Young scholars examine the sun's impact on the Earth. They read online articles, explore various websites, and answer questions using information found on the Internet.

Students investigate that the sun is at the center of the solar system through role play. One student is the sun and one student is the Earth. The students then show how the Earth orbits around the sun. Students view a flashlight and...

Young scholars investigate one or more of the following topics and develop a plan for the future regarding it: global warming, lunar exploration, space travel, Mars exploration, or terraforming. They disucss the audio files and the...

Eighth graders describe and identify the three layers of the Earth. They work together to construct their own earth model. They share their creation with the class.

Students examine how the Earth's tilt creates the seasons. In this seasons lesson, students study a diagram that shows the rotation of the earth around the sun and how it tilts during the rotation. They answer 4 discussion questions and...

Third graders draw what they believe is in space on a dry erase board. In groups, they are given a beaker half filled with water and they add a teaspoon of oil, observing the different layers that form. To end the lesson, they identify...

Students study plate tectonics.  In this plate tectonics lesson students build a cutaway scale model of the Earth. 

Students compare and contrast the characteristics of Earth and Saturn. They practice writing analogies using those characteristics. They complete a worksheet to end the lesson plan.

Students work together to compare and contrast Mars and Earth. Using the internet, they answer questions given to them by their teacher and calculate answers showing their work. They graph their answers and discuss the results of the...

Students study asteroids and how their size relates to a possible danger of one colliding with Earth.  In this asteroids lesson students see how big an asteroid has to be to cause destruction to Earth. 

In this origin of life worksheet, students write answers to five questions. They describe characteristics of the first life forms and how scientists believe oxygen accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere.

There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't. The lesson includes four activities in which students learn binary, convert binary to images, understand CCD arrays, and interpret...

Ever made solar s'mores? Or recreated the solar system using peanuts? Astronomers young and old investigate all things solar using a variety of activities. Explore how the sun works, types of light it emits, and methods of charting the...

Class members play a version of the game Chronology to determine when certain scientific events occurred in history. Teams play until someone has 5-10 events in the correct order.

Where does all the heat go when the sun goes down? An interesting lesson has learners explore this question by monitoring the infrared radiation emitted over time. They learn that hot spots cool more quickly that cooler spots.

Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...

Jupiter has 67 moons! As the seventh in a series of 22, the exercise shows learners the size and scale of Jupiter and its Galilean moons through a model. They then arrange the model to show how probes orbited and gathered data.

Here is a resource with a descriptive approach to explaining the scientific method. It's simple, but effective for both introduction and reinforcement of this concept. 

Create a scaled model of our solar system in your classroom! Scholars work collaboratively to build paper mache planets and hang them in their proper position to showcase each planet's location in the solar system.   

Go star-gazing with young learners! They study the history, origins, and patterns of constellations in an activity that explores the starry night sky.

After investigating the US Environmental Protection Agency's climate change website, your environmental studies students discuss greenhouse gas emissions. They use an online interactive tool to look at data from power production...

Students examine containers and their capacity. They fill a one-cup measuring cup with water and pour cups of water into other containers. Through observation, students discover how many cups make a pint, and how many teaspoons make a...

Find all things solar system in a set of reference cards. Even Pluto makes an appearance! Each of the 24 cards has a picture and accompanying informational text that gives brief background about the object.

Rocks and minerals are great on their own, but they also turn into some pretty amazing stuff! An online lesson explains the different types of materials we get from rocks and minerals, including glass, plastic, and coins. An embedded...