All mammals have warm blood, are vertebrates, breathe with their lungs, have hair or fur on their bodies, and produce milk for their young. But not all mammals give birth to their young in the same manner. Watch a video that explains how...

Take young padawans on a journey towards ultimate relaxation with a series of Star Wars themed yoga poses. Following a mindful and imaginative story, the force is strong with stretches including the Rey's Pole, R2D2, Yoda, and more! 

With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...

The need for a respiratory system in humans versus being reliant on gas exchange structures is demonstrated. There are many details about the advantages and disadvantages of each mechanism.  Students are able to learn about the...

New ReviewMiddle schoolers apply what they learned in the previous lesson about mindful yoga to design a project to help a teen cope with a stressful situation in a healthy way. Groups role play explaining the benefits of their approach and...

New ReviewStanding pose, tree pose, warrior pose, easy pose. Middle schoolers learn several basic yoga exercises and poses that can help them relax. They also keep a four-week stress log to track stressful situations and how they dealt with them.

Over 52 pages, a unit offers lessons and activities that define stress, practices breathing techniques, brings awareness to triggers, refocuses worries and fears, and offers various problem solving skills. The unit ends with a review of...

A pinwheel encourages deep breathing to calm one's body and recenter their thoughts. Scholars breathe into a personal pinwheel with different types of breathing patterns then answer a question about how they feel. 

Everything you ever wanted to know about mindful meditation can be found in this New York Times article. The article contains information about what mindful meditation is and what it isn't, about how to and how not to practice the...

Instill the importance of mindfulness with six breathing exercises. Scholars trace shapes using their fingers, following arrows that tell them when to breathe in and when to breathe out. Exercises increase by counts of breath in and out.

Crazy fact: Some animals can survive months without oxygen. An online resource describes some unique ways animals collect oxygen and even live without it for an extended time. Learners read about these special animals and use pop-up...

Stress makes a mess of our minds and bodies. Like a vicious circle, stress causes our bodies to tense and makes it more difficult to get rid of the stress. Break the cycle for you and your students by practicing progressive relaxation....

Scholars calm their minds and bodies with a 5-5-5 breathing exercise. Learners breathe in for five seconds, out for five seconds, then wait five seconds to start again. The exercise takes one minute to complete. 

Wouldn't it be lovely if cancer detection could be as easy as blowing into a tube? Alas, the process is very complicated. Follow along as the narrator explains some of the problems in using a device like a breathalyzer to detect cancer....

Create emotional superheroes with a unit equipped with several activities and lessons designed to establish coping skills and practice tools that boost healthy habits. Through discussion, chants, writing, and drawing, scholars learn to...

More asthma attacks happen at higher altitudes, but why? Scholars complete worksheets, learning about homeostasis and feedback related to breathing. Then, they work in small groups to experiment with breathing in limited amounts of...

Do animals breathe faster when given more oxygen or more carbon dioxide? Young scientists observe the respiration rates of locusts under a variety of gas concentrations to answer that very question. They collect data, analyze the...

It may be difficult for some humans to walk and chew gum at the same time ... but reptiles can't breathe while running at all! Compare the skeletal systems of reptiles and mammals in the first installment of Brain Scoop's fossils and...

What triggers asthma? What are the symptoms of an asthma attack? Watch a video that explains how asthma affects the respiratory system and the extra work the lungs have to do when a person is undergoing an asthma attack.

Scholars create a model of the human respiratory system in the seventh lesson in a series of 10. They use their models to demonstrate breathing and answer analysis questions.

What does digestion have to do with aerobic respiration? Watch a video that explains the processes and systems in our bodies that allow oxygen to travel throughout.