Students recognize different cloud types. They determine the seaonality of various types of clouds. They graph the data and determine if a correlation exists between season, cloud cover and type of clouds most prevalent during each season.
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Solar System: Let's Take a Trip
Third graders consider outer space. In this introductory solar system lesson, 3rd graders complete a KWL chart and listen to the story The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen. They will contribute...
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Natural Disaster Blooms Taxonomy
Students complete activities that lead to greater understanding of the variety of natural disasters that occur all over the world.
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Rock Cycle
Fourth graders participate in a Rock Cycle game to gain an understanding of the cycles that form metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks.
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Rain, Rain, Go Away
Students conduct a number of experiments involving evaporation and condensation. They view and discuss a video about the water cycle and then design posters about the rain based on the book "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs".
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Understanding Cloud Formation
Students view a demonstration that simulates cloud formation. They read a poem about clouds, participate in a class demonstration using warm water and ice and write a paragraph summarizing their observations.
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What Causes the Seasons?
Third graders investigate why the seasons occur throughout the year. They read a traditional wisdom story pertaining to the seasons. They create their own wisdom stories about the seasons and act them out for the class.
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Processes of the Rock Cycle
Students explore, predict, and create each major rock form (sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous) with colored modeling clay, discover cycle of rock formation, and examine important relationships of heat and pressure in rock development.
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Air and Water in the Environment
Second graders participate in a three part lesson in which they identify and describe forms of moisture in the environment. Part one of the lesson involves the three stages of the water cycle, part two focuses on creating humidity by...
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Water Cycle Boogie
Students explore the water cycle. They learn the "Water Cycle Boogie." Students create hats to represent the different parts of the cycle and learn hand motions to go with the words of the song. Students practice singing the song and the...
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Phases of the Moon: Cooperative Learning
Third graders examine the phases of the moon. In this moon phase lesson, 3rd graders listen to a read aloud of The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M. Branley and discuss the phases of the moon. They complete a moon phase calendar and...
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Soil Structure
Sixth graders examine how different soils are made up of varying proportions of clay, silt, and sand. They compare soil samples, conduct Internet research, and create a model to demonstrate the relative sizes of grains of clay, sand, and...
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Antarctica
Students explore why Antarctica is so important to the planet. They investigate the physical characteristics. Students create their own unique treaty of governance for Antarctica and discuss how laws are enforced in Antarctica.
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Why is the Sky Blue?
Students explore diffusion or scattering of light. In this physics instructional activity, students explain why the sky is blue and sunsets/sunrises are red.
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Ocean Botttom Profile
Students interpret a graph of ocean depths and topographic features. This task assesses students' abilities to interpret figures, organize and represent data, apply knowledge of scale to a profile, and apply theoretical knowledge.
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Probing Under the Surface
Eighth graders use a measuring stick to determine the shape of the inside of the bottom of a box, then apply their knowledge to an additional situation. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, collect and...