Is a deer an herbivore? What about a spider? Experiment with the food chain in an interactive science experiment. After listing the herbivores from a selection of animals, third and fourth graders compare the skulls and teeth of...

How has human activity affected Earth's watersheds? An action-packed lesson plan, part of the K20 Center, examines water's ability to go with the flow regardless of what is in its path. Scholars build model watersheds, examine time-lapse...

In this everyday editing learning exercise, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the earth's tilt. The errors range from capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling.

If you're planning on including Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles in your science fiction unit, use a concept analysis guide to frame your instruction. It covers literary elements such as setting, narrative voice, and theme, as...

"Creativity is just connecting things." - Steve Jobs. After weeks of researching climate change, the ninth lesson in a series of 21 combines the data and analysis to address essential questions. It covers natural phenomenon, human...

Combines mathematical measurement with gardening skills. Third graders hunt for worms in the garden and try to find the longest one. They also measure and weigh vegetables that they harvest from the garden, measure rainfall amounts,...

Pupils participate in a JAVA activity to vary the seismic P and S wave velocity through each of four concentric regions of Earth. They match "data" for travel times vs. angular distance around Earth's surface from the source to detector.

Students investigate what happens to solids and liquids when they change from one form to another. In this states of matter lesson, students work in groups on a virtual experiment that requires them to collect data regarding the melting...

Young scholars participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson plan, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Young scholars understand that air is densest near...

In this ecology learning exercise students complete a crossword puzzle that incorporates all of the ecological vocabulary in the word puzzle.

Students explore river routes. In this social studies lesson, students trace the route of a river from its source and discuss the Continental Divide. Students draw the route the river takes and name the states it flows through. Students...

How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...

By the 19th lesson plan in the 20-part series, scholars realize volcanoes and earthquakes are related to plate boundaries. The lesson plan extends and applies the knowledge by having individuals create a bumper sticker for one specific...

Bring the sun to your class! Young scholars analyze actual solar wind data in the second instructional activity of a five-part series. Their analysis includes speed, temperature, and density data.

There's nothing better than a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean. Scholars explore how water affects change in temperature using a hands-on experiment on climate. They use measurement tools to compare the continental and oceanic...

Students make puzzles from world maps, dramatizing how much of the globe is covered by ocean.

Middle schoolers take a close look at the prairie environment. They identify common plants and animals of the prairie. In addition, pupils work in teams in order to put together a presentation on a certain aspect of the prairie...

The San Andreas Fault is the largest earthquake-producing fault in California. In the seventh lesson plan in the 20 part series, pupils create maps of California, focusing on the San Andreas Fault system. The comparison of where...

Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The lesson plan includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the temperature...

Using cabbage juice as a pH indicator, future scientists explore the effect of increasing carbon dioxide on the pH of the ocean and relate it to the health of coral reefs. Ideal for an earth or environmental sciences course, this lesson...

Learners explore how the angle of sunlight affects the Earth's temperature and seasons and then apply this understanding to their local situation.

Students calculate the radius of the earth. They use the method and data suggested by Eratosthenes. They investigate the interrelationships among mass, distance, force, and time through experimental processes.