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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Watching Crystals Grow

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Beagle Brigade

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars develop an understanding of animal behaviors through reading a case study about detector beagles. They explore the interaction of innate abilities and learned behaviors.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Disperse or Decrease

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students explore the dispersal of animals.. Students take on the role of a specific animal. They simulate finding a new home due to overpopulation. Through hands-on activities performed during the simulation, students discover the area...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scientists Write!

For Teachers K - 12th
Students use a journal to record observations. They make notes about what research may be needed to answer questions that have come up in the field and sketch or make connections in the curriculum. They research bioinformatics and...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Population Ecology

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Here are some ideas to help students understand population growth in ecosystems.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Physics of Flight

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students discuss how the invention of flight changed the way people live today. In groups, they compare and contrast the differences between weight, lift, thrust and drag. Using these principles, they create a glider and propeller with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Genetic Testing: Modern-Day Eugenics?

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students trace the history of the development of Eugenics. In this social studies lesson, students read and analyze a real life case. They write a paper about what they read.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe the complementary relationships between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, identify adaptations that flowers have developed to "encourage" pollination, and create and draw their own "designer" flowers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mineral Scavenger Hunt

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Young scholars bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. In this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Under the Spell of Spiders

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Young scholars will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and  investigate their natural environment. This humanities activity provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black history,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Size Shapes Animals

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossils Footprints Across Time

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil lesson plan, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil types.The PDF...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Going...going...gone? Tropical Rainforests-How They Work, What They Do for Us, What's Being Done to Them...

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore the Tropical Rainforest and come to understand what it is and how it affects the ecosystem. In this rainforests instructional activity, 6th graders write about the Tropical Rainforest, imagine they are in the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Yuckiest Site on the Internet

For Teachers K - 4th
Students investigate the worm and the cockroach. In this organisms lesson, students visit suggested websites to identify the characteristics of worms and cockroaches.  Students dissect a worm and observe a live cockroach. Students report...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coral Reefs

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students research coral reefs and identify their benefits to humans, threats to the reef, how to reduce and eliminate threats, and more. In this coral reef lesson plan, students research the reefs, and take a field trip to an aquarium.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

World War II: Internment in Hawaii

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners examine world history by writing an essay in class. In this World War II lesson, students identify the attack on Pearl Harbor, the response from the U.S and the effect it had on Japanese-Americans. Learners define Japanese...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plant Disease Identification and Classification by Using Sterile Techniques

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders identify how to use sterile techniques when identifying plant pathogens.  In this plant diseases activity students complete a lab activity in which they see how plant diseases are identified and classified.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's Alive! Using Microorganisms in Cooking

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students create a KWL chart about food. In this chemistry activity, students differentiate physical and chemical changes. They explain how microorganisms are used in food preparation.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hypothermia on the High Seas

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners identify and present the effects on humans when the body temperature falls, demonstrate and explain how the body loses heat, and understand hypothermia and cold water survival techniques.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Predator-Prey Simulation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers simulate the interactions between a predator population of lynx and a prey population of rabbits. They collect and graph the data, then extend the graph to predict the populations for several more generations.

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