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Web of Wonder Lesson Plan
Students learn how all living things in an ecosystem are connected in some way. By building their own "web" your class look at energy flow through the food web system and how environmental changes disrupt the system.
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Oceans of Trouble
Middle schoolers investigate the illegal and legal nuclear waste dumping activities by various nations, including the United States. The effects of nuclear waste dumping in oceans and in coastal areas that share ecosystems with ocean...
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Ladybugs in the Garden
Fifth graders estimate the size a population (ecosystems) Students make a chart from information collected then create a graph (line or bar) from this information. Students do a lesson where they observed, examine, and record data...
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Chlorine-Bleached Paper
Learners analyze the effects of pollution and other types of ecosystem devasation caused by chlorine. They examine alternative technologies that allow for the bleaching of paper without using chlorine. They discover what they can do to...
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Aquatic Communities
Students watch a video about aquatic communities. They conduct an experiment that shows how movement of rivers change the landscape. They compare fresh and salt water communities and its wildlife.
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Investigation 1 - Wetlands, Forests & Deserts
Fourth graders examine surface terrain and how plants and animals are affected by the temperatures and precipitation that elevation and terrain creates. Then students predict what type of environment plants and animals live in.
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Cleaning Up With Decomposers
Young scholars read and discuss decomposers and how they affect the environment. In this decomposers lesson plan, students also discuss how engineers use decomposers to help the environment.
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Keep It Clean!
Fifth graders investigate the how water becomes polluted and how it effects the environment, animals, and humans. They watch a video and conduct experiments.
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How Clean is the Water?
Students read about and discuss water and how it is used as a resource and how engineers use technology to preserve it. In this water lesson plan, students look at a picture of water treatment and tell what is wrong with the picture.
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Animals and Engineering
Students study animal classification and their interactions. In this animals and engineering lesson students study animal communities and how engineers use this knowledge to create new technologies.
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Hurricanes and the Importance of Wetlands
Learners explain how wetlands minimize the impact of hurricanes. For this earth science lesson, students investigate how different materials affect the steam plume path. They complete their worksheet after the lab.
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Forest Measurements
Students analyze timber and use measuring techniques to figure board feet. In this investigative lesson students learn why accurate measurements are important and how to convert standing timber to board feet.
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Timber Harvesting: A Civic Debate
Eighth graders analyze and identify the importance of our forests and how to manage them properly. In this tree lesson students read forestry material and come up with different alternatives to the identified problems.
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Water: Naturally Cleaned
Students use stream trays covered in different types of rocks or soil to investigate infiltrates and runoff. In this water pollution lesson, students work in groups with stream trays that have different substrates. They write a paragraph...
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Life in a Forest Stream
Students assess macro-invertebrates from a stream. In this science lesson plan, students observe, classify and identify organisms found in a stream. A lab station is constructed at the stream sight and students study the different...
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A Constructivist Version of the Snail & Elodea Lab
Students explain the importance of having a control when setting up an experiment.
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Pika Chew
Students work in collaborative teams with specific roles, use the Internet to research the behavior and ecology of pikas, make predictions about survival rates of pikas in different habitats and organize their data in graphs.
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The Great Pollinators
Young scholars discover the reproductive parts of a plant. In this biology lesson, students identify and categorize several different plants they dissect in class. Young scholars record their information using a data chart.
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Acid Rain Research
Learners collect samples of rainfall, cloud condensation, and water that trickles through the soil. These samples are tested for pH, conductivity, and the presence of sulfates, nitrates, calcium, and magnesium.
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Natural Resource Awareness
Seventh graders design a collage that shows natural resources or things made from natural resources. They discuss the collages and decide how they use natural resources at home and school. They listen to a read aloud of a Native American...
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Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Young scholars explore what the dinosaurs were like. In this dinosaur lesson, the teacher peaks student curiosity about dinosaurs. This lesson would be a great starting point for a dinosaur unit since it primarily engages student...
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Mystery Spill
Young scholars investigate the cause of birds dying in Monterey Bay. In this scientific research lesson, students use various resources, scientific investigations, and vector analysis to solve an environmental mystery.
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Erosion
Young scientists identify erosion, explain the causes of erosion, and name some techniques that can slow the process of erosion. Learners are divided up into groups of four and perform a simulation of soil erosion in class. The...
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Rainforest Rescue
Students explore threats to diversity in the Central African rainforest. They use a guided website to research animals that are threatened with extinction, examine human uses of the rainforest and think about what they can do to help...