Curated OER
Solar Sweet Tea
Young scholars study the sun. In this heat energy lesson, students use the sun's warmth to make tea. They place a few jars with tea bags and water in the sun and discuss what the sun is doing to the water while they wait for the tea to...
Curated OER
Fueling Extreme Weather
First graders identify the different stages in the hydrologic cycle. To study earth science, they investigate how sunlight affects the earth's temperature. They also discuss how the sun's energy is transformed.
National Science Teacher Association
Middle School Sampler: Science
Focus on inquiry-based learning in your science class with a series of activities designed for middle schoolers. A helpful packet samples four different texts, which include activities about predator-prey relationships, Earth's axis...
Columbus City Schools
Experiencing Eclipses
Don't be caught in the dark! Young scientists investigate the causes of both solar and lunar eclipses using an interactive to help them understand the development of an eclipse over time. They then research facts and characteristics...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Where Are We Going?
Come take a ride on the space bus! Scholars go on an imaginary trip to pick up their peers from the inner and outer planets while reinforcing math skills. First, learners round decimals to identify each planets' distance from Earth....
Science Matters
Energy and Winds
In the study of wind energy, scholars build a small windmill and observe how it transfers wind into mechanical energy. Learners will make connections to the previous instructional activity with concepts such as the...
NOAA
Make Your Own Compass
Scholars build a compass using a needle, cork, magnet, and a water-filled cup in order to locate the magnetic north and south.
Curated OER
Choose the Correct Homophone II
Homophones are tough! Identify different homophones and how they're different. Common ones like son and sun and plain and plane are included. Some uncommon ones are also included, like bridal and bridle.
Curated OER
Effects of Ozone Depletion
Explore the causes of ozone depletion and the effect on plankton, algae, plants, amphibians, and humans. Learn how the Montreal Protocol has possibly helped reverse the decline of the ozone layer. Warning: photos of skin and eye...
K5 Learning
Why Does the Ocean have Waves?
Six short answer questions challenge scholars to show what they know after reading an informational text that examines waves—what they are, what causes them, and how different Earth factors affect their size and strength.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Nature Walk and Ecosystem Introduction
A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...
Concord Consortium
Leap Years and Calendars
How many birthdays do leap year babies have in a lifetime? Learners explore the question among others in a lesson focused on different calendar systems. Given explanations of the Julian, Gregorian, and Martian calendars, individuals use...
University of Texas
Heat Transfer and Energy Balance
Learn about conduction, convection, and radiation with an illustrative presentation. It includes slides about atmospheric movement and how it affects the climate, solar radiation, and how latent heat can form storms.
Curated OER
Space Science: Constellations and the Sun
Students review the zodiac signs and illustrate their movement using constellations on the wall and themselves to represent earth. Individually or in groups, they stand in the center of the room while a shadeless lamp is placed between...
Curated OER
Heating the Earth
Students explore how the angle of sunlight affects the Earth's temperature and seasons and then apply this understanding to their local situation.
Curated OER
As the Earth Turns
First graders explore why the sun and moon seems to disappear and reappear creating day and night.
Curated OER
Timekeeping by the Sun
Students measure shadows to learn about the Sun-Earth relationship. In this astronomy lesson, students create a shadow stick of a Pokemon character and record measurements of its shadow in a data chart. Follow-up discussions guide...
Curated OER
The Sun: Earth's Friend and Foe
Students study the structure and features of the sun. In this earth science lesson, students explain how the sun's energy drive the processes on Earth. They perform temperature conversions using appropriate equations.
Curated OER
The Moon Orbits the Sun?!?!
Students calculate the strength of gravitational force exerted on the moon by the sun and earth. In this orbital lesson students view a demonstration to see the gravitational forces between bodies.
Curated OER
Follow the Sun
Students use a simple model of the Earth and Sun as seen from space to explore the sun's apparent movement across the sky over the course of a day and year. They consider the apparent direction of movement and changes in the sun's angle.
Curated OER
IS THE SUN OUR HEATER?
Students explore and discover how the sun provides heat to the earth, depending on the surface as well as the angle of the sun's rays.
Curated OER
Reason for the Seasons
Learners study the seasons of the Earth. In this seasons lesson, students study the science of the seasons on Earth by studying the tilt and axis of the Earth's orbit. Learners read background information and four experimental activities...
Curated OER
Gravity and the Planets
In this gravity worksheet, students read about the solar system and the effects of the gravity of the sun, the planets and the moon on the orbits of the planets. They answer three critical thinking questions about gravity.
Curated OER
Earth's Magnetic Field and Magnetosphere
Students investigate the magnitude of Earth's magnetic field using PASCO. In this physics lesson, students describe the features of the magnetosphere. They explain how atmosphere layers protect the Earth.