Curated OER
Shoe Box Archaeology
Learners assemble a shoe box following a layered pattern alternating between soil and artifacts. The layers of artifacts begin with the grandparents and end with the student's own personal possessions.
Curated OER
Shoe Box Archaeology
Students make a box layered with information about grandparents, parents, and themselves. They dig up each other boxes and try to decipher the personality or lifestyle of the person whose box it is.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Human Feet Are Strange
Feet are neat! So, if you've already walked the path of examining animal footprints with your class, put them in the shoes of early humans! A well-designed activity incorporates video, discussion, and hands-on learning to demonstrate how...
Curated OER
African Savanna Habitat Diorama Craft
Set the stage for a unit or lesson on the African savanna by creating a cute habitat diorama. Cheetahs, lions, zebras, and elephants are all present in a shoe-box-sized craft that requires your learners to color, cut, and paste. These...
Curated OER
Plant Science Activities
Students complete several plant life activities. In this botany lesson, students practice painting images that resemble plants they are familiar with as well as planting seeds outside of class. Students participate in a dramatic...
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Frog Friendly Habitat
Students create a frog friendly habitat. For this animal habitat lesson, students study what animals need to survive and then create a frog habitat from a shoe box. Students write a report about frogs and present their habitats...
Curated OER
Identify and Construct a Constellation
Third graders identify and construct constellations. For this constellation lesson, 3rd graders choose a method to create a picture of a constellation, either using a shoe box, paper cup, or transparent paper.
Curated OER
Do the Locomotion with Me
Fourth graders listen to a reading of In the Snow Who's Been Here? They experiment with making tracks by painting the bottom of their shoes and making tracks using different forms of locomotion. They apply what they know to winter...
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Dinosaur Tracks and Critical Thinking
Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were...
Curated OER
Ocean Commotion Activity - Dioramas
Groups make a model of an Ocean Commotion exhibit based on what they saw during the fieldtrip. These dioramas can be used as an informal assessment of student knowledge acquired at Ocean Commotion.
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Bioluminescence
Middle schoolers discover the concept of bioluminescence. They identify marine animals who have use this and why. They work together to test the function of bioluminescence as camouflage.
Curated OER
Close to Home
Fourth graders examine habitats for animals by creating their own in class environment. For this environment lesson, 4th graders research the Internet for information on certain wild animals and the places in which they live....
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Happy in My Habitat
Fourth graders create animal habitats and explain the biomes they live in. In this habitat lesson, 4th graders recognize the basic needs of animals, characteristics of animals differences and places where they live. Students...
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Local Habitats
Students create dioramas that depict a habitat. In this habitat lesson, students use a variety of art items to develop either a marine, freshwater/pond, or forest habitat in a box. They write an expository essay about their habitat, and...
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Observations From the Past
Ninth graders explore direct and indirect evidence. In this astronomy lesson, 9th graders investigate the contribution of early astronomers to their field. They create a model of the solar system.
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Touch and Feel Box
Students investigate their sense of touch to help become more descriptive with their observations. In this sensory lesson, students reach inside a box to feel an object then guess what it is. Students then use both senses of...
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Weather
Students participate in a variety of mini-lessons including experiments, literature readings, physical education components, music, data gathering and recording and more to expose them to several themes of weather; i.e. water cycle,...
Curated OER
Draw a Scientist
Students think to themselves about what a scientist might look like when they're working and then draw a picture of a scientist at work and discuss their drawings. They notice the number of men compared to women and other such...
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Fossil Evidence for Plate Tectonics
Learners draw maps of counties that were important to the discovery of plate tectonic theory. In this plate tectonics lesson plan students excavate constructed fossil sites from matching coastlines and discuss the possible...
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Discovering Forest Products
Learners identify attributes of natural and manufactured wood products. In this forest products instructional activity, learners perform independent research to find an article about forest use or forest products. They spread out samples...
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Plants Help Keep a House Cool!
Students experiment with tree shading and house colors to see how to reduce the temperature of a home.
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Upcycled Garment or Art Work
Students explain the importance of recycling waste products. In this art lesson, students research different upcycled fashion designs and accessories. They design their own product and present it in class.