On September 26, 1991, four women and four men entered the scientific experiment, Biosphere 2; the doors were sealed for two years in order to study the interactions of a biosphere. In the activity, scholars explore biospheres by...

Purifying air and water, providing soil in which to grow crops, and moving water through its natural cycle are all services an ecosystem provides that benefit humans. Lesson four in a series lets learners explore and discuss the value of...

Students investigate the effects of UV light and ozone on plant and bacteria growth. In this ultraviolet light and ozone lesson plan, students grow bean and mustard greens to study the effects of UV light and ozone on the plant growth....

Students complete a variety of activities related to the physical characteristics of minerals. They classify and group candy, classify rocks and complete a Pet River Rock worksheet. Students try to guess which rock goes with each...

Students create haiku poems. In this poetry lesson, students listen to the sound of the ocean from an audio file and write a haiku poem about oceans.

Second graders compare and contrast animate and inanimate objects. In this environmental science lesson, 2nd graders create simple food webs. They observe their environment and create a collage about it.

Fifth graders examine and participate in the process of classifying rocks. In small groups, they sort the rocks into two categories and complete a Venn diagram. Next, they select three rocks, and complete a worksheet that is in the...

Students discuss what happens to their wastewater. They read about the wastewater treatment process. Students are asked what types of things get flushed down toilets or goes down drains in sinks and showers. They are taught what happens...

Learners are taught that a watershed is, what types of basic land cover are impermeable and permeable to water. They trace the flow of water around their school and around their home. Students determine what watershed their school is a...

Rock exploration, so exciting! After reading the book Everybody Needs a Rock, the class makes sandwiches to better understand that the Earth is made in layers. They then use a description of the 3 types of rock to conduct an observation...

Students simulate the effects of erosion on rocks. Students smash cookies into smaller pieces to simulate how sandstone is created from larger rocks. Students hypothesize the types of things that could break up rocks and whether sand...

Students find and classify insects. They collect insects, study them with a hand lens and identify its body parts. Afterwards, they discus various types of insects and thier Orders such as beetles, butterflies and moths, grasshoppers, etc.

This PowerPoint is a straightforward list of facts about how humans impact the environment. Subjects covered are extinction, natural resources, different types of pollution, and conservation efforts. Questions are presented on some...

Questions that can be used in a lesson plan on Earth's radiation balance are suggested in this resource. It is not a lesson plan, per se, but it is a list of questions for stations within a "Gallery Walk" lesson plan. The link to how...

Fifth graders use the ERIC database to find information on volcanoes. At the end of their research they present their findings, draw a volcano, and write bout what they found interesting about it. They also classify and categorize the...

Young scholars use the internet to gather information on the Japanese Gardens. They discuss topics with a horticulturist and build a replica of the gardens at their school. They work together to identify different types of plants.

High schoolers participate in a lab activity in which they examine the permeability of different soils. They examine the soil's composition and make predictions about the permeability of the soils. They share their observations to the...

Students investigate how soil composition affects plant growth. In small groups, they plant various seeds in different soil mixtures, record plant and seed growth, and analyze the results.

Students identify the different components that make up soil. In this earth science lesson, students create a pamphlet for next year's class. They analyze how erosion and weathering shape the Earth.

Young scholars conduct an experiment to demonstrate that many of the enzyme systems needed to break down society's wastes exist in nature among the decomposers in a compost pile. They culture compost bacteria on starch agar to examine...

Middle schoolers participate in a science lab to determine the pH of three different soil samples. Students conduct an experiment by creating a question, a hypothesis and then an investigation of soil samples. Then they compare colors...

Students examine soil samples for the presence of organic matter. They determine which soil sample from their area contains the highest amount of organic matter.

Students examine each soil sample and record observations. For this biology lesson, students design an experiment to test soil flow rate. They write a lab report about the experiment.

Students investigate how the amount of water that can infiltrate into the soil is influenced by precipitation factors and the nature of the soil. The precipitation factors are type of precipitation, amount, duration and intensity of...