Curated OER
Images of Our Changing Earth
Students identify and explain that remote sensing can detect changes on the Earth's surface that occur over time, and name at least three: urbanization, deforestation, and succession. They select a global change issue to investigate and...
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Terraqua Columns
Students participate in a discussion about their personal ecosystem and the organisms they interact with on a daily basis. After a discussion, they work in groups to build TerrAqua columns, which they work with for a two to three week...
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Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Learners discuss biodiversity and how to preserve it before examining biodiversity first-hand in an area close to their school. They collect as many leaves as possible from trees and plants and research them when upon returning to the...
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New York City Water Quality Assessment Project
Students investigate the chemistry of water and how its molecular structure supports life through its biochemcial, physical, and environmental roles. They investigate the quality of water as it interacts with the environment. Students...
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Producers and Energy Transfer
Fifth graders discuss the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers as they look at the energy pyramid. While working in small groups, they create an ecosystem that includes all or some of the given categories, and they...
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Population Density
Learners use the scientific method to conduct an experiment and use varied methods to gather background information. They correctly use lab equipment and prepare tables and graphs that organize, conclude, and present their findings. ...
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Making A Terrarium
Students make a terrarium from common household items that are brought to class. They can be creative with materials but the method is set for how the mini-lab is set up. Students read a book about an ecosystem to stimulate the topic for...
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Native Versus Exotic
Students investigate the presence of exotic and natural species in the ecosystem. They define the differences between exotic and native while looking at one specific ecosystem in Maryland. They write how the exotic species are considered...
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Getting Around Clean And Green
Students investigate various aspects of transportation while working with different resources to conduct research. The research is used to find information in order to create a presentation that includes writing and graphing.
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Koi Pond
Learners engage in a creative project of making a paper koi pond meant to illustrate the type of life that can be found in the pond ecosystem. They build cultural appreciation for the Japanese by researching the use of the koi ponds.
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The Edge of Home
Students explain why some species of plants and animals occur in more than one area. They watch as the teacher puts an overlapping circles on the chalkboard, students are asked to predict what kinds of things they would expect to find in...
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Habitat Mural
Learners build a collage of an ecosystem. The goal is for them to understand interactions in a community, plant and animal adaptations, and how all life depends on plants. This activity is based on Wump World and students describe what...
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Look Up - Birds
Students investigate the concept of birds. They identify five different types of birds and name the characteristics that make them different than other living things. Students also name the different parts of the bird and how they are...
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Information Fluency Unit
Fourth graders, after defining the task and searching for some creative strategies, role play being a Park Ranger who tries to save Big Bend from being removed from the National Park system in Texas. They support the keeping of Big Bend...
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Web of Life
Students collect information about various organisms in a forest ecosystem and create a mural that depicts organism interdependence. They then simulate a food web using a ball of string.
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Forest Food Web
Students explore the elements of a forest ecosystem. They examine the elements needed to form a forest food web. Students construct and describe food webs that include nonliving elements of the ecosystem.
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Investigating Local Ecosystems
Students investigate the habitats of local plants and animals. They explore some of the ways animals depend on plants and each other. Students observe living organisms in a local ecosystem and create detailed drawings and descriptions...
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The Rain Forest
Students acquire knowledge about the basics of the tropical rain forest ecosystem. They analyze the cause/effect relationship between humans attitudes and behavior and the evnvironment. Students list the four general layers of vegetation...
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Water Retention and Soil Variation in Local Ecosystems
Students identify the differences in local soil types and the relationship between soil size and water retention. They are introduced to microenvironmental conditions in ecosystem sustainability.
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Trophic Relationships, Cycling of Chemicals, Human Impact on Ecosystems and Conservation
Students explore how the energy flow through a system is related to trophic levels. They investigate how organisms affect the cycling of elements and water through the biosphere. Students participate in lab activities to observe ways...
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Nature and Fintess Trail
Students investigate how humans impact the environment and compile an organism database into an e-book field guide. They name muscle groups and develop specific exercises to strengthen these groups. Students utilize technology for data...
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Treasure Hunt
Learners actively search a the ground outside and find several types of leaves, lichen, feathers and trash. They place items into journals, write entries, draw pictures and ask questions about the items found on their exploration.
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Why preserve biodiversity?
Middle schoolers view photos of endangered species on the Internet and discuss the reasons why these animals are threatened and why they should be protected. They use the words: biodiversity, ecosystem, and extinction in sentences to...
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Forest Floor Terrarium
Students study the aspects of a forest floor ecosystem, including decomposition, the water cycle, food webs, the needs of living things, and physical vs. chemical change over an extended period. In addition, students conduct observations...