Curated OER
Identifying Pennsylvania Watersheds
Ninth graders study and identify the six major drainage systems in Pennsylvania. In this watershed lesson students read an article, complete an activity and take a quiz on what they learned.
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Students develop a better understanding of the need to conserve our renewable resources. In this water cycle lesson students take notes, complete a guide sheet and illustrate the water cycle.
Curated OER
Water, Rivers & Topography
Students explore the topography of Idaho and the importance of surface water and drainage. using digital maps, they inspect the courses of major rivers, Yellowstone Hot Spots, and the natural landscaping of Pocatello. Students explore...
Curated OER
Is Our Water Clean?
Students identify qualities of clean water and develop an awareness of people in the community who keep our water clean.
Curated OER
N, B, and T: Pollutants Three
Students explore nutrient, bacterial, and toxic surface water pollution. They identify the amount of water they use each day and summarize the kinds of substances that cause water pollution. They predict what will happen in water...
Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Does It Soak Right In?
Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign...
Forest Foundation
Forest Watersheds
Where does the water we use come from? To understand the concept of a watershed, class members study the water cycle and then engage in an activity that simulates a watershed.
Discovery Education
Weathering Cubes
Weathering is not necessarily a result of the weather. Scholars conduct an experiment to explore the effect of surface area and volume on the weathering process. They create their own sugar cube rocks using the same number of cubes—but...
American Chemical Society
Developing Tests to Distinguish Between Similar-Looking Liquids
Each group talks about how to test unknown liquids based on their findings in the previous experiment. In this second of four activities, they test unknowns on wax paper, newspaper, and construction paper. As a stand-alone, this lesson...
NOAA
The Climate Team: Make a Solar Heat Engine
Learners investigate how solar energy is converted into heat in part two of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build and test homemade solar cookers to boil water and cook rice. Pupils consider the impact of heat...
Curated OER
Propel a Toy Boat with Chemicals
A simple cardboard or plastic boat is propelled across the surface of water when the surface tension is disrupted by adding detergent. Once youngsters see this in action, explain about the properties of water that make it possilbe:...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Waves and Whistles
Wave goodbye to the same old demonstrations for alternative energy sources, and wave hello to this one investigating ocean waves! Using a water bottle to create an oscillating water column, learners see and possibly hear how the...
Wilderness Classroom
Ocean Life
Our oceans are composed of many complex relationships. Young oceanographers explore relationships between organisms, understand the world ocean's currents, and discover the effects of water pollution and how it behaves. There are...
Space Awareness
Meet Our Neighbors: Sun
The sun isn't just a ball of yellow! Young scientists learn about the features of the sun using a hands-on modeling activity. They build models of the sun using common household items to represent sunspots, solar prominence, and the...
University of Waikato
Investigating Bubbles
Bubbles are not always trouble. Pupils investigate surface tension in water and bubble mixtures by blowing bubbles and recording observations. Learners then create bubble wands of different shapes from pipe cleaners and observe the shape...
Scholastic
Lesson One: The Earth, Background and Glossary
How much do you really know about our planet? Middle schoolers build up their prior knowledge about Earth, its placement in the solar system, its composition, and important geological vocabulary with an introductory earth science lesson.
American Chemical Society
Investigating the Line
Note that this lesson is best paired with the preceding lesson in the unit. In that lesson, elementary physical scientists observed that the color coating of M&Ms® candies do not mix when dissolved off of the chocolate surface. Now...
CK-12 Foundation
Scuba Training
How does a scuba diver control whether they sink or float? Scholars observe the relationship between absolute pressure and depth below the surface in an undersea simulation. They control the diver size and depth to center of mass to...
Curated OER
Let's Get Fizzical
Young scholars investigate surface tension in water. In this water molecules and surface tension lesson, students observe 3 demonstrations to show how water molecules are attracted to one another, how soap reduces the surface tension in...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Bigger Bubbles
Fourth graders explore properties of bubbles. In this lesson plan about bubbles, 4th graders perform an experiment. Students analyze the properties of bubble making substances and surface tension. Students create a square bubble....
Curated OER
Molecular Forces at Work: Creating Soap Bubbles
Students investigate adhesion, cohesion and surface tension. In this molecular forces lesson plan, students observe multiple demonstrations that show surface tension, the attraction of water molecules to each other and the ability of...
Curated OER
Wet Pennies
Students conduct a simple test to determine how many drops of water, rubbing alcohol and vegetable oil can be placed on a penny before spilling over. They consider how varying surface tensions allow for different amounts of each liquid...
Curated OER
Water Pressure Experiments
Students perform experiments measuring water pressure. They record their observations after poking holes in plastic bottles filled with water with the lids on and then off. They discover the role gravity plays in the water flow.
Curated OER
One World Ocean
Students compare and contrast the properties of salt water in the oceans/seas and freshwater elsewhere on the planet. They also analyze mixing caused by currents in the ocean, including the effects of warm and cold water as well as with...