National Wildlife Federation
Yesterday: Our Energy Needs Over Time
How has our relationship to energy changed over time? An engaging exploration challenges learners to create a timeline showing human energy needs and uses over time. Scholars review what timelines are, choose a 50-year period in history...
Environmental Education in Wisconsin
Biome Travel Guide
In a perfect marriage of social studies and science, groups work together to research and create a travel guide presentation to share with the class. Not only do kids learn about the climate and geography of a biome, but also the...
Curated OER
Sunny Science - Sun Up, Fade Out
Learners create bleached designs with the sun's bright light. In this early childhood science lesson, students use their observation and prediction skills as they explore the sun's bleaching power.
Curated OER
Science on the Skids
Students discuss the decline in the sciences in America by comparing statistics and information from the U.s. to other countries. Then they write and deliver a "State of the Sciences" address to their peers.
Curated OER
Nutrient Cycling
AP environmental science or college-level ecology classes will glean a tremendous amount of information on nutrient cycles from this detailed PowerPoint. It covers nutrient requirements, biogeochemcial cycles, decomposition rates, and...
Columbus City Schools
Rocking the Cycle!
Time to rock out! Discover the "life" cycle of the average rock using an illustrative stations lab and stimulating pairs game. Roll the dice to determine your fate: will it be melting in magma or chilling out to form igneous rock? The...
Curated OER
Settlement Exploration: Then and Now
NASA has crafted an imaginative and memorable series of lessons, "NASA and Jamestown Education Module." This lesson is one of the five components. In it, middle schoolers connect history and science by comparing the settlement of...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Rocks & Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...
Curated OER
Understanding the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
How did our universe really begin? Explore the Science Big Bang Theory and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with this multiple activity-based instructional activity that demonstrates that the increase of density due to the decrease of...
University of Kentucky
Beneficial Bug Scavenger Hunt
Many people think of bugs as annoying pests to be squashed, but most insects and spiders are beneficial, eating the actual pests or pollinating plants. After reviewing some of the common bugs in your area (they may differ from those...
Science Geek
Reaction Kinetics
Show your classes the science behind rates of reactions with a presentation that explains factors that affect the rate, activation energies, exothermic and endothermic processes, and the proportionality of the product and reactant...
Teach Engineering
Fun Look at Material Science
Introduce materials science with a class demonstration. After showing a PowerPoint presentation on materials and their properties, instructors provide a ceramic tile, a Popsicle stick, a paper clip, and a plastic bag as examples of...
NOAA
Ocean Acidification
If tap water is more acidic than ocean water, why are we so concerned about ocean acidification? The third installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program focuses on carbon dioxide levels in...
Science Matters
Earthquakes and Volcanoes Pre-Assessment
See how much your class knows about earthquakes and volcanic activity and how these events shape geologic features. The first lesson in the series of 20 is a pre-test to find out what pupils already know. It includes 10 vocabulary...
NOAA
Watching in 3D
Bring the ocean floor to life! Earth science scholars discover the process of deep sea mapping in the third installment in a series of five lessons about ocean exploration. The teacher's guide includes helpful resources, worksheets, and...
Curated OER
The Atmosphere
Here is a suitable set of slides to use when teaching about the layers of the atmosphere, climate, global winds, and types of clouds. These slides will support a few different lectures. You will probably want to replace the diagrams with...
Columbus City Schools
Diversity of Living Things
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have...
Curated OER
Comparing Amount of Rainfall in Different Geographical Areas
Third graders create rain gauges and take them home. Individually, they record the rainfall amounts at all of their homes over a 2-week period and then bring the data back to class so they can compare the different amounts of rainfall...
Curated OER
Text Structures in Science Writing
Students recognize that science writing is organized in identifiable patterns called text structures. Understanding and using these different text structures help refine students' abilities to read and write in science.
Curated OER
Chemical Reaction Rates
Students observe demonstrations to show factors that affect rates of chemical reactions. In this rates of chemical reactions lesson, students investigate how catalysts, reactant concentrations, temperature and surface area affect the...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Machines
What do science and dance have in common? Simple machines, work, and force! First, children discuss machines, wheels, inclined planes, and wedges. They create inclined planes with their bodies and make up dances about wheels and wedges....
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Rising Ocean Temperatures - Rising Sea Levels
As an anticipatory set, young environmental technicians watch a video about how ocean temperatures seem to be changing along with the global climate. They perform a laboratory demonstration with the purpose of observing what happens to...
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rollercoaster
Here is a physics lesson that your 5th graders should love. They explore the physics behind roller coasters by viewing roller coaster simulations online. Then, they work in pairs in order to design their own roller coasters and track....
California Academy of Science
Color Vision Genetics Evolution Simulation
At one point, all mammals carried only two color receptors, but now most humans carry three. An informative presentation and hands-on activity demonstrate how this evolved through genetics. By participating in the activity, pupils...