Step into the great outdoors and develop young scientists' skills of observation with a nature journaling lesson. Given a specific focus or goal, children practice making and recording observations of nature through written descriptions...

A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this lesson which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our solar system, young...

Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...

In this habitat project digital science journal worksheet, students use a digital camera or camcorder to create a science journal about a habitat they have studied.  This page includes links to helpful web resources for planning and...

A website all about planetary mysteries—it's a one-stop-shop for all things, stars, planets, and space travel. Scholars read an astronomy overview to discover the page's big ideas, then choose from the plethora of resources, including...

Magnetic resonance imaging, just how safe is it? The introduction to unit study of magnetic resonance imaging technology presents the grand challenge questions of how an MRI machine works, the risks involved, the physics involved,...

In this writing worksheet, students fill out an outline about a plant that will lead them to writing a 3-paragraph summary. Students include a topic sentence and 4-5 details for each paragraph.

Almost every ancient culture observed the stars and saw pictures in the patterns. Studying stars allowed them to guide travelers, determine when to plant crops, when to harvest food, and the stories surrounding the images include some of...

Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...

Thinking about designing a project for your social studies or environmental science classes? Use an overview of a project that prompts class groups to research an environmental issue.

What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...

As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...

Rock out with the second installment of a five-part series on earth materials and processes. Your budding geologists make observations of given rock samples and posit classification systems for rocks. They then learn about the...

Students see evidence of chemical reaction and follow the scientific method to hypothesize, observe, and reach conclusions. They conduct a series of egg based experiments such as forming crystals and complete journal activities as a...

Have your young scientists explore a single element of the water cycle and write a report to explain findings. Your class can take their writing through all the steps of the writing process and publish it using a Web-based multimedia...

Explain the importance of radioactive half-life as your high school biologists demonstrate the concept by performing a series of steps designed to simulate radioactive decay. Pupils use pennies to perform an experiment and gather data....

What does the past have to do with today? Young scientists find that answer as they learn more about past chemists and their significant contributions to the field. Pupils use the Internet to research historical figures...

What's so amazing about birds? Find out just how amazing birds are with a physics of animal behavior unit created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Have learners explore and tap into their observational skills and notice how birds fly, what...

The 3 steps of the water cycle, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, are the focus of this lesson. After a neat demonstration of rain using hot water, a pie tin, and ice cubes, young scientists observe and discuss the elements...

Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...

Students read the book, The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System, and discuss the planets visited by the characters in the book. They write journal entries from the viewpoint of E.T., writing letters home describing his travels in...

Pupils create a visual organizer that describes different groups of vertebrates in this pre-writing activity. They view and discuss a video on descriptive writing and then form small groups to research vertebrate classes using the internet.

First graders observe a spider and write sentences about what they see the spider doing. In this writing lesson plan, 1st graders draw what they see, then make an edible spider out of marshmallows and twizzlers. A fun, delicious lesson...

Learners explore the topic of energy conservation. They identify energy sources, complete a chart and a questionnaire, and write two paragraphs summarizing the lesson information and ways to conserve energy.