Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Killer Quake!

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore earthquakes. They build and test models to see if they will withstand an earthquake. Students explain their reasons for constructing buildings in a particular manner.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using several learning modalities to teach about the Periodic Table.

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students identify how to relate the position of an element in the periodic table to its atomic number and atomic mass. They identify how to use the periodic table to identify metals, semimetals, nonmetals, and halogens, and also,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can You Catch the Water?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars work together to construct a model of a water catchment basin. They survey water patterns and complete experiments to see where rain travels and collects. They discover how engineers design structures that help with...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridges

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders use model-building to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They describe gravity as a universal force that pulls everything toward the center of the earth. Students distinguish between...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to the Barnegat Bay Estuary

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students research estuaries. In this estuaries lesson, students discuss the differences in a bay and an ocean. Students watch a PowerPoint of the properties of the estuaries and geography of Barnegat Bay. Students complete a worksheet...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Up, Up, and Away

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students create a model to explore the water cycle. Students also perform different experiments to witness water changing from a liquid to a gas. Students are asked to if they can find ways for water to go away without pouring the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building an Ecologically Balanced Living Space

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students design and build an ecologically balanced living space based on the principles of an old growth forest. They take one part of a house (or structure in the community) and redesign it according to the principles of the forest cycle.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Studying Fossils

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students hypothesize dinosaur size and speed by looking at dinosaur track way or by measuring a dinosaur models water displacement. In addition, techniques to help students become familiar with the ways paleontologists study fossils can...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Studying Fossils

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students study the Evolution in the Light of Fossils. Activities in this lesson range from quantitative measurements of hominoid skulls to the comparison of hominoid bone structures. They hypothesize dinosaur size and speed by looking at...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indiana Ice Investigations

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders create a model of the formation of Indiana by glaciers. Working in groups with appropriate materials, they create a model documenting how glaciers moved through the land and formed the geological structure and land masses...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Carbon Cycle

For Teachers 5th
Here is an interesting science lesson. Pupils discover that carbon, just like water, is absolutely necessary for all living things to survive. They study how it cycles through nature, become familiar with the periodic table, and look at...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Glaciers and Ice Wedging

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders observe and identify a variety of weathering and geological activities in the area in which they live. This focuses primarily on what happened during the Ice Age, and how, even today, glaciers are shaping and re-shaping...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Henry Builds A Cabin

For Teachers K - 1st
Pupils listen to the book "Henry Builds a Cabin." They design a cabin using Lego pieces based on information from the story.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is the Rock Cycle and Its Processes?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Geology beginners examine three different rock samples and determine their origin by their characteristics. By making and recording observations, they become familiar with features of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock types....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sticks, Stones, Sinews and Stuff: How Early People Used the Environment to Meet Basic Needs

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students create an artifact. In this early survival lesson, students use found objects to create an artifact that could have been used to help early people meet their basic needs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse and Save a Tree

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students examine how to save and protect trees.  In this conservation instructional activity, students read books about the usefulness of trees, write ideas in their journals about how trees can be used, and make a book of ways to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Which Way is Up? The Tree of Life in Africa

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Learners read a book titled This is the Tree about a baobab tree and draw a picture and label the tree. In this tree lesson plan, students also write a paragraph explaining why they drew that tree. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Carbon Cycle

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders examine the carbon cycle, periodic table, and photosynthesis and respiration. They analyze the periodic table and how it is organized, then complete the "Elementary, Dear Watson" worksheet. Students then examine a carbon...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Did My Lunch Come From? A U.S. Regional Tour

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the regions from which their food comes. In this social studies lesson, students identify the different agricultural products that are found in the major regions of the United States. Students create a lunch menu.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Leapin' Landmarks: Locating 10 Man-made Landmarks Around the World

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders label continents, oceans, and major mountain ranges on maps and use the maps to write an informational report about landmarks. In this landmarks lesson plan, 3rd graders write about 1 major landmark.
Lesson Plan
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Science 4 Inquiry

Edible Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Many people think they can't observe plate tectonics, but thanks to GPS, we know that Australia moves at a rate of 2.7 inches per year, North America at 1 inches per year, and the Pacific plate at more than 3 inches per year! Scholars...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Planetary Place Value

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Third graders explore place value to the ten thousands place. This incredibly thorough, 24-page lesson has learners construct, order, and compare numbers to 9,999. This three-day lesson includes reteaching and extension activities...
Lesson Plan
NASA

Stellar Fingerprints and Doppler Red Shifts

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young scientists observe the spectra of elements and compare that to the Doppler effect. Hook scholars from the beginning all the way to the extension activities in this 5E-format lesson. 
Worksheet
Curated OER

How To Build a Planet From The Inside Out!

For Students 9th - 11th
High schoolers read about the Spitzer Space Telescope and the technology used to learn about planet composition. They calculate the radius of a planet, the size of a planet, the average density of a planet and the likely core composition...