Curated OER
Earth's Revolution and Rotation
Eighth graders investigate the regular motions of the sun, Earth and the moon and explain how these are related to days, years, seasons, eclipses, tides and moon cycles. They participate in an exercise where they explore the...
Curated OER
Twisting the Air Away - The Coriolis Effect
Learners examine the Coriolis Effect and its effects on the different hemispheres. In this Earth science lesson students divide into groups to they make predictions. Learners then complete an activity to explore movement as...
Space Awareness
Investigating the Atmosphere - Air Takes Up Space
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...
Curated OER
Timekeeping by the Sun
Students measure shadows to learn about the Sun-Earth relationship. For this astronomy lesson, students create a shadow stick of a Pokemon character and record measurements of its shadow in a data chart. Follow-up discussions guide...
Curated OER
It's A Meteor
Students complete a webquest to find Earth's relationship to the sun. In this webquest lesson, students complete tasks to understand the effect of the sun on weather and time. Students create a multimedia presentation as an...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1
Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...
Curated OER
Integrated Lesson Plan
An ambitious and engaging instructional activity on the Westward Movement for your young scholars to enjoy! Groups of learners rotate between learning tasks such as learning about the Chislom Trail, Lewis and Clark, and the Gold Rush. A...
Curated OER
Astronomy
Students explore the rotation of the Earth and observe the shapes of constellations. After discussing how the Earth moves. volunteers use a flashlight and globe to model the movement of the sun-Earth system. Using Digitalis technology,...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Kenan Fellows
Analyzing Speed from Different Modalities
Show us your moves. Using sensor equipment, scholars track the motion of different movements, such as jogging, skipping, or jump roping. They analyze velocity and acceleration and create graphs representing each movement.
EngageNY
The Motion of the Moon, Sun, and Stars—Motivating Mathematics
What does math have to do with the behavior of the earth and sun? Learn how the movement of celestial bodies has influenced the development of trigonometry. Scholars connects the details in mathematics to their...
Curated OER
Observing Motion
First graders explore movement and motion. In this motion lesson, 1st graders how objects can move as well as how the Earth is in constant motion and the force of gravity. Students complete a coloring sheet.
Curated OER
Moving in Outer Space
Students participate in a lesson that demonstrates the concepts of rotation and revolution as they pertain to the Sun, the moon, and the Earth. They examine the relative sizes of each. They watch a computer based movie at a subscription...
Curated OER
Movement of Air
In this air worksheet, students identify polar easterlies, prevailing westerlies, and trade winds on a Earth diagram. This worksheet has 13 fill in the blank questions.
Curated OER
Science: Daily and Seasonal Cycles
First graders use their observations to describe daily and seasonal cycles. through a demonstration using a suspended ball and flashlight, they determine the time of day in various locations. Next, 1st graders participate in a...
University of Arizona
The Exotic Vacation
Students explain the concepts and vocabulary of Earth's rotation. They plan imaginary vacations based on the seasons in different locations. This is a very creative lesson plan, which students enjoy.
Curated OER
Suns Path and Seasons
Using a plastic dome to represent the hemisphere of the sky, your class is able to demonstrate the path of the sun at different points of the day and year. They use a protractor to record movement and answer questions about...
Curated OER
Astronomy with a Stick
Students describe the movement of the Earth as it relates to the sun and
formulate a hypothesis for the movement and the changing length of the shadow. They express the relationship between the sun and the Earth and how that causes the...
Curated OER
Motion Near Earth
In this motion worksheet, students will match 5 physics vocabulary words relating to motion with their definitions. Then, they will review 9 statements of different motion scenarios to determine is the statement is true or false....
Curated OER
Sucking Students into an Understanding of Air Pressure and Vacuums
Learners develop and test their ideas about air pressure and vacuums by conducting several investigations into the movement of fluids in tubes.
Curated OER
Weather
Students explore the earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate. They begin class with a discussion about weather patterns, atmosphere, and the layers of the earth. After the class discussion, students rotate through four stations to...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this lesson builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of the interiors of...
Curated OER
Global Winds
Students extend their understanding of convection to consider global winds and the effect of the earth's rotation on the creation of patterns of prevailing wind direction.
Curated OER
The Solar System
Students describe the different bodies that make up our solar system, explain the place of our solar system within the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe, explain day and night and the Earth's movement, and describe the relationship...