Students explore garbage. In this landfill lesson, students investigate how much garbage is collected in landfills on average each day. Students discover hazardous materials that are disposed of improperly and the effects of these...

Third graders learn how light bulbs are different and which are more cost efficient.  In this energy and efficiency lesson, 3rd graders compare the cost of a light bulb and understand that its lifetime is important to their...

Junior high schoolers learn how to read a water meter, track their family water usage, and discuss the amount in class with other pupils. They will interpret real-world data and graph it. It is ideal for increasing awareness and...

Assign each group of 3-4 upper elementary engineers to a different type of transportation fuel. A background information page is provided to get them started with researching their assigned fuel. Each group then produces an exhibit...

Lead your class to construct a solar still on campus to demonstrate how water can be extracted from the soil. The power of solar energy is emphasized, as is the concept of how capillary water can be recovered and purified by using a...

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...

Simple, but suitable, this lesson gives mini-meteorologists a glimpse at ozone in the atmosphere. By reading an article, they find that ozone in the stratosphere is vital to life, but ozone in the troposphere is problematic. A reading...

Yum! Using graham crackers, dried fruit sheets, and frosting, tectonics technicians demonstrate the different types of plate boundaries. If you want to encourage youngsters with an activity that is both educational and edible, then this...

Links to two different versions of this mapping activity are available. In "The Small Version," youngsters design a town, keeping the water supply in mind. In "The Large Version," they also design a town, but they consider services and...

A thorough investigation of magnetic levitation; this activity has four parts. First, physical scientists play with a wooden dowel and three disc magnets to review polarity and repelling action. Then they experiment with...

Some basic descriptions of DNA and the appearance of structures in a bacteria are included along with great diagrams.  The presentation has clear, but detailed slides, and your students will find the information about Gram staining...

Help your students write descriptive lab reports! Designed for ESL students but useful for mainstreamed kids as well, the activity prompts students to think of substances that match twenty given adjectives ("salt" for "soluble," for...

Halting the depletion of the hole in the ozone layer has been one of humanity's happy recoveries from previous damage done to the environment. Meteorology masters muse the Montreal Protocol and examine data on changes in the ozone....

Animal lovers will enjoy this award-winning picturesque app which educates children and adults about the threats of endangered species.

Teams of six to eight players imagine that they are driving in a vehicle and collect balls that represent carbon dioxide emissions based on their different activities. "Greenhouse Gas Guzzler" cards tell teams how many balls to collect...

What do aspirin and the willow tree have in common? Scholars of chemical synthesis engage in a fascinating reaction to make their own aspirin samples. The lab uses thin layer chromatography analysis, includes stoichiometric calculations,...

You've heard of it raining cats and dogs ... but what about fish and frogs? It turns out, one scenario is much more likely than the other! Intrepid weather investigators examine the curious behavior of waterspouts using a leaf blower,...

Take a deep dive into oceanography. The online interactive allows for learners to board a submersible to dive to the bottom of the ocean to investigate sea vents. On the way down, individuals see different marine life at different...

Take a look at climate change from another angle. Readers learn about the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite and how it studies Earth. Pupils experience how the multiple cameras give scientists multiple views so they can better study...

Students read, review, and write about the presidential inauguration as it appears in the media. They use local local and national newspapers to gain information about the inauguration. Students develop their own editorial on the...

Students participate in Bat Quest: In Search of Stellaluna. In this children's literature lesson plan students listen to the reading of Stellaluna. Computers are utilized to enter the Bat Quest site to research various topics on bats....

Students read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojacieckowski. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the Christmas holiday. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social studies,...

Class members participate in a discussion, read a newspaper article, and participate in activities meant to open their eyes to the problem of obesity in the US. There are resource links, electronic worksheets, and teacher's notes to help...