Your class will agree that this is the best way to demonstrate the greenhouse effect: making solar s'mores! Using a clear plastic cups as mini atmospheres, lab groups compare how adding different materials affects the melting rate of...

Model how the sun's energy strikes the planet and help your class relate it to a climate map. Assign small groups an individual climate zone to discuss. They reflect on and research how humans survive in the assigned climate and write a...

Several subjects are addressed within the context of a science activity about the sun's ultraviolet rays. Elementary earth scientists consider protection of the skin with sunscreens (health), estimating and measuring surface area or an...

Lub-dub, lub-dub. Why does the heart beat? Why does blood circulate throughout the body? Life scientists find out how important circulation is for dissolving and dispersing materials by timing how long it takes for food coloring spread...

Break hearts with this lesson plan: chicken or sheep hearts, that is! Your class examines the external and internal structure of the heart with a dissection activity. A handy anatomy resource provides the necessary materials for...

Small groups place sand and ice in a covered box, place the box in the sunlight, then observe as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation occur. These models serve as miniature water cycles and demonstrations of the three phases of...

Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...

One of water's claims to fame is as the universal solvent. Young physical scientists experiment to discover which materials dissolve in this special compound. You could never be more prepared for teaching this lesson than by using this...

What a festive way to examine what happens to the heart in different gravitational situations! Small groups place a water-filled balloon in different locations (on a table top, in a tub of water, and held in a vertical position), drawing...

Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...

Though it isn't a novel activity to prepare onion cell and Elodea plant cell slides as examples of cells in a microbiology unit, this resource will leave you thoroughly prepared. As pupils examine the slides that they prepare, they draw...

In an introductory lesson, youngsters take a pre-assessment quiz, get a grasp of a gram of mass, and then estimate the mass of microorganisms that live within a human body. Using Glo Germ™, a material that allows you to simulate the...

Life science learners need to be able to use a microscope. With this comprehensive resource, they first experience how lenses and magnification work, and then get familiar with using a compound microscope. Tremendous background...

Following directions from a colorful slide preparation card, beginning biologists examine three different live microorganisms: bacteria, yeast, and paramecia. This is not an unusual activity to do with your class, but if you are doing it...

Small groups of life science learners look at Allison's symptoms and discuss a diagnosis. They use a chart of illnesses and draw symptom clues from an envelope to determine what illness she has. A lesson plan like this gives children an...

Clever! In order to compare indoor and outdoor dispersal rates for the movement of gases and particles through air, collaborators will participate in a classroom experiment. Set up a circular grid and set students on lines that are...

With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...

In class, your emerging environmentalists construct dust catchers. They take them home for a week or two, and then bring them back into class to examine under a magnifier. From this activity, they learn what makes up dust and that...

In lab groups, young scientists place aluminum cans with a bubble-solution cap into different temperatures of water to see what size of bubble dome forms. As part of an atmosphere unit in preparation for learning about convection...

Here’s a must-have resource for anyone using The Grapes of Wrath. Everything from guiding questions to background information, from photographs to documentary films, from activities to assessments is included in a richly detailed packet...

What a fun way to review the year's learning! Working in small groups, learners select a major concept covered in class then create a game about it. The type of game is up to each group, but the expectations of what should be included...

Groups of three scientists from the rocky planet Zog investigate the composition of soil so that they can take the information back to their home, create soil there, and begin to grow food.

Looking for an interesting text to share the world of microbes with your middle school classroom? The edition contains explanations, worksheets, experiments, discussions, and links to outside sources for a true and complete...

Only 10 percent of an incandescent bulb's energy is used to create light; the remaining 90 percent is heat. In the unit of activities, young chemists examine energy through hands-on activities, videos, discussions, and...