Curated OER
Measuring Precipitation
A little engineering design is mixed into this lesson on precipitation measurement. Groups plan and construct a rain gauge, and use it to collect precipitation. As part of the PowerPoint presentation, learners view a satellite map of...
Curated OER
Travel Brochure
Use the Internet to find facts about the planets. Cooperative groups design a travel brochure for a planet. They use a desktop publishing program to create the travel brochure.
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Density and Pressure of a Hot Air Balloon
Using a dry cleaner bag and a blow dryer, create a hot air balloon! The materials list suggests obtaining one dry cleaner bag per student, but since this is probably inconvenient, consider doing this as a demonstration during a activity...
Curated OER
Build a Space Shuttle
Students explore the concept of space. In this space lesson, students pretend to be aerospace engineers. Students build space ships out of cardboard tubes. Students discuss what aerospace engineers do. Students model their space ships...
Curated OER
Soybeans in Space
Students work together to design an experiment that compares and contrasts differnet plant cultivation systems. In groups, they evaluate the results of the experiment to discover if the cultivation system could be used in space. They...
NASA
Cleaning Water
Give young scientists a new appreciation of fresh, clean drinking water. After learning about the ways astronauts recycle their air and water, your class will work in small groups creating and testing their very own water...
Messenger Education
Look But Don’t Touch—Exploration with Remote Sensing
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons. In this set of two activities, learners review geologic land formations through the analysis of aerial maps. They then apply this knowledge to aerial maps of objects...
NASA
Is It Alive?
Determining whether or not something is living can be more difficult than it seems. Put your young scientists to work defining their own criteria to identify life, then work with three samples to see if they are alive or...
Curated OER
Conservation in Small Places - Composting
A fabulous lesson introduces the art of composting to your gardeners. In it, youngsters learn about the composting process and how it actually works. They discuss the environmental benefits of composting, and use the "lasagna" method...
Science Matters
That’s An Otter Story
Young scientists discover how sea otters' habitats have changed due to human impact. Through conversation, video observation, and story reading, scholars identify how human interactions change a specific ecosystem in both positive and...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: From a Distance
Challenge your class with an amazing set of ideas that really put the project back into project-based learning. It all starts with a whole class research task. Each learner will look up and take notes on multiple facets of things that...
NOAA
Ocean Primary Production
A cold seep is an area on the ocean floor where hydrocarbons leak from the earth, creating entire unique biomes. Learners explore cold seeps, photosynthesis in the ocean, and its limitations due to loss of sunlight. They further explore...
Curated OER
Scientific Method Experiment: Factors Affecting How Ice Melts
Students demonstrate the scientific method by conducting an ice cube melting experiment. They make predictions and observations, and conclude what factors make ice melt more slowly or quickly than normal.
Florida International University
The Good, the Bad and the Nasty Tasting
Examine the benefits of chemical defense mechanisms. Organisms in oceans use chemicals to ward off predators. Duplicate this adaptation using a hands-on experiment in which you ward off your predators (your pupils) with some...
Rainforest Alliance
Who Takes Care of the Maya Forest Corridor?
Who keeps animals safe? Who keeps us safe? Discover the helpers that make learning and growing possible through a medley of activities that focus on habitats—ours and those in the rainforest. Scholars are asked to identify one...
Curated OER
Exploration of Mars
High schoolers explore the three-phase strategy used by NASA for scientific exploration. For this space science lesson, students research past missions to Mars. They share their discoveries and create a timeline as a class.
Channel Islands Film
Dark Water: Lesson Plan 2 - Grade 3
A discussion of bioluminescence launches an investigation of animal adaptations. After re-watching the opening minutes of Dark Water, class members listen to a reading of What Do You Do with a Tail Like This, and then create a new...
Curated OER
Risks and Benefits
Young scholars research and discuss the risks and benefits of cell phones and driving. They analyze the mechanical and administrative causes of the accident of the Space Shuttle Challenger. They write an essay explaining the risks and...
Curated OER
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars
Students read the book Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars about space. In this space lesson plan, students make their own poetry book about space.
Curated OER
Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Students travel with Christa McAuliffe through space demonstrations. In this space activity, students follow through the past to the present air travel. Students understand the benefits and problems associated with zero gravity and how...
California Academy of Science
Kinesthetic Astronomy: Mars Opposition Dance
Your class will watch as one child orbits the sun as Earth, while another orbits as Mars. If the timing is right, they will see the repetitive dance between the two planets and discover how often they are opposite from each other. For...
Curated OER
once and future MOON
Beyond the phases of the moon, this comprehensive lesson plan covers geologic history and geology. Amateur astronauts examine photos of the lunar landscape, experiment with the creation of craters, and delve into information about the...
Curated OER
My Spacecraft to Saturn
Pupils discover problems that NASA must deal with on a daily basis. They work together to think of solutions and sketch their own idea of a spacecraft. They discover the concept of engineering.
Curated OER
My Spacecraft and Cassini
Students discover solutions to the problems that NASA used in a previous activity. They write a paper comparing and contrasting their spacecraft idea to the one that was actually used to go to Saturn. They also discover Saturn's moons.