Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy
Energize an environmental science unit on natural resources with this collection of instructional materials. From simple coloring sheets for primary grade children, to guiding questions for a high school research report, a wide variety...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Tree Rings: Living Records of Climate
Open with a discussion on weather and climate and then explain how tree rings can provide scientists with information about the earth's past climate. Pupils analyze graphics of simulated tree rings from various US locations for the...
Curated OER
Magazine Project
Groups of students create magazines that contain stories and images of one aspect of the ocean, and ocean life. The expectations for the final products are quite high, so this lesson will require some effort to properly implement. A...
National Gardening Association
Migration Mishaps
Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...
Prince William Network
The Incredible Journey
Divide your school gym into breeding grounds and non-breeding grounds so that your zoologists can play a game simulating the seasonal migration of shorebirds. Players pick one of the included game cards and follow its directions, which...
Clean Up Australia
Why are Batteries Harmful to the Environment?
Open this lesson plan by reading together about primary and secondary batteries (such as nickel-cadmium cells), problems they can cause in the environment, and how humans can minimize the damage. Afterward, little ones examine a...
National Geographic
Spot Where You DON'T Get Your Seafood
When your class is examining the fishing industry or sustainable practices, you can use this brief activity to demonstrate the global impact our food choices have. Overharvesting, overfishing, and bycatch are important topics to address...
Curated OER
Biome Project
Students research a specific biome. In this earth science lesson, students choose a project to complete that will display key characteristics of their biome. Each project has a description of what should be included.
National Science Teachers Association
Adopt-a-Dino
Earth historians research a specific dinosaur, write a paper about the Mesozoic era that it lived in, create an artistic rendition of the environment, and give a presentation in class about what they learned. Be aware that there are...
Teach Engineering
Messin' with Mixtures
Do you separate your trail mix before eating it? Then you've been separating mixtures your whole life! Scholars model a contaminated soil sample using trail mix and estimate the percentage of each component. They consider how to clean up...
NOAA
Earth Origami
After reading a brief history of Carl Skalak's journey on the open waters, scholars make a three-dimensional model of the Earth out of an Origami balloon using a printable decorated as the Earth.
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...