Biospheres

Students play a game of hopscotch as they simulate birds migrating north through wetlands. They compare the game to real bird migration and discuss how the health of the wetlands is proportional to the health of birds.

Students are introduced to the water cycle and water movement in soil. In this water cycle lesson, students explore how water moves through the water cycle and discuss water sources, natural reservoirs, soil infiltration rates and...

The relationships within and between ecosystems can be explored. after examining an area for living and non-living things students complete the same examination in the forest ecosystem. Students identify abiotic and biotic elements in an...

Students examine the relationship between water retention and plant growth by conducting two experiments. They first compare the water retention qualities of clay, sand and loam soil types. Then they use the data from the first...

For this complex game about the carbon cycle, the playing field is divided into air, living, and earth zones. Children are assigned to be either plants or animals, and collect carbon tokens as they proceed from zone to zone. While the...

Life exists where three spheres—goesphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere—come together and interact. A video lesson explains the progression of instruction related to this biosphere. The instructor discusses the connection between life...

The human impact on the earth's systems often has unintended consequences.  A comprehensive video lesson builds a progression for teaching the standards ESS3C in elementary through secondary classrooms. Instruction focuses on the human...

Everybody needs somebody... especially in nature! Show your young ecologists the finer points of NGSS standard LS2A, Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems, using the helpful ideas in the video. The narrator discusses the...

Students use a hopscotch course to simulate the problems birds incur as they are migrating due to loss of wetlands.

Students explore the unique Rain Forest. In this Rain Forest lesson, students watch a video about the dangers the Rain Forest faces. Students create a Rain Forest mobile. Students choose  plants or animals from the Rain Forest then write...