California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
It's About Time
Monitoring Active Volcanoes
The fastest growing volcano in recorded history grew more than 150 meters in less than a week and to more than 424 meters in less than a decade. How do we safely monitor active volcanoes? Young scientists design an...
Curated OER
Energy Adventure Scavenger Hunt
Students complete a scavenger hunt. In this energy lesson, students use various Internet websites to explore forms of energy, non-renewable sources, renewable sources, electricity, uses of energy and energy efficiency.
Curated OER
Exploring Energy with GIS
Students examine GIS technology as it is used to locate energy sources. In this GIS lesson, student access an assigned website to locate a series of lessons using the GIS software. They use the maps that are located on the primary lesson...
Curated OER
Exploring for Petroleum - Modeling an Oil Reserve
Students experiment with locating oil reserves. For this conservation lesson, students use a cardboard box to create sand, rocks, and an oil reserve (water balloon). They use a probe to dig around in the box to find the oil reserve and...
Curated OER
A Day In My Life
Students brainstorm how they can conserve energy in their daily lives. In this energy lesson plan, students discuss how they use energy and ways to conserve it.
Curated OER
Understanding the Conservation of Energy
In this conservation of energy worksheet, learners read about the law of conservation of energy and about energy distribution. They answer three critical thinking questions about what the law of conservation of energy means to us for...
Curated OER
Sustaining Life Under the Ice
High schoolers design and conduct experiments in order to identify the components of lake water environments that are affected by winter ice cover. They use the experiment results to propose effective human management of these ecosystems.
National Science Teachers Association
The Ethanol Project
In a mock senate hearing regarding the development of ethanol as a fuel source, each person in the class is assigned a role to play and must uphold the stance of their character. Once the senate hearing is complete, each person writes a...
Carnegie Mellon University
International Perspectives to Climate Change 1
After a lecture about how the first industrial revolution triggered the path to climate change, your environmental studies class discusses what the impacts are. In a culminating activity, they get into groups and identify countries on a...
Carnegie Mellon University
International Perspectives to Climate Change 2
A couple PowerPoint presentations are used to stimulate discussion about the perspectives of different countries on the issue of energy consumption. Afterward, they play a game in which each team is assigned a country, considers its...
Curated OER
Fossil Formation
Students discuss fossils. In this science lesson, students simulate fossils within Earth's layers by using gummy fish and bread.
Curated OER
Activity #5 Environmental Effects
Young scholars explain the implications of particle theory of The Law of Conservation of Matter for problems of pollution and waste disposal. They describe, in terms of atoms and molecules, what happens to materials when they are...
Curated OER
The Great Energy Debate
Students explore the controversial issues surrounding the energy debate in Canada. They research recent initiatives being taken in this area and analyze their implication. Students then assume the roles of pivotal stakeholders in this...
National Wildlife Federation
Power Pellets! Nuclear Energy in the United States
Nuclear power provides about 20 percent of the energy generated in the United States. The seventh activity in the series of 12 tackles nuclear power. After sharing what they know about nuclear energy, scholars complete a...
Curated OER
Environmental Problems and Solutions
In this environmental problems and solutions worksheet, students are given a list of 25 environmental problems. They match them with a given solution and paste the matching pairs to a piece of construction paper.
Curated OER
Plant an Ozone Monitoring Garden
Students create a garden. In this ozone instructional activity, students discuss ozone injury, identify plants sensitive to ozone, and then plant their own ozone garden.
Curated OER
Integrating Environmental Science-Ozone Depletion
In this ozone instructional activity, students read about the ozone layer, its make-up and its depletion. They answer three critical thinking questions about ozone and the ozone layer.
Curated OER
Plinian Eruptions
In this Plinian eruptions worksheet, students read about the types of volcanic eruptions and about Gaius Plinius Secundus who the Plinian eruption was named after. Students answer four critical thinking questions about volcanic eruptions.
Curated OER
Sustainable Marine Fisheries
Through a fishing simulation, environmentalists discover consequences of over fishing. Afterward, they discuss how the activity relates to the impact of real-life commercial fishing. They also consider sustainability in the fishing...
Curated OER
Sources of Energy
Fifth graders take a close look at how energy changes from one form to another within their surroundings. They also study the ten different sources of energy and determine which are renewable and which are non-renewable. This seven-page...
Global Oneness Project
Deconstructing Consumerism
To increase awareness and launch a discussion of consumerism, class members view What Would It Look Like, a 25 minute film of images that capture the global effects of the consumption of goods. Viewers make a list of the images that...
Curated OER
Residential Power System
Perform data analysis on energy consumption to apply algebraic expressions to the real world. Learners will write and solve equations that answer various questions from residential power use. They will collect data at home and calculate...
Curated OER
Technology and Oil
Students demonstrate how much our society depends on petroleum products. They show how advances in technology have allowed us to find, obtain, and transport oil more efficiently.