Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Young scholars examine birdseed to see if it is a fertilized seed. In this birdseed garden lesson, students experiment with birdseed on a sponge to see what grows. Young scholars record the growth of seeds.
Curated OER
Get to Know: Mammals
Students discover the mammals in their community. In this animal lesson plan, students survey their school grounds for signs of mammals. Students examine tracks, droppings, and other signs of wildlife to learn more about the animals and...
Curated OER
Filter-Feeding in Reef Sponges
Learners make observations and describe the filter-feeding in sponges as it relates to the ecological role of sponges on coral reefs. In this filter-feeding in reef sponges lesson plan, students are introduced to the feeding methods of...
Curated OER
Pond Ecology
A lab activity is a great way to incite thoughtful questioning and scientific processes. Pupils will collect organisms with a Petri dish, make observations, sketch the organism, ask questions, then attempt to identify the specimen...
Spreading Gratitude Rocks
Gratitude Bank
Money isn't the only type of currency that fills a piggy bank. Learners practice filling their banks with the the things that make them grateful. Pupils write about their talents, relationships, challenges, and life skills, making...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
What’s In Your Neighborhood?
Chart your way to an understanding of nanoscale. Using a Google map, learners estimate a radius around their location of 1,000 and 1,000,000 meters. Predicting what 1,000,000,000 meters would look like takes them off the charts!...
Critical Thinking Cooperative
Doing Our Share
Whether at home or in the classroom, each member of a community has certain responsibilities they must tend to. With the help of the children's story Piggybook by Anthony Browne, kids learn how to assign jobs in a fair and safe...
Cornell University
Insect IPM
Find out the characteristics that makes a bug an insect with a workbook designed to inform scholars about the crawly creatures that live around us. Scholars complete an ant-themed word search, answer questions using a solution key,...
Curated OER
Does The Type of Mulch Used Affect Plant Growth?
Students measure, record and graph the plants they grow in a controlled setting. They feed and water the plants as needed and use the scientific method to evaluate the growth.
PBS
Season Seeking
It's a time of change. A hands-on activity engages young scientists in a lesson highlighting the change of seasons. They brainstorm indicators of season changes in nature and then look for them. Next, they record observations in a field...
Curated OER
Use Concept Maps to Teach the Transfer of Energy
Practical tips, lessons, and ideas for teaching the transfer of energy.
Curated OER
Falling Leaves Poetry Spinners
Why settle for autumn leaves as classroom decorations when you could use autumn poetry? After taking a nature walk and collecting fall artifacts, including seed pods and fallen leaves, learners demonstrate the movement of the season with...
K12 Reader
Natural Resources
What natural resources are available in your area? Your learners can consider this question after reading a brief passage about natural and renewable resources. After reading, class members respond to five questions related to the reading.
Science Matters
Formative Assessment #1
Discover how much your young scientists know about biotic and abiotic factors with a two-question formative assessment that requires them to observe, list, and describe.
Science Matters
Formative Assessment #3
Thirteen short-answer questions follow a brief food web activity in a formative assessment designed to test knowledge of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them.
Curated OER
Life of an Island: From Mountain to Atoll
Students research the evolution of a volcanic island from origin to erosion. They determine the relative ages of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands given their position in the archipelago.
Curated OER
Biggest Trees in the United States
Young scholars use the Internet (or printed sources) to locate information. They fill in missing information on a graphic organizer (chart) and use the data to answer questions. The research skills help students to develop higher order...
Curated OER
Skeeterville
Students explore insect life by participating in a role-playing activity. In this mosquito life lesson, students listen to a role-play scenario in which they must protect a town from mosquitoes by creating a field guide about the insect....
Curated OER
On the Trail of the Hudson's Migratory Fish
Using data related to the fish in the Hudson River area, learners calculate distance, elapsed time, and growth. They learn about migratory fish, the life cycle of a fish, analyze a map, and answer questions.
Curated OER
Galapagos - Discover the Diversity
Pretend you are exploring a newly discovered species of fish in the Galapagos. Your budding marine biologists access FishBase Database's list of marine/brackish fishes and choose one to research. The link through this website does not...
Curated OER
Seashore Explorers
There are three separate lessons within this resource that can be used together, or that can each stand alone. In the first, five simple activities allow junior scientists to examine the amazing properties of water. In the second, they...
Curated OER
Principles of Flight: Flying Paper Airplanes
Young scholars investigate ways to enhance an object's flying ability. In this model construction lesson, students construct two paper airplanes, one of which is twice as big as the first. Young scholars compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Which Fish Where?
Here is a lesson plan outline that prompts elementary young scholars to graph and analyze data regarding fish caught along the Hudson River. They will review vocabulary and complete 2 worksheets which can be accessed by clicking on the...
Curated OER
To Group of Not to Group - That is the Question!
Upper elementary and middle schoolers use their observation skills to group different kinds of candy by similar characteristics. They debate whether or not we should classify objects. Finally, they learn that biologists have developed a...