Curated OER
Soil Scrolls
Third graders examine soil samples and explore the what happens in each layer of the subsoil. They work in cooperative groups to create a scroll that shows what takes place in each layer, and discuss why much of the activity is in the...
Curated OER
Exploring How Rocks Are Formed
Learners examine the three types of rocks. They discover the processes that occur so each type of rock can be formed. They participate in activities to help them see how rocks are formed.
Curated OER
Groundwater Movement
Students study groundwater movement beneath the surface of the Earth. In this agriculture instructional activity, students experiment with how water moves through rock materials such as sand, gravel, and clay.
Curated OER
Types of Faults
This set of black-line diagrams of the three different types of faults can be used with your upper elementary earth scientists. Simply have them color the layers to show where the land once lined up. Another use for this resource would...
Curated OER
Aerosol Lesson: Volcano Types
Students identify three types of volcano: cinder cone, composite, and shield.
Curated OER
Three-dimensional cooperative modeling
Young scholars explore what is present below the surface in order to drill into the ground and record the type of material that the drill brings to the surface. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of distance communications. ...
Curated OER
Bellwork for Week 15-Climate
In this bellwork worksheet, students answer questions about the layers of the atmosphere, the composition of the atmosphere and the weather and the climate.
Curated OER
Changing Crust
In this changing crust instructional activity, students use candy bars, licorice sticks and bubble gum to simulate the 3 types of forces that change the Earth's crust. These include compressional forces, tensional forces and transversal...
Curated OER
Types of Rock
In this rocks worksheet, students compare and contrast the 3 types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Students complete 1 graphic organizer.
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
NOAA
How Do We Know?: Make Additional Weather Sensors; Set Up a Home Weather Station
Viewers learn about three different weather measurement tools in installment five of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build weather vanes to collect data on wind speed, barometers to determine air pressure, and...
Curated OER
Earth's Plate Tectonics
Students identify the different layers of the Earth. In this earth science activity, students create a model of the crusts and continents. They explain how plates movement cause earthquakes and volcanoes.
Curated OER
It's Going to Blow Up!
Get your ocean explorers online, reading articles about submarine volcanoes. They answer a series of questions and take a geometery challenge in which they calculate how much of a volcano has been blown away. Make sure to explore several...
Curated OER
Where Did They Come From?
Give science learners nine questions about the biogeography of hydrothermal vents and turn them loose to research this fascinating habitat. Working in cooperative groups, they prepare a report that addresses each of the questions. A...
Curated OER
Groundwater as Part of the Water Cycle
Ninth graders study the effects of soil and rocks on filtering groundwater. In this groundwater lesson students complete a lab activity that includes sources of contamination.
Curated OER
Why Earthquakes Occur
In this earthquake worksheet, students learn about why earthquakes occur. After reading the information, they answer the 12 questions in the packet. The answers are on the last page.
Curated OER
Our Earth
In this Earth's environment worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given 35 clues about a variety of topics related to our Earth. Topics include ecosystems, precipitation, biomes, energy transfer, soil, weathering and rocks.
Curated OER
Hazards: Fourth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Learn about damage associated with earthquakes and materials that best withstand a quake. A lab engages class members in the experimental design and construction of sturdy structures that can endure various earthquake...
Curated OER
Oil and Natural Gas Formation
Students complete a narrative paper and a drawing depicting how the formation of oil and natural gas taken from the Earth's crust were once plants and animals millions of years ago. In this oil and natural gas lesson plan, students read,...
Curated OER
Earth's History
Seventh graders study the law of superposition by creating models of fossils in layers of rock. They examine how fossils are usually found in sedimentary rock which leads to the study of geologic history in those rocks.
Curated OER
Soil Porosity, Moisture Content, pH, and Density
This lab activity does not have to be done with AP environmental scientists. It can also be done with middle to high school earth scientists. The procedures aren't complex. Learners determine the density of dry and wet sand in order to...
Curated OER
Greenhouse Gases: The Chemistry Behind the Culprits
Ninth graders investigate the effect of different gases in the atmosphere. In this chemistry lesson, 9th graders explain how these gases contribute to global warming. They suggest possible solutions to this growing problem.
Curated OER
Cooking with the Sun!
Students access prior knowledge of solar energy and understand that solar energy produces heat. In this solar cooker instructional activity, students complete grade appropriate experiments using the heat of the sun. Students complete a...
Curated OER
The Spectrum of a Star
Tenth graders identify stars based on their line spectra. In this astronomy activity, 10th graders analyze spectrograph and determine the elements present in the star. They explain the relationship between temperature and star classes.