Colorado State University
Why Do Clouds Form in the Afternoon?
The stability of the atmosphere changes on a daily basis. A kinesthetic lesson models how the stability of the air changes as it's warmed by the sun. Learners connect their models to the changing air currents and movement of warm and...
Teach Engineering
Air Under Pressure
Introduce your class to air masses and how they affect the weather with a activity that focuses on the differences between high and low air pressure systems. The class explores actual weather data using archived weather data.
Space Awareness
Global Warming of the Atmosphere
Scientists know the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today is higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years. Scholars learn about the amount of thermic radiation absorbed by air and what happens to the rest of the...
Curated OER
Tides - The Ins and Outs of Tides
Get your junior oceanographers to generate tidal prediction graphs on an interactive website. They will feel like experts in the field, or shall we say, experts in the ocean! This is a brief, but worthwhile activity that could be used to...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Chemical Signatures of Asteroid Impacts
What killed the dinosaurs and how do scientists know? Your high schoolers can examine these fascinating questions with a geochemical lens using the engaging 33-minute video, the accompanying data interpretation, and some thoughtful...
Curated OER
Carbon Dioxide - Sources and Sinks
Where does all of the carbon dioxide come from that is supposedly leading to climate change? Earth science pupils test animal, plant, and fossil fuels as sources in this investigation. Using an indicator, BTB, they are able to detect the...
Curated OER
A Design You’ll Dig: Designing a Habitat for Worms
Learners discover how worms contribute to the balance of the environment. For this composting lesson, students study the composting and decomposition processes. Learners then create habitats for worms that allow them to do their jobs.
Curated OER
Penguins Around the World
Students investigate penguins. In this Science lesson, students compare and contrast penguins to flying birds. Students use a Venn diagram to illustrate the differences and similarities of penguins and flying birds.
Green Learning
Build Your Own Solar Oven
This is not exactly a lesson plan, but rather a six-page document detailing how to build a solar oven. A bit of background information, materials list, diagrams and photos, and clearly-written procedures are all included. There are no...
Teach Engineering
The Amazing Red Planet
Introduce your class to Mars with a resource that provides information about its size, location, length of day, length of year, number of moons, and average temperature. Also includes is information about the lans for past...
Curated OER
Freshwater Fish Anatomy & Taxonomy
Tenth graders use a classification key to identify organisms. In this classification instructional activity students identify freshwater species of fish and document their observations.
International Technology Education Association
Reinventing Time
Take a trip through time. A lesson resource provides instruction on the origin of current measurements for time. The text explains the different tools humans used throughout history to measure time as well as provides examples such as...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Refining Crude Oil
Consider our energy sources: wood, coal, oil, uranium. Learners compare the pollution to energy produced for each. They practice fractional distillation of an alcohol/water mixture to simulate the process of refining crude oil....
Curated OER
Recycling Quiz
Ten multiple questions about recycling comprise this quiz. Administer this as a pre-test prior to presenting a lesson on recycling glass, plastic, and metals. Since an answer key is provided along with comments, you can use it as a guide...
Curated OER
Winter Wonderland - Winter Olympics and the Water Cycle
After a concise introduction to the water cycle, junior meteorologists access NOAA's average snowfall data. They choose a city to examine in terms of precipitation. Then they look at historical snowfall data and use it to predict snow...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Non-Point Source Pollution
Investigate the different types of pollution that storm drain runoff carries into oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams with this class demonstration. Using an aquarium and an assortment of everyday items that contaminants like motor oil,...
ARKive
Human Impact on the Environment
Study the ways that humans have impacted the environment, particularly the spread of plastic waste. After watching a short film about the Laysan albatross population, learners complete a worksheet and research other ways that plastic...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Pesky Plastics: The Problem with Plastic
What can happen to the environment if plastic continues to pollute it? Learners read about the implications of plastic on health, water, and nature in a two-page reading passage. After they finish reading, they work on six comprehension...
Colorado State University
What Is Energy?
Don't let the energy of your classroom falter! Explore the scientific definition of energy through play. A hands-on lesson focuses on the change of energy from one form to another.
PHET
Measuring the Interplanetary Magnetic Field
Scientists need to figure out how to measure interplanetary magnetic fields, but the magnetic field of the spacecraft is interfering with their readings. Scholars attempt to solve the problem that has perplexed NASA scientists for years.
Curated OER
Lunar Learning
Students learn about the phases of the moon. In this moon phases lesson, students learn about what causes the moon to look different to us everyday and how the Earth and Sun's position determine what phase the moon is in.
Curated OER
Earth Kids: Kindergarteners Taking Care of the Earth
Students explore a variety of ways of how to care for the environment in the nine lessons of this unit. They observe how to be responsible "Earth Kids."
Curated OER
Earth: The Water Planet
Students elicit data on the water cycle, ocean topography, and island formation in this six lesson unit. The ocean floor and the properties of water are examined through a variety of discussions and hands-on experiments.
Curated OER
Physical Changes and the Water Cycle - Three
Third graders observe and reproduce the water cycle in their very own classroom. A simple, yet very effective, demonstration on how water evaporates is observed by the young scientists. They make observations and sketches in their...