First graders investigate plant growth and examine what factors contribute to plant growth. They keep a class chart of plant growth and write about and illustrate their conclusions.

Sixth graders explore Japanese Quail. They generate and record scientific questions about the quail. Students gather information from various sources and record their data. They compose an inquiry report and include it in a portfolio.

First graders compare and contrast different seeds before planting them. They assess the basic needs to plants and conduct experiments of deprivation of those needs. They write stories and draw pictures of plants which are bound into a...

Students construct their own rotocopters to study flight.  In this flight lesson plan students work in groups and complete timed trials of their rotocopters.

The brain is a complex organ with many different structures and functions. An interactive diagram allows learners to explore the different structures while pop-ups describe their functions. Secondary interactives show the structures of...

Students briefly explain the importance of nutrition in their everyday lives, and they tell you about how many calories they should consume in a day. They list readily available and affordable healthy foods that they LIKE to eat....

Want your class to digest text more thoroughly? Middle schoolers learn about the digestive system in the lesson and reinforce informational text reading skills through a variety of strategies. They engage in a close reading...

Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...

Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...

Students explore the 5 themes of geography. For this cross curriculum literacy and geography lesson, students listen to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and make a list of the needs of the people in Chewandswallow....

It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...

A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...

Head to the treeline and beyond to examine how this feature of the landscape affects weather and climate, which gives scientists clues about its health. Class members' observations of photographs provide the data...

Make an impact on young physicists with this fun collection of resources. After first watching a video and taking notes on the physics of car crashes, students go on to complete a series of activities that explore the...

Water, one of the basic needs of humans, is found in all three states of matter on Earth; no other planet—that we know of—possesses this quality. Here is a unit that allows learners to explore through experimentation what it...

Male deer growing antlers to begin the breeding season is an example of a phenological event. First in a four-part series is an activity requiring individuals to collect phenological data on their campus. Classes discuss phenology, the...

Plants take cues from the environment—change in daylight hours and temperature—to complete their seasonal life cycles. Lesson four in the series of six has classes collect phenology data on plants. After taking initial observations,...

How can acknowledging opposing viewpoints reinforce one's argument? Use this New York Times activity to study consumerism and the environmental impact of new products. After reading the article "Whether a Hummer or a Hybrid, the Big...

Students list comparisons between technology and nature. Then they create superheroes with special animal characteristics and describe how ordinary persons might replicate the changes with technology.

What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs....

Analyze and make inferences from the information used by linguists to construct the evolution of languages. They research different dating techniques to explain how scientists infer age with evidence.

Pairs of learners choose an earth scientist from an extensive list. They collect information by researching online or in books about the childhood, education, and major contributions made by their chosen scientist. When they present...

This is the introductory activity in a series about air quality. Why is it so important that we breathe clean air? How can we make sure we're keeping our air clean? A discussion is the central idea of the activity, and example questions...

Students study cloud data and weather maps to explore cloud activity.  In this cloud data lesson students locate latitude and longitude coordinates and determine cloud cover percentages.