Curated OER
Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...
Space Awareness
Britannia Rule the Waves
Could you determine longitude based on measuring time? Early explorers used a longitude clock to do just that. Scholars learn about early exploration and the importance of the invention of the clock. Then pupils build their own longitude...
NASA
Air Temperatures Around the World: Student Activity
Check out climate anomalies just like NASA climatologists! Investigators use a GISTEMP map from NASA to analyze one month of climate anomalies. Scientists look for data extremes and generate possible explanations for observable...
NOAA
What Little Herc Saw
See the underwater world through a different pair of eyes! Middle school marine biologists identify deep-sea organisms by examining images taken by an ROV from the Okeanos Explorer. After determining what creatures lie beneath the...
NASA
Data Literacy Cube: Global Atmospheric Temperature Anomaly Data
Evaluate global temperature anomalies using real-world data from NASA! Climatologists analyze a data set using a literacy cube and differentiated question sheets. Team members evaluate global temperature anomaly data with basic...
American Museum of Natural History
Fossils
Sixteen slides showcase an average day on the job for a paleontologist, Ross MacPhee. Engaging images include world maps and real-world photographs from an archeological dig in Antarctica. A brief description accompanies each slide.
Space Awareness
Navigating with the Kamal
Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...
NOAA
To Explore Strange New Worlds
It's time to boldly go where your class has not gone before! The introductory instructional activity in a five-part series takes young oceanographers aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos to begin a study of ocean exploration. The instructional...
Curated OER
Exploration Yesterday and Today
Students compare and contrast the voyages of early explorers with the space explorations of the present day. After reading the biographies of Benjamin Banneker and Timothy Livengood, students create a Venn Diagram comparing and...
Curated OER
Designing a Crew Exploration Vehicle
Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and...
Curated OER
Water Sources in Cape Verde and West Africa
Young explorers study the scarcity and importance of a continuous supply of fresh water in Cape Verde. They research the five main ways that fresh water is obtained in these countries. Each research group prepares a presentation, and...
Curated OER
An Introduction to the Night Sky and Movement Astronomy
Basically, this is an interactive exploration of educational astronomy software and an app. Young astronomers discover how the apparent motion of the sky relates to Earth's movements and the position of the observer. It is out of this...
National Geographic
Ocean Exploration
Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora! This may be your little ones' best guess as to what it's like to be an explorer! Give them a deeper understanding with this compact examination. A four-minute video introduces them to Robert Ballard,...
NOAA
Ocean Exploration
Sea explorers and scientists have found that because of temperatures being two to three degrees Celsius at the bottom of the ocean, most animals are lethargic in order to conserve energy. In this web quest, pairs of learners read about...
NOAA
Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?
What happens when ice melts? Well ... water happens. When that melting ice is a glacier, the amount of water that results produces change throughout the world. Middle school science sleuths uncover the truth about global...
NOAA
Off Base
How does carbon dioxide affect the world's oceans? The final installment in a series of six lessons has pupils research ocean acidification, then conduct an experiment to witness the delicate balance that exists in our seas. Materials...
Ocean Explorer
Architects of the Coral Reef
Coral Reefs are the focus of a life science lesson plan. Upper graders look at how coral reefs are formed, how the animals and plants reproduce, and the variety of ways that humans benefit from coral reefs around the world. Groups of...
Curated OER
Ocean Exploration: Shapes and Patterns Under the Sea
So many shapes in our vast oceans. Young explorers can discover new shapes in a variety of ways in this lesson. One way is having free exploration with a pattern shape kit handed out by the teacher. Another is by viewing a...
Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow? Discovering How Weather Patterns Affect Natural Cycles
For the warm-up in this cool climate lesson, you will need to click on "Mapping" and then "US Mapping" once you arrive at NOAA's "US Climate at a Glance" page. Earth science explorers realize that 2012 was a warm winter for us. They read...
Curated OER
Where in the World is...?
Students work in groups to locate an appropriate planet where inhabitants of a fictional place can be relocated. They create a PowerPoint presentation to introduce their relocation site, as well as ecosystem information about the site....
Curated OER
Ocean Currents
Students determine how water and wind affect ocean currents. In this science investigation lesson, students follow the provided steps to enable them to consider how explorers may have used ocean currents to their advantage.
Curated OER
Chilean Sea Bass
Introduce your mini-marine biologists to using databases. Tables of how many Chilean Sea Bass were caught and number of hours spent fishing are examined. Using the data, individuals calculate the "Catch per Unit of Effort" for each year....
Curated OER
Magnificent Microscopes Unit Including Mystery and Alternative Assessment Activity
After drawing and labelling a microscope, forensic science explorers use one to solve a simulated murder mystery. They examine each piece of evidence and draw what they observe at each magnification. Working in groups of four, your...
Curated OER
On the Shoulders of Giants
Learners research the important events that were taking place during the major expeditions and make presentations on how they may have influenced the expeditionary teams. There are some excellent websites imbedded in this plan.