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Plate Tectonic Cycle
Learners explore the Earth's movements by completing worksheets. In this plate tectonics lesson, students define such natural disasters as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and mudslides and discuss their connections to plate tectonics....
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Landslides
Young scholars study a natural disaster. In this landslides facts lesson, students discover how and why landslides happen and how they have an effect on people. They discuss this information as a class and then work in small groups to...
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Model Volcanoes
Students discover what causes earthquakes, volcanoes and floods. Using this information, they discuss how these natural disasters change the surface of the Earth. In groups, they make models, draw pictures and make them erupt.
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Droughts
Learners discuss a natural disaster. In this droughts lesson plan, students discover how droughts occur and how they affect the society dealing with one. They discuss how the population of Australia deals with droughts and work on...
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Learning About Weather
First graders investigate natural weather disasters by writing an essay. In this weather lesson, 1st graders research one aspect of dangerous weather such as hurricanes, snow, floods, etc. Students take notes on their research and...
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Water-Is There Going to be Enough?
Students research the availability, usage and demand for water in the local area historically and use projections of the availability, usage and demand for water up to the year 2050. They gather data and present the information in...
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Exploring Volcanoes
Fifth graders use the ERIC database to find information on volcanoes. At the end of their research they present their findings, draw a volcano, and write bout what they found interesting about it. They also classify and categorize the...
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Getting Fired Up
Students explore first-person accounts of volcanic eruptions throughout time and use second-hand information about volcanoes. They use both types of accounts to write news articles covering the events of a historic volcanic eruption as...
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Tornado!
Students examine the characteristics and types of tornadoes. They discuss how they are formed, conduct an experiment with two liter bottles, analyze data and determine mean and median, and design a house to withstand tornado-force winds
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TE Activity: Survive That Tsunami!
Students examine the causes of tsunamis and observe a table top wave making machine. They make model houses while working in groups so that the can see how different construction types work. They discuss how engineers can design and...
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Volcanic Activity in the U.S.
Students locate and map ten volcanoes in United States, create chart comparing volcanoes by last eruption, type of volcano, location, and interesting fact, and create Powerpoint slide show describing basic
information about volcanoes and...
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Living in a Watershed
Fourth graders examine watersheds. In this ecosystem lesson, 4th graders discover what a watershed is and identify the local watershed they live in. Students investigate the attributes of a watershed as well.
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Environmental Health Hazards and Children
Students are introduced to the environmental hazards their community is facing. In groups, they develop a list of the ways humans have changed the Earth and how these changes have lead to environmental hazards. They record their...
Project SMART
Rocks and Minerals: Touch the Earth
Students complete a unit of lessons on rocks and minerals. They conduct research, write e-mail questions to geologists, write daily journal entries, label maps demonstrating types of rocks/minerals found, and create a web page that...
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Food Pesticides and Their Risks to Children
Students examine an industrial disaster in India which affected the food for generations to come. In groups, they research the history of pesticides and place them into groups based on the type of pests they control. They partcipate in...
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Animals of Point Reyes
Seventh graders explore how disasters affect animals. In this animal habitats lesson students create an animal that will survive in Point Reyes habitats.
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Volcanoes and People
Students discover that volcanic eruptions are geologic events that take place within the upper part and on the surface of the Earth's lithosphere. They explain how volcanoes are related to the Earth's lithosphere. They focus on the May...
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Matter in Motion
Second graders examine matter, what it is and what the different states are. In this matter lesson plan students view The Magic School Bus Meets Molly Cule and answer questions.
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Weather Alert
Students become familiar with the effects of weather on humans. For this weather pattern lesson, students identify weather patterns and how people can prepare for them. Students complete a weather research sheet.
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Drifting Continents
Learners, through teacher-led demonstration, explore the idea of continental drift. They complete a worksheet involving the calculation of continental drift over time.
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Earthquakes
Sixth graders explain that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults. They list the major geologic events including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and mountain building, which are the result of crustal plate...
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Weather the Storm
Fourth graders complete multi-curricular activities for weather. In this weather instructional activity, 4th graders complete creative writing, research, and weather data analysis activities for the instructional activity.
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Oil Spill
Students explore an important role of environmental engineers by studying the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They experiment with different strategies in order to clean up their own manufactured oil spill.
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Radiation Reassessed
Students investigate the dangers of radiation by exploring recent nuclear tragedies. In this scientific debate lesson plan, students define the idea of radiation "half life" and determine if low doses of radiation are truly damaging to...