Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forces in Action

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students investigate different forces and draw arrows to signify specific directions of force. Students are then shown a brick and they are asked to draw a diagram which will include labels for the forces that are acting on the brick....
Lesson Plan
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Forces and Movement

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students investigate the forces of pushing and pulling by participating in a whole group activity involving a toy car. Students then participate in a small group experiment involving a toy car, small weights and various materials....
Lesson Plan
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Succession in the Classroom

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate their environment by growing plants in class.  In this botany lesson, students discuss the lifespan of plants and animals and how they must be cared for continuously over time.  Students grow a plant in...
Lesson Plan
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What's In The Forest?

For Teachers K
Students examine forest food chains and create a forest habitat in the classroom. They are introduced to the concept of interdependence in Nature. They define a simple forest food chain and develop inquiry process skills.
Lesson Plan
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How do plant & animal cells make and use energy?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers show the relationship between the need for plants to undergo photosynthesis in order to generate oxygen. They see the flaws associated with this thinking because of the lack of CO2 and H2O and lack of sufficient gravity...
Lesson Plan
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Forest Ecology or Who Lives Here?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore a hardwood forest. In this forest ecology activity, students examine the diversity and animals and plants as they explore their habitats at Poricy Park Conservatory. Students determine how biodiversity and abiotic...
Lesson Plan
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Oh Panther

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students play a game that replicates the balance of prey and predators in an ecosystem. For this physical education lesson, students follow the instructions to play "Oh Panther!" Students collect data regarding the game and discuss the...
Lesson Plan
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Illnois River and Lake Mussel Habitat Diorama Activity

For Teachers 2nd - 7th
Learners identify the environmental elements of river and lake mussels. They compare the elements to the time before settlement and during industrialization. They also participate in a field trip to a mussel exhibit.
Lesson Plan
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Home Sweet Home

For Teachers K - 4th
Students examine the animals that live in trees. They identify their sounds, footprints and droppings. They draw pictures of the animals as well.
Lesson Plan
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Sustainable Agriculture

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students perform an experiment to find out if plants grow best when grown in soil with no fertilizer, with chemical fertilizers, or with compost that they have made themselves. Students discover how agriculture practices can benefit the...
Lesson Plan
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Painted Balsa-Foam Butterfly

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students research a butterfly and create butterfly art. In this visual arts instructional activity, students choose a specific butterfly to research and create a Balsa-Foam butterfly of the same species. Students use Balsa-Foam, modeling...
Lesson Plan
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Solve the Case!

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students discover the habits of panthers by solving fictitious crime mysteries.  In this animal life lesson plan, students utilize their research from previous lessons to solve mysteries in a panther activity.  Students answer...
Lesson Plan
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The Miracle Fish: Learning to Design an Experiment

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers develop procedures to explore the behavior of fish.  In this scientific experiment lesson students from a hypothesis, write a question, identify different variables and controls in their experiment. 
Lesson Plan
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Glucose Factory

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders determine, through laboratory activity, the presence or absence of glucose in a variety of plant leaves and stems. They work in groups and perform a three part laboratory which shows them how plants convert sunlighht to food.
Lesson Plan
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Can You Beat Jet Lag?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the health condition of jet lag. Using mealworms, they test the effect of light on the development of them into adults. They answer discussion questions and examine the relationship of age and one's activity level.
Lesson Plan
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Exploring Limu Diversity

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore limu diversity. In this ocean ecosystem lesson, students classify limu according to its physical properties. Students work in small groups to generate scientific observations and sort limu by characteristics.
Lesson Plan
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Is Climate Change Good for Frogs?

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students fill out a chart on how climate change would affect them and things around them. In this climate change lesson plan, students discuss how global warming affects them and amphibians and then fill out the chart that goes with it.
Lesson Plan
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Hey, Look Me Over!

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students make observations about mealworms using hand lenses, rulers, and cotton swabs. Students complete their own mealworm observation chart, then they share their observations with the class. This is one station out of five in an...
Lesson Plan
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Language Arts: Five Senses Walk

For Teachers 1st
First graders take a discovery walk around the school. They use their observations to compose a class book about their school.
Lesson Plan
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Cotton and Cabbage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students note how given traits could be achieved by selective breeding and by transgenesis. They identify different uses of GEO. Students recognize that the use of letters (Bt) before an organism's name means that the organism has had a...
Lesson Plan
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DID YOU HELP CREATE THIS

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students examine whether their actions are positively or negatively affecting organisms and their habitats. They choose an animal to study then create a multimedia presentation including charts and graphs of data logger information and...
Lesson Plan
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Gases Around Us

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners participate in an online lesson showing that gases are formed when liquids evaporate and that when a gas is cooled, it condenses to form a liquid, and gases move and flow more easily than liquids, and how gases differ from solids.
Lesson Plan
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Forces in Action

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students ask questions that can be investigated scientifically. They determine how to plan a fair test by changing one factor while keeping other factors the same, to use measurements to draw conclusions and use scientific knowledge to...
Lesson Plan
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Keeping Healthy

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students review what the heart does and why the muscles in the body need oxygen. As a class, they measure their pulse rate while they are resting and after they have jogged for three minutes. They are helped by their teacher to convert...