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The Web of Life
Students explore the interconnectedness of living things in an ecosystem. They use pictures and arrows to develop a food web, and participate in constructing a class food web with students representing various parts of the web.
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Hot Hamsters
Using this quick activity, you can have your class review what they have learned about mammals. Learners sit in a circle, and take turns naming a mammal. This activity could be enriched by having learners go to their desks, identify a...
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Global Warming – More or Less
Eighth graders identify the factors that contribute to global warming. In this earth science instructional activity, 8th graders evaluate the impact of global warming on the planet. They discuss their views within the group.
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Earth History Part II
Eighth graders hypothesize what caused the break up of continents. In this earth science lesson plan, 8th graders study about the events that took place during Mesozoic and Cenozoic Era. They reconstruct a supercontinent and report their...
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How Do You Know There is Air in a Bag?
Fourth graders explore air as a material substance. Through experimentation and discussion, they explore how air can be classified as a material substance. Students write three examples proving that air is a material substance in their...
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Selling Our Insulated Long Undies
Pupils review the information they have gathered in previous lessons on temperature. In groups, they must decide on which material they tested is the best one for long underwear. They develop a cost and determine a company to sell the...
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Weather Instrument Use and Application
Eighth graders measure temperature, wind speed and pressure using Skymaster SM-28. In this earth science instructional activity, 8th graders collect data and record observations taken from outdoors. They explain why numerical values are...
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Creatures from Planet X: Spiders
Students are given a description of some fascinating animals from "Planet X". They follow the descriptions given to illustrate one of these animals paying careful attention to introduced vocabulary such as 'appendages', 'receptors', and...
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Everybody Needs a Rock
Second graders examine science non-fiction books in the 500 section of the media center. They listen to Byrd Baylor's, Everybody Needs a Rock, and write a sentence that tells why everyone does need a rock. They illustrate the sentence.
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Whale Echolocation
Students demonstrate how a whale uses echolocation to track food and identify one other animal that also uses echolocation. In this echolocation lesson, students play a game where one child (the whale) is blindfolded and gives a signal...
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Geologist and Core Sampling
Third graders observe a cupcake and attempt to answer each question on the observation page. They write three sentences that explains how a geologist takes core samples of the earth's surface. Students make sketches and write...
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Solar System
Students study space. In this solar system instructional activity, students discover the correct order of the planets and create a diagram showing this knowledge. They listen to the book A New View of the Solar System and then work in...
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Seasons' Journey : Putting it All Together
Third graders complete a diagram of the revolution of the earth around the sun and write a one paragraph explanation of the factors that cause seasons.
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Mineral Lab
Eighth graders examine the physical properties of different minerals. For this earth science lesson, 8th graders explain the uses of minerals in their daily lives. They complete the mineral identification table during the lesson.
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Weather Elements and Instruments
Eighth graders identify the different weather elements. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders explain the difference between relative humidity and dew point. They discuss the different instruments used to predict weather.
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Habitat Hunt
Students discover how hard it is for animals to find all the items needed in their habitat. In this habitat lesson, students play a game in which they pretend to be an animal, they discover that not all animals can find the food needed...
Teach Engineering
How Big? Necessary Area and Volume for Shelter
Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...
Achieve
Fences
Pupils design a fence for a backyard pool. Scholars develop a fence design based on given constraints, determine the amount of material they need, and calculate the cost of the project.
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Identifying Minerals
Students compare and constrast a wide variety of minerals and rocks. They test them for streak, luster, color and other characteristics. They view an exhibit and compare their answers to them.
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Ask a NASA Engineer
Students develop questions to ask a NASA engineer to email them. After emailing the quesitons to the volunteer, the answers are sent to the class via the same method. To end the lesson, they formulate more questions and repeat the process.
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Learning from Light: The Big Bang
Students explore what astronomers are able to examine our galaxy and universe by examining light. They explore in this sub-unit the formation of the universe, commonly called "The Big Bang," and it follows studying from the Light: The...
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Can You See What I See?
Young scholars gain an understanding of the methods used to explore the earth's surface. Students create a time line leading to the first satellite image of the Earth that includes the various methods utilized to observe the earth's...
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Radiation Budget Lesson: Exploring Albedo
Students experiment with sunlight and temperature. They study the definition of albedo, or the percentage of incoming sunlight that is reflected, rather than absorbed.
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Bubble-ology
Students observe the visible spectrum while observing light hitting the surface of bubbles. They blow large bubbles and observe how the colors change.