California Academy of Science
Academy Seafood Market and Fishery
What fishing method is the most sustainable? Find out through a fun, but meaningful game in which your little fishermen use different techniques to see what they catch. After the fishing activity is over, there are several discussion...
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Introduce Vocabulary: I See Animals Hiding (Arnosky)
Animals are amazing at disguise! Explore the different ways they escape view as scholars learn vocabulary-in-context through Jim Arnosky's book I See Animals Hiding. Prepare pupils to raise their hands when they hear...
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Plate Tectonics
Learners complete a data sheet. In this Earth composition lesson, students learn what happens when the Earth's plates push against each other. They watch a teacher demonstration and complete a data sheet.
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Continents and Oceans on the Move
Students create an awareness of the vast percentage of water covering the earth. They relate similarities/differences between topographical maps and other maps of various time periods. Students examine how to use a topographical map.
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Drawing Fish
Students practice creating art by imitating the camouflage of fish. For this animal characteristic lesson, students identify certain fish and their ability to change colors in order to survive in the wild. Students utilize coloring...
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Reading Maps of the East Pacific Rise
Pupils make qualitative and quantitative observations and use various maps to investigate the features of the East Pacific Rise The study actual bathymetric maps of the EPR region. They identify key features of the ridge and explore the...
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Locating Vent Fields Using CTD Data
Students describe the way hydrothermal vents work. Students work on locating vent regions through remote collection of data about water temperature and density. Comparing density and temperatures graphs, students search for indicators...
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Wegener and Plate Tectonics: A Hands-On Lesson
Students are introduced to and experiment with the basic concepts of plate tectonic theory as well as assess the history of the theory of plate tectonics. They explain and illustrate the basic concepts through diagrams and models of...
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Island formation
Students explain what an island is, and distinguish islands from similar landforms. They compare and contrast the different ways in which islands are formed.
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Monsters of the Deep
Students describe major features of cold seep communities and list the organisms that are typical in these communities. In this deep sea environment lesson students work in groups and research their given cold seep group.
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One Tough Worm
Young scholars explain the process of chemosynthesis and its relevance to biological communities. In this investigative lesson students discuss chemosynthetic communities, then in groups they are assigned a species and are to calculate...
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Tides
Learners graph 40 days of high and low tide data for a site in Baja, Mexico near the Wetlands & Fisheries Live! research center. They identify patterns in the data and finally to make a connection between tidal heights and the phase...
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How Volcanoes Grow
Pupils study volcanoes including rock fragments, ash, aerosols and gases. In this volcano lesson students divide into groups and build models of the three major types of volcanoes.
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Discovery Science Center Activities
Fourth graders complete a variety of experiments to meet science goals. For this life sciences lesson, 4th graders make yogurt, discover the attraction of opposite charges in electricity, learn the effects of glaciers, and explore...
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Geography Terms
Students identify different landforms and fill out a worksheet where they explain what each landform is. In this geography lesson plan, students fill in a landform map and then use landform words as they describe the landforms.
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Breaking Away (Or Not...)
Learners compare and contrast common reproductive strategies used by benthic invertebrates. They describe the most common reproductive strategies among benthic invertebrates on a seamount, and explain why these strategi
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It's a Gas!
Students explore the conditions under which hydrates form. They use the Internet to access information and conduct experiments to examine how the greenhouse effect works.
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Cool Corals
Students explore corals and polyps. In this coral reef lesson students divide into groups and prepare a written report.
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Volcanoes
Students study volcanoes. In this volcanoes instructional activity, students read several volcano paragraphs and study the pictures or diagrams. Students then make an erupting volcano, complete website research about volcanoes, and...
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ROV Grid Search
Learners perform activities to recreate the exploration of the sea bottom. They attach magnets to the bottom of the remote controlled car to see how many camouflaged objects it can pick up. As a class, students examine the results of...
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Deep Sea Vents
Students study the vent and non vent deep sea and see the differences in habitats. In this investigative lesson students complete a worksheet and work in groups.
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Working With Environmental Issues
Pupils consider the source of disease and parasites in West Africa. In this environmental issues lesson, students read "Working with Environmental Issues," by Fred Koehler. Pupils participate in an activity that requires students to...
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Sailors and Sharks
Learners use the skills of fleeing and dodging in order to avoid being tagged. They begin standing on the ships (mats). One student, the shark, wears a pinney. At the signal from the teacher of "Sailors swim", the sailors scatter to a...
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Triangular Trade and Its Effects
Students investigate the trade routes and investigate goods and services were transported along each route. Given a primary source document, that represents a personal story related to the triangle trade, they discuss given questions.