Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hurricane Katrina Relief

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research philanthropic organizations that helped after Hurricane Katrina. They organize a collection drive to contribute to the nonprofit organization. They reflect on their efforts.
Lesson Plan
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Lake Superior Ecology Unit

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders research Lake Superior and its ecosystem. Students investigate the lake's cycles of mixing and stratification and how these cycles affect the biology of the lake. This lesson plan contains five days of activities.
Lesson Plan
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Capital for Cookies

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore how land, labor, capital, and enterprise relate to the Food and Fiber System. They write a story about a company they would open in the community, create a company to make an agricultural product and discuss the various...
Lesson Plan
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Plastics and Rubber: What's the Difference?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students observe how to classify things into groups based on physical properties.  In this plastic and rubber lesson students group and sort items to help them to better identify properties. 
Lesson Plan
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Mississippi’s Electricity: From Generation to Consumption

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders discover how electricity is produced. In this physics lesson, 8th graders infer about the future of Mississippi's energy industry. They participate in a Smart Board interactive activity at the end of the lesson.
Lesson Plan
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A Comparison of Cloud Coverage Over Africa

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students use a NASA satellite data to contrast amounts of cloud coverage over different climate regions in Africa. They explore how Earth's major air circulations affect global weather patterns, and relate to local weather patterns.
Lesson Plan
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Erosion

For Teachers 4th
Young scientists identify erosion, explain the causes of erosion, and name some techniques that can slow the process of erosion. Learners are divided up into groups of four and perform a simulation of soil erosion in class. The...
Lesson Plan
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Two Beets Or Not Two Beets—What Is Your Question?

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students use the scientific method to test an idea regarding the structures of a plant as it supports the biological evidence for life. In this growing roots lesson plan, students use organizing sheets to record their findings. Students...
Lesson Plan
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Your Own El Nino

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Learners conduct an experiment.  In this El Nino lesson plan, students learn where El Nino storms come from, what they consist of and what effects they have.  Learners also complete an experiment where they create a miniature...
Lesson Plan
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Is That Natural?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine how they use and waste natural resources. They participate in a class discussion about natural resources, in small groups complete a worksheet identifying ways students misuse natural resources, and create an...
Lesson Plan
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Making a Cave

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars discuss caves. In this science lesson, students experiment with how dissolution, a chemical weathering process, leads to the formation of caves. Once the cave is finsihed young scholars draw a picture or describe in...
Lesson Plan
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Making Decisions: Packaging and the Environment

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students work in small groups to redesign the packaging of several common items. They attempt to reach the goal of 25% reduction in packaging materials currently used and explore the impact of various materials and designs in landfills...
Lesson Plan
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Kidney Filtering

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate how kidneys function. They discuss how a dialysis machine works, and conduct an experiment in which they filter different substances through a plastic window screen, various sizes of hardware cloth, and poultry...
Lesson Plan
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Vector Voyage!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners use vector analysis to examine the concept of dead reckoning. They listen to a teacher-led lecture, complete a Vector Voyage Worksheet with the teacher, answer discussion questions, and use the Pythagorean Theorem for speed...
Lesson Plan
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The World of Puppets

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students visit given web-sites to find out what puppets look like in different countries and then make a puppet and write a play for it.
Lesson Plan
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Cracking the Code of Life

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the concept of DNA. They work together to extract DNA cells from their classmate's cheek. They answer questions related to what to do with their DNA now that they have it.
Lesson Plan
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Modeling an Oil Reserve

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students conduct an experiment.  In this oil and natural gas lesson, students learn how geoscientists identify and explore reserves of petroleum.  Students make a model of an oil reserve, record how much it would cost to drill...
Lesson Plan
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Soil Properties

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students explore the porosity of soil. In this soil lesson, students conduct an experiment which shows the porosity of different types of soil. They use sand, silt, and clay to see how soil particles are more or less aerated and thus...
Lesson Plan
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Change Since 1609

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students recognize how the climate of the Hudson Valley has changed since the last glaciation. They explain these changes using a reconstruction of the land use changes in the Hudson Valley composed of confetti, Ziploc bags and other...
Lesson Plan
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Paleoclimate of the Hudson Valley

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students recognize how the climate of the Hudson Valley has changed since the last glaciation and be able to explain these changes. They reconstruct the paleoclimate of the Hudson Valley.
Lesson Plan
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Sink or Float

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders explore floating and sinking and make predictions about whether certain objects are likely to sink or float. They read the story Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen. Pupils loacate rhyming words and discuss the events of...
Lesson Plan
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Land Use Change Introduction

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss the major changes that have taken place in the Hudson Valley over the past 400 years. They use aerial photos to describe major trends in Dutchess County. Students view a PowerPoint presentation. They work in small groups...
Lesson Plan
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Hudson Valley Rocks

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students identify each of the rocks provided and locate where in the valley they are found. They explain why the rocks came to be as they are in each location. In addition, they relate the exercise to how the Hudson Valley's geologic...
Lesson Plan
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Glacial Groundwater

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Students study glacial deposition and groundwater in Dutchess County, new York. They identify the permeability rates in different glacial deposits and relate this information to ground water capacity of sediments found in Dutchess...