Michigan Sea Grant
Survival Game
Musical chairs may be a classic game, but Ruffe Musical Chairs is a unique lesson plan on invasive species! Using the time-honored game, pupils role play the behaviors of the invasive fish called Eurasian ruffe. Learning about this...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
Curated OER
Save a Reef!
Design a public information campaign to improve understanding of the coral reef crisis. Read about and discuss the biology and threats to the coral reef. The class creates a public information program about the problems facing the coral...
Curated OER
It's Alive! Or is it?
Students differentiate the characteristics of living and nonliving things. In this life science lesson, students compare and contrast robots and living things. Given an object, they decide whether it's is living or not and defend...
Curated OER
Cricket Wars
Third graders explore living and nonliving things in a garden environment. In this garden environment instructional activity, 3rd graders study the effects of crickets in a garden. Students explore the interaction between living and...
Curated OER
Investigation 2 - Greenhouses
Third graders set up a miniature greenhouse to help them explain how nonliving things affect the growth of living things.
Curated OER
Looking at the Community Tree
Third graders review the characteristics of living and nonliving organisms. As a class, they observe a tree and describe the interactions between the living and nonliving organisms surrounding it. To end the lesson, they ask a question...
Curated OER
Extremophiles- Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension
In this extremophiles non-fiction reading worksheet, students read a two page selection that describes the organisms known as extremophiles. They answer 10 questions based on the selection which include true or false, short answer, and...
Curated OER
Lake and Pond Study
Students examine the habitat and community structure of a pond that could support Ospreys through games and worksheets. They then go on a field trip to a pond to evaluate the suitability of the pond as an Osprey habitat.
Curated OER
Parts of a Plant- Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension
In this parts of a plant non-fiction reading worksheet, students read 2 pages that describe the parts of a plant and their jobs. They answer 10 fill in the blank and 2 short answer questions based on the reading.
Curated OER
Close Up and Far Away
Students use magnifiers and telescopes to view things close up. In this magnifiers and telescopes lesson plan, students use the tools to identify things that are close and far away. Students tell details of things they can see closer.
Curated OER
Weather and Technology
Students discuss daily weather change, that we live in a world of symbols and innovations. They recognize the use of symbols to replace language and the value of technological innovation to improving our lives.
Curated OER
Microarrays: Chipping Away at the Mysteries of Science and Medicine
Students research microarrays on the internet in cooperative groups. Students write an essay describing the use of microarrays in environmental research and in medicine.
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Students examine how water changes state, from a liquid to a solid. In this water lesson students study the water cycle and how temperature and pressure effect it.
Curated OER
Waste Minimization and Protecting the Environment
Young scholars study the amount of waste produced and its effects on the environment. They discuss food, money, and energy and how their waste effects others. They read a play to explore how waste is produced and create a collage of...
Curated OER
Units and Measurement
Students discuss the word weight, how much they weigh and the conccept of heavy and light. They hear the story of measurement and the metric system. They work in groups and measure and record items found in the classroom and use a...
Curated OER
Air and Water in the Environment
Second graders participate in a three part lesson in which they identify and describe forms of moisture in the environment. Part one of the lesson involves the three stages of the water cycle, part two focuses on creating humidity by...
Curated OER
What Is Life?
In this life characteristics worksheet, students answer 16 questions about living things, Redi's experiment, basic needs, growth and development.
Curated OER
A Walk in the Forest
Students explore interrelationships among plants and animals. Students listen to Where to, Little Wombat? by Charles Fuge, and contribute words and phrases for a classroom animal and plant survival chart. Students take a walk in a...
Curated OER
Soil Composition
Students examine soil. In this soil composition lesson students participate in soil sedimentation and filtration activities. The students discuss what non-living and living things are in soil and why it is so important.
Curated OER
To Protect Your Streams, Protect Your Mountains
Young scholars build and experiment with a watershed to understand the effects of pollution. In this movement of water lesson, students work in groups creating rock formations and change the viscosity of the liquids falling down the...
Curated OER
It's (Not) Just a Bug: Simulating Invasive Insect Predation on a Plant Population
Students reflect on challenges that face farmers in cultivating crops, including insects. They then simulate how crops are affected by native and non-native insect populations and the options farmers have to protect their crops. Finally,...
Curated OER
Blocks And Screws (or "screwy Contrivances")
Pupils, given a block of wood and a screw or nail, are asked to put that screw or nail into a block. They examine how many contrivances and other imperfections found in living things are best explained by the process of evolution.
Curated OER
Reviving Celery
The classic in-class demonstration using celery dipped into water with food coloring is the highlight of this biology lesson plan. Young scientists discover that organisms are made up cells and have distinguishing characteristics. After...