Turn your classroom into a greenhouse with a lesson plan on plant growth. First, investigate the different parts of seeds, identifying the seed coat, cotyledon, and embryo. Then plant the seeds and watch them grow! Measure the new...

Young scholars apply knowledge of soil, environmental impacts, economics, multiple human demands, and use given data for a proposed scenario in making land use decisions. They debate land use issues and/or scenarios and discuss a case...

Biology stars extract DNA samples from beef thymus and then examine its properties. They use enzymes to digest the DNA samples, and then use electrophoresis to separate fragments. Finally, they discuss methods and principles of...

Airline mechanics must be precise, or the consequences could be deadly. Their target ranges alter with changes in temperature and pressure. When preparing an airplane for flight, you must read a maintenance graph. The second lesson of...

Students view pictures of distant "cousins" to humans. They place them in order by their distance from humans. Students receive a packet of six pages featuring graphics and a cousins summary page. They work in groups to complete 5 cousin...

Students examine gravity, mass, and friction. In this speed and motion instructional activity, students investigate how straight line motion is impacted by gravity, mass, and fiction as they participate in a hands-on activity.

Through inquiry and exploration, 4th graders will learn and understand the functions of open and closed circuits. They will break into 2 groups, define vocabulary, hypothesize how to light a bulb, then test their hypothesis 4 different...

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...

If you teach a man to fish, he will never go hungry—or he will overfish and permanently damage the ecosystem? Address the traditional biomes as well as the human-included ecosystems and contrasts the biotic and abiotic factors in each....

Explore the wonderful world of earthworms as your class learns about the requirements of animal life. After building soda bottle terrariums, students observe worms over the course of a couple weeks, building an understanding that all...

Teach your class about the necessities of life using the book Tillena Lou's Day in the Sun. After a teacher-read-aloud, students make puppets depicting different plants and animals from the story and illustrating the habitat in...

Immediately capture the attention of your class with the smell of freshly popped popcorn in the sixth lesson of this series on the needs of living things. Young scientists first use their senses to make and record observations of...

Even as adults it can be hard to distinguish needs from wants. Using pictures of common, everyday items, children make a pocket chart separating the objects they need from those that they want. Discuss their choices, explaining that...

Blow some bubbles and learn how living things need air in the eighth lesson of this series. Young scientists investigate this important gas by observing bubbles and monitoring their own breathing. A simple and fun activity that raises...

Home sweet home. Humans, birds, beavers, ants, we all need a place place to rest and keep us safe. In the ninth lesson of this series, the importance of shelter is discussed as the teacher reads aloud the book Tillena Lou's Day in the...

Students create a car using physics. In this forces and motion lesson, students create a car and test which changes in design change the performance of the car. Students complete a graphic organizer with the different changes...

Students extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing of ships. students discover that most ships are constructed very similarly-whether they are schooners or destroyers.

What does it mean to be living? Help your young scientists identify living and non-living things as a result of their learning through discovery. Observation of and interaction with a set of natural phenomena in their community will make...

Students identify the four basic natural resources. They distinguish bettween renewable and non-renewable resources. Pupils recognize that all natural resources are needed by living plants and animals. Students list consequences for...

Students explore the 5 themes of geography. For this cross curriculum literacy and geography lesson, students listen to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and make a list of the needs of the people in Chewandswallow....

Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The lesson is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams and they must...

The deepest part of the ocean is the Marianas trench where two tectonic plates meet. Scholars explore plate tectonics and their boundary types by completing hands-on activities throughout the lesson. Specific areas, such as the Galapagos...

Do you know the name for the biological study of interactions? A short presentation with accompanying worksheet introduces individuals to ecology. The materials offer a broad overview of the subject and the levels of organization to...

Marine biologists research sea ice communities. Assign some groups to construct paper models of sea ice communities in winter, and some to construct models of them in summer. The lesson is simplistic, but the Internet resources provided...