Students research the culture of the Native Americans.  In this U.S. History lesson, students are given the major geological areas where the Indians lived prior to the arrival of the Europeans, then they create a notebook that...

Middle schoolers model a watershed and delineate one using topographic maps. In this hydrology lesson, students use aluminum foil to model a landscape and observe how water moves on it. They also observe the features of a topographic map...

Students investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of minerals. They make a list of the uses of minerals found in Illinois. They write a report individually based on their observations.

Students discover the primary landforms of Illinois. They examine how those landforms were formed as well. In groups, they research one of the landforms from their vocabulary list. They create their landform in a shoebox and present it...

Students investigate water pollution prevention. In this ecology wastewater lesson, students activate prior knowledge about sewage, then view a video explaining the waste water sewage system used in the San Francisco Bay area. Students...

Students study how a geologist examines a hazardous waste spill using an actual site. They use site data to map the spill, find its source and determine how fast the spill is spreading.

Students study the topography of the ocean floor and the geological processes of how it is formed. They summarize what bathymetry, describe how islands are formed and illustrate a bathymetric model of the sea floor.

In this inferences worksheet, students answer multiple choice questions about inferences after they read a passage. Students read 4 passages and answer 10 questions total.

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.

Students examine the impact of geological footprints. In this geography skills instructional activity, students calculate geological footprints and discuss ways to reduce the footprints. Students create advertisements that motivate...

Students use watershed maps to explore the Lake Pontchartrain Basin in Louisiana. In this geography lesson, students identify important features such as elevation, vegetation, cultural, historical and land use on a map of Lake...

Learners read an article about NASA and Mars and complete short answer questions about the article. In this Mars lesson plan, students also create a scale model of the solar system.

Students prepare for a field trip to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and exploration of Ape Cave (see also Ape Cave Exploration). In the absence of a field trip, students become acquainted with lava tubes in general.

Students examine the origin of life on Earth and its evolution through geologic time by participating in a whole class discussion. They respond to prompts that lead them to conclusions about the interactions among the biosphere and the...

Eighth graders practice finding the meaning of words by analyzing the root word. In this root word lesson, 8th graders review a chart of roots, words, and meanings. Students find and list words that have the root of 'geo,' 'terra,' and...

Students are introduced to the powerful nature of glaciers. Using an atlas, they read the section on glaciers and examine pictures of before and after the glacier moved through an area. In groups, they complete a worksheet on the role...

Students investigate gold. In this gold panning lesson, students demonstrate the process of mining through an experiment using two boxes of sand. Students design a safe way to mine gold.

In this geography skills instructional activity, students label a map of Japan and then respond to 8 short answer questions about the country.

In this scientific method worksheet, students read and discuss a 2 page article on the scientific method, match 3 founders of the scientific method with what they found or produced, answer 4 statements as true or false, list 3 crucial...

Students explore the five basic elements of Monart, dot, curved line, straightline, and angle line to create a book about their home address. The concept of "big" is explored in this lesson.

Students look into the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In this chemistry lesson, students look at the hydrocarbon molecule through a model and see what happens when energy is released. They watch as the water vapor leaves...

Young scholars investigate how permeable different materials are. In this physics lesson, students determine what affects permeability and how permeability relates to oil production.

Students examine the combined subjects of anthropology and sociology and explain how the disciplines would study the same issue. On poster board, they locate or draw pictures related to the two subjects. Once this is completed, students...

Students make observations, estimates, and interpretations. They view Images of the James River at Belle Island, Virginia, including one at flood stage, a plot of peak stream flow since 1935, and an image of potholes in the Petersburg...