Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's About Time

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students create their own timeline. In this social science instructional activity, students write the important events that happened in their lives on their timeline and then compare their timeline to Earth's timeline.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Biomes: Extreme Climate

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers discuss the causes of global warming. In this earth science lesson plan, students examine how global warming is connected to the arctic and world climate. They write a paragraph about their interconnection.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore (Grades 2-5)

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students give examples of erosion and weathering processes. They determine causes of America's Dust Bowl phenomena.Students define erosion as the condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mud Splat Craters

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students simulate crater formation using mud. In this earth science lesson, students identify the features of a crater. They explain how the force of impact affect the crater's appearance.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth and Space Science: Let it Flow

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students engage in a lesson in which volcanoes be explored and examined. After watching a video, students create volcanoes out of clay.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Vegetation, Precipitation, and Surface Temperature to Study Climate Zones

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students begin their examination of the climate zones found around the world. Using a software program, they identify the relationship between the vegetation, climate and temperatures of the different zones. They also plot coordinates...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Global Change- Earth as Home

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create their own environment. In this environmental protection instructional activity, students pretend they are the owners of a tropical island. They create jobs for the citizens and develop the island as a model environment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Cycle in a Box

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders investigate how the water cycle is vital for all living things to survive on Earth. They observe the teacher set up a simulation of the water cycle using a Plastic Earth Simulator, desk lamp, and water, and make...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Earth's Landscape#156

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students define a word from the natural disaster list, find a location in the world where this type of disaster has occurred and discuss what they have identified. They design a crossword puzzle of natural disaster words or check a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changes Inside Planets

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Learners relate meteorites to the mantle and crust of asteroids.  In this planetary lesson students complete experiments to model the separation of light.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth's Age: The Dating Game

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students conduct a simulation to determine radioactive decay and half-life. Using pennies, dice or sugar cubes as isotopes placed in shoe boxes simulating rocks, they hold five trials representing 1000 years each to find the theoretical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Has Transportation Changed Since the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition?

For Teachers K
Students recognize modes of transportation. They research historical data from a variety of primary and secondary sources including the Harriman expedition journals, related web sites, and photographs from the expedition. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Journeys...The Voices of Change

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students trace the immigration patterns of their ancestors. They plot information on a world map, develop a timeline of target immigration patterns, research and write a report on immigration and participate in a class play.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Comparison of Land and Water Temperature

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine NASA satellite observations of surface temperature and investigate the seasonal changes of land and water temperature.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Biochemical Cycles

For Students 7th - 12th
When learning about several different processes at a time, it can be difficult to differentiate between them. In the resource found here, you can see what your kids know about some of Earth's systems including the carbon, hydrologic,...
Lesson Plan
Wild BC

The Greenhouse Effect: The Role of CO2

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Though this is meant to be second in a two-part instructional activity, the two are not dependent on each other. Pupils play the roles of visible light rays, light or dark surfaces, and carbon dioxide molecules. They interact and react...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sea Surface Temperature Trends of the Gulf Stream

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the importance of the Gulf Stream. Using a NASA satellite images, they examine the sea surface temperature. Students collect the temperature at various locations and times. Using spreadsheet technology, they graph the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Physical Changes and the Water Cycle- Three

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders take note of the changes in the water level in a cup of water that is left out. Using a model of the water that depicts a lake and landscape that is being heated by a heat lamp, the students observe precipitation, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Looking into Earth with GIS

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students work with data from a seismic wave model in a freely available GIS (geographic information system) program, ArcVoyager SE. Using a GIS, they examine maps and produce graphs to explore variations in seismic wave velocities at...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Junior Engineering Surface Water

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students experience the effects of pollution and erosion on a model of a watershed and explore ways to change the outcome.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Mountain Blows its Top

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers replicate a volcanic eruption. In this volcanoes activity, students follow the provided procedures to show and describe how the inflation of a bulge led to the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

States of Water

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students investigate the 3 states of matter. In this physical science "matter" lesson plan, students observe and participate in a number of demonstrations involving melting and freezing water. Students observe the effect heat has on...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Winter Season

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students recognize the relationship between Earth's tilt and the Winter season. In this Winter instructional activity, students work in pairs to complete make frost and design snow goggles. Students experiment a hand lens to study the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's Raining, It's Pouring: The Water Cycle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners investigate the relationship of the steps in the water cycle, and create a simulation of the water cycle in a jar.