How much do you really know about our planet? Middle schoolers build up their prior knowledge about Earth, its placement in the solar system, its composition, and important geological vocabulary with an introductory earth science lesson.

Winter, spring, summer, and fall—take the learning of the seasons beyond the elementary level to the middle school classroom. Curious learners begin by watching videos about the seasons and the rotation of planet Earth. Then,...

Give your pupils a front row seat at the biggest light show in the sky this year! In addition to admiring the total solar eclipse, young astronomers can explain the phenomenon with a little help from an inquiry-based lesson plan. The...

Out of this world math and science are mixed together on a worksheet that would be a great enrichment activity classrooms that are studying our solar system. The information presented is best suited toward middle school math, and...

What is a Leap Year and why do we have it? Find out with this Leap Day/Leap Year response to reading activity in which scholars read a short passage and use their new-found knowledge to answer five questions with short...

Learners study wind speed and collect wind speed data. For this wind speed lesson, students visit a website to learn about the local wind speed forecast for their week. Learners discuss wind and wind speed. Students collect wind speed...

Third graders consider outer space. For this introductory solar system lesson, 3rd graders complete a KWL chart and listen to the story The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen. They will...

Third graders create a model of the solar system. In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders create a scale model of the solar system. Working in pairs students solve mathematical problems to correctly measure the distance each planet is...

Third graders examine the phases of the moon. In this moon phase lesson, 3rd graders listen to a read aloud of The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M. Branley and discuss the phases of the moon. They complete a moon phase calendar and...

Students graph the upwelling and downwelling of shortwave radiation. They create a data table with the information. Students compute the Watts per square meter. They discuss their results and whether or not cloud type affects daily...

Students share what they comprehend about the space shuttle program. They are given information about the first space shuttle mission. Students work in groups to investigate the different shuttle missions from April 1981 through January...