Kenan Fellows
A Farmer’s Challenge to Breed to the Greatest of Grapes
What does your class know about GMOs? Are they savvy to selective breeding? Challenge young minds to engineer the greatest crop of all time using a hands-on genetics unit. Learners discover the good and bad details of selective breeding,...
Kenan Fellows
Making Connections with Water Quality
What's in your water? And, why is water quality so important? Enhance your class's level of water appreciation through a lesson that demonstrates the necessity of water quality. Environmental enthusiasts explore the EPA's Clean Water...
EduGAINs
Go Eco! Ecosystems
How is a movie theater like a desert biome? Compare systems to ecosystems with a set of activities that focuses on accessing multiple intelligences and building upon knowledge. As learners discuss the ways elements of an ecosystem depend...
Carnegie Mellon University
Consumer Preferences in Lighting
What is a watt? This tongue-twisting, mind-bending question and others are answered through this lesson on the different lighting options available. With the support of a PowerPoint, teach your physical science class about units of...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Shake it up with Seismographs!
Shake things up in your STEM or earth science classroom when you have small groups construct their own seismographs. A reading assignment on the history of seismographs, the Richter scale, and current technology sets the stage for the...
Beyond Benign
The Green Zine
It's time for your class to advertise what they've learned! The culminating lesson in the 24-part series asks scholars to use their newfound chemistry knowledge to create advertisements. Their magazine advertisements describe the health...
Polar Trec
Ozone Data Comparison over the South Pole
Did you know the hole in the ozone is seasonal and filled by January every year? The lesson uses scientific measurements of the ozone over the South Pole to understand patterns. Scholars learn that the hole grew bigger annually before...
Purdue University
Yucky Water? No Problem!
Young scholars study the process of water filtration in a three-part STEM lesson. After analyzing samples of dirty water, teams design and build their own filtration systems and measure their efficiency.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
What is My Carbon Footprint?
Here is a lesson plan that walks youth through an online carbon footprint calculator produced by the University of California, Berkeley. Once learners finish inputting information, they compete a worksheet with the results. This is...
National Geographic
World Waterworks Activity
As a way to quickly expose your science class to six different freshwater projects around the world, this lesson assigns each small group to research and share one. All of the information is gleaned from the website for CH2M HILL, a...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
Curated OER
Environmental Law
Learners analyze the environmental impact of pollution. They demonstrate an understanding of law, punishment and enforcement. Applying their knowledge, they create their own anti-pollution laws.
Curated OER
Science and Careers
Students investigate how knowledge of science influences people in their daily lives, specifically in their careers. Students conduct interviews with an individual in a science or technology career as part of their research on the impact...
Curated OER
Soil Type and Management
Students study the basics of soil science. They research and gather data through readings, videos, and performance of laboratory investigations. As a team they generate oral and written recommendations for the amendment of soil.
Curated OER
My View's Write!
After researching issues involving panthers, middle schoolers practice writing persuasive letters. They become familiar with a controversial issue related to panthers and write their position on the issue. This lesson...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Environmental Interactions
Students design a web that shows the interactions between the living and non-living parts of the environment. They determine what an environment is and how engineers work together to solve problems. They complete a tally chart that they...
Curated OER
Earth Science
Students analyze the mechanisms for generating ocean currents, temperature, and deep ocean circulation. They are able to assess the formation and breaking of waves and their effect on shorelines, particularly the North Carolina coast. ...
Curated OER
Do We Need to Wear a Rainhat? Acid Rain: Causes, Effects, and Possible Solutions
Acid rain, and how it affects the environment, is the focus of this Earth science activity. During the study, learners evaluate measures to reduce acid rain, and design an investigation to demonstrate the conection between a hypothesis...
Curated OER
Water Quality and Environmental Pollution
Learners use litmus paper to begin to discover the qualities of acids and bases. They learn about pH by testing clear liquids for acidity with purple cabbage juice as an indicator. The video Streamkeeper, with Bill Nye, and other video...
Bowland
Mission: Rainforest
Young environmentally conscious mathematicians solve a variety of problems related to the central theme of uncovering illegal logging activities. They determine a base camp based on given constraints, investigate logging activities and...
National Geographic
Battery Lesson Plan
Not really just a lesson plan, but a series of activities, reading handouts, and teacher's guidelines for conducting a class mini unit on the battery. Physical scientists focus on the history of the cell battery, experiment with...
Curated OER
Sciences Working Together
Students research articles about science technology and society. In this science and technology lesson, students answer questions about an article they chose. They share what they learned with their peers.
Curated OER
Creating Artwork to Explain Environmental Change
Students review artwork that relates to the environment and communicates a value. They view and analyze art by Andy Warhol, Eric Carle and Albert Bierstadt and then create original pieces with an environmental theme.
Curated OER
Think Before You Drink
Students explore the different water issues facing society today. For this environmental science lesson, students research about water treatment methods. They brainstorm ways to conserve water.