Curated OER
Environment and Recycling Issues
First graders read and understand the text found while conducting internet research. They recognize how literature records information and reflects the human experience. Students also compare and contrast answers to questions. Then...
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Singing for the Animals
Students examine the correct attitudes and poster for a concert. In this "Singing for Animals" lesson, students created charts to diagram information about the homeless animals they were singing for. Students used correct diction and...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
You know global warming is real when your squirrel feeder is full of popped corn instead of kernels! Activity two in a series of five allows learners to explore climate change through the eyes of another. After briefly analyzing their...
Curated OER
German Energy Conversations
Students identify and interpret the current German energy mix and trends, as well as to make comparisons and contrasts to that of their own country. They write a two paragraph description of including its likely position in the future...
Curated OER
Scientific Root Words, Prefixes, and Suffixes
It's hard to imagine that anything was missed on this five-page list of science roots, prefixes, and suffixes! Listed in alphabetical order, all are included in a single, two-column list. This may be especially useful for advanced...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Understanding the Greenhouse Effect
Dive into the power of the sun with a two-part lesson. Budding scientists model the greenhouse effect in a hands-on activity, and then participate in a skit that explores the earth's energy balances and what really occurs in the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Understanding the Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is important, for without it, life on Earth would not exist. An activity that includes modeling the greenhouse effect and acting out the Earth's energy balance makes up the first part in a series of seven lessons....
Teach Engineering
Engineering and the Periodic Table
Elements, to the rescue! Scholars first review the periodic table, and then learn about the first 20 elements and their properties and uses in the fourth of six lessons in the Mixtures and Solutions unit. Applying their newfound...
Curated OER
Turtle Lesson
Students identify ways that they can help protect turtles. In this wildlife awareness lesson, students read the story Turtle World and construct a T-chart on the board. Students create a list of problems facing turtles and possible...
Curated OER
Theater Game: "The Good, the Bad, and the Bountiful"
Students play a game to demonstrate the detrimental effects of an algal bloom on the environment. In this microorganism lesson, students discuss microbes and algae. They dramatize the effects of an algal bloom using a role-playing game.
Curated OER
Coral Bleaching: Making Our Oceans Whiter
Students study coral reefs and the controversy over coral bleaching. They role-play a debate over the issue and come up with a compromise to protect the reefs and the economies that depend on them.
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Monarch Migration
Third graders investigate the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. They experiment with various tools to simulate the mouth parts of insects, conduct research, record their observations of butterflies hatching, write a play, complete...
Curated OER
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Young scholars contemplate the questions raised by the book/movie I, Robot. In this theoretical physics activity, students consider the pros and cons as well as the possibility of robots that can think.
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Fitting Trash into Yesterday: A Fifth Grade Activity
Fifth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling lesson, 5th graders discover the history of waste management and discuss how the U.S. should respond to the issue of ever-increasing waste.
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ToxMystery Lesson Plan 2 : Case Book: Catch That Hazard!!!
Students explore toxic hazards. In this personal health lesson, students discover appropriate uses for household chemicals as they identify potentially harmful products in their homes.
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Policy Debate / Community Meeting on Climate Change
Students investigate how natural hazards can present personal and societal challenges as well as the cost involved. They assess the risk analysis considerations with global warming and their impacts on an ecosystem. An estimate of the...
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Taxonomy
In this biology activity, students complete a crossword puzzle with 39 questions on taxonomy. They identify the different classification systems used in biology.
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Ecology
Students personify ecology vocabulary and write a one-act play using their knowledge of ecology as the basis for characters, conflict, setting and plot.
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Difficult Decisions: The Sakinaw Sockeye Case Study
Eighth graders examine Sakinaw Sockeye as species at risk, participate in role playing exercise to consider different perspectives of various interest groups, and try to come to consensus on how to deal with dwindling Sakinaw sockeye...
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Climate Change-Boon or Bust for Northern Waters?
Students explore about and evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on northern hydrological systems. They work in small groups, research the background to climate change in the north with a particular focus on lakes and rivers.
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Water, Water Everywhere: The Johnstown Flood
Young scholars analyze the events that lead up to the failure of the South Fork Dam and the impact the flood had on the region. In this historical instructional activity students develop presentations on the Johnstown Flood.
Curated OER
Archaeology as a Career
Fourth graders read about archaeology as a career. They develop a list of questions they would like to ask an archaeologist and then actually interview an archaeologist on the future of archaeology as a career.
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Third graders listen to a short story entitled, "Phil's Adventures" from a book called Animal Stories. They stop at each obstacle in the story and do a quick write about how they would overcome the obstacle and draw a picture to...
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Designing Our Own Inventions
Third graders use research from a previous lesson to design their own inventions. In groups, they brainstorm a product they would like to see built and share them with the class. They must explain how each one would serve a purpose or...