Rainforest Alliance
The Long Road to Coffee
During the fourth activity of a series on Colombia, pupils discover the process to which the coffee plant becomes the coffee we drink. Pupils compare how locally grown foods get into homes to how coffee from Colombia gets into their mug.
Health Smart Virginia
Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee
As part of the Health Smart social and emotional learning unit, seventh graders are taught the T.R.A.I.N Method (Talk to others, Resilience, Accept it, Inspiration from others, Need to be prepared) of coping with disappointment and...
Outdoor Learning Center
Outdoor Survival
Which of the following can you survive without for the longest time: water, food, or a positive mental attitude? The answer may surprise you. Guide learners of all ages through games, activities, and discussions about surviving in the...
Poetry Out Loud
The Tabloid Ballad
What do the theme song from Gilligan's Island, the nursery rhyme "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat," and the poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" all have in common? Why, they're ballads of course! Challenge your young balladeers to compose their...
Curated OER
Sustainability
Here is an in-depth, and incredibly thorough lesson plan on sustainable agricultural practices; specifically, regarding the growth of coffee. After completing and discussing a worksheet called "Thinking About Tomorrow," groups of...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Demonstration of Water Pollution
In this teacher-led demonstration, your young environmentalists will observe and record how different types of water pollutants look when they are combined. From here, individuals will develop a hypothesis on how the water can be...
NASA
Food For Thought
Science can be quite tasty. A delectable unit from NASA shows learners why it's important to consider food, nutrition, and health in space. Four lessons explore the idea in great depth, including testing cookie recipes. Along the way,...
Physics Classroom
From a Feather to an Elephant
It is always a rush to drop objects from great heights, and with this physics experiment, class members will not be disappointed! They drop a single coffee filter from a balcony or table top, record the time it takes to reach the ground,...
New York Public Library
What's for Lunch?: New York City Restaurant Menus
Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...
Illustrative Mathematics
3-D Shape Sort
From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
To Filter or Not to Filter
Drinking clean water can be taken for granted. Explore the process and high cost of filtering water with a water pollution and filtration activity. Young scientist build a filtration system to filter polluted water, examine the economics...
National Energy Education Development Project
Great Energy Debate
If someone yelled for eight years and eight months, they could produce enough energy to heat one cup of coffee. A lesson on energy encourages scholars to research 10 different energy sources in groups before playing a game. Twenty...
DiscoverE
Seismic Shake-Up!
Shake your earthquake-resistant building prototype! Groups create structures using coffee stirrers and clay that can withstand seismic waves. They then test their structures against their own earthquakes.
Science Matters
Energy Transfer and Transformation
When you take a simple task and create an exceptionally difficult way to complete it, it is known as a Rube Goldberg machine. These machines are filled with many types of energy transfers and energy transformations. Here, pupils watch...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the ways worms help with changes to the soil...
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
What is the Water Cycle? Activity B
Curious physical scientists follow a lesson plan on the properties of water with this lesson plan on distillation. They observe a miniature water cycle model that filters dirty water into clean water. These two lessons combined are an...
Curated OER
Newton's Law of Cooling
Your Algebra learners analyze and solve an exponential equation in this popular, real-life model of the cooling of a liquid.
Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Does It Soak Right In?
Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign roles...
NOAA
Satellite Communications
How do satellites communicate? What types of satellites orbit Earth? Discover and mimic the way satellites communicate between two points in a hands-on activity that has pupils using mirrors, flashlights, and marbles.
Curated OER
Peregrine Falcon
Young environmentalists study the effects that pesticides have on birds, such as the peregrine falcon. They also look at predator/prey interactions. Some wonderful in-class activities accompany an inventive instructional activity. After...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
DiscoverE
Water Pollution Cleanup
How do scientists determine the best method for removing pollutants from our water sources? Environmental scholars experiment with pollution clean-up options to discover which are the most cost-effective, fastest, and most thorough....
HealthTeacher
Get More Sleep
Help learners identify habits that interfere with sleep and to understand the importance of adequate rest and its impact on not only physical health, but also emotional wellbeing.
Cornell University
Forensic Science: Case of the Missing Diamond Maker
Someone stole a diamond-making machine. Who done it? Scholars use forensic science at six different stations to determine the culprit. They analyze fingerprints, use their senses, and complete chemistry experiments to determine the...