Rainforest Alliance
Trees and Carbon
You'll find everything but the kitchen sink here ... or just a carbon sink. In the activity, pairs or groups of middle school learners go outside and measure a tree's circumference and height to estimate its carbon storage potential and...
NOAA
The Biogeochemical Cycle
The biogeochemical cycle ... no physics? The fourth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program introduces the biogeochemical cycle by having pupils simulate movement between Earth's...
US Geological Survey
The Water Cycle for Schools: Beginner Ages
Explore a day in the life of a water droplet. An interactive infographic helps scholars learn how water cycles work from precipitation all the way around to condensation. Learners hover over each step of the cycle to read more as they...
Curated OER
Drip... Drop... Raindrops
Students demonstrate the steps of evaporation, cloud formation, and precipitation within the water cycle. They make and demonstrate how to use a hygrometer to record daily humidity and describe how rain, snow, and sleet form.
Curated OER
Trends of Snow Cover and Temperature in Alaska
Students gather historical snow cover and temperature data from the MY NASA DATA Web site. They compare this data to data gathered using ground measurements from the ALISON Web site for Shageluk Lake. They graph both sets of data and...
Curated OER
Storm Clouds-- Fly over a Late Winter Storm onboard a NASA Earth Observing Satellite
Students study cloud data and weather maps to explore cloud activity. In this cloud data instructional activity students locate latitude and longitude coordinates and determine cloud cover percentages.
Wild BC
The Greenhouse Effect: Warming the Earth Experiment
First in a two-part lesson on the greenhouse effect, this lesson involves a classroom demonstration of the phenomenon, and a lab group experiment with color and absorption. Although there are easier ways to demonstrate the greenhouse...
Rainforest Alliance
Forests of Guatemala
With 90 percent of its land area covered in forests, Suriname, a country in South America, contains the largest percentage of forests throughout the world. Here is an activity that brings classmates together to learn about the...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Your class sets up a mini water cycle model to examine the process. Then they watch an animation, following a water molecule through the cycle. A well-developed lab sheet guides learners through the lesson and a PowerPoint presentation...
Florida International University
Design Your Own
Apply scientific principles to designing an experiment to study organisms living on the coral reef in our oceans. Through reading, individuals learn about the coral reef ecosystem and important factors that affect its function....
NOAA
El Niño
El Nino, La Nina ... and the Santa Maria? The 11th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program explains the mechanism of El Nino/Southern Oscillation. Pupils use previous data to determine...
National Wildlife Federation
The Amazing Adventures of Carbon: How Carbon Cycles through the Earth
Here's a stat for your pupils: 18 percent of the human body is carbon! Part 10 in the series of 12 takes pairs on an adventure through the carbon cycle. After a class reading about carbon, pairs read and choose their own adventure...
Curated OER
NIGHT AND DAY: DAILY CYCLES IN SOLAR RADIATION
Students examine how Earth's rotation causes daily cycles in solar energy using a microset of satellite data to investigate the Earth's daily radiation budget and locating map locations using latitude and longitude coordinates.
Curated OER
Too Heavy For Me
Students explore the different arrangement of air molecules in high and low air pressure masses. They compare the temperature of high and low pressure masses and discover how a barometer works.
Curated OER
Blowin' in the Wind
Students discover how wind is created on earth: changes in temperatures and air pressure. They list good and bad effects of the wind and make a weather vane and practice using it for 2 weeks.
Curated OER
Weather Watchers
Students identify basic weather instruments and how they are used to record weather data. Students define several vocabulary terms as stated in lesson. Students use basic instruments to record weather data in their area. Students use the...
Curated OER
Comparing the Effects of El Nino and La Nina
Students examine the differences between an El Nino and La Nina year. In this investigative lesson plan students create maps and graphs of the data they obtained.
Curated OER
Radiation Comparison Before and After 9-11
Using the NASA website, class members try to determine if changes could be detected in cloud cover, temperature, and/or radiation measurements due to the lack of contrails that resulted from the halt in air traffic after the attacks...
Curated OER
Solar/Lunar Eclipses and the Seasons
How do the moon, sun, and Earth line up to create eclipses? Why do the seasons change throughout a year? The answers to these questions are explained through this series of slides. This apt presentation outlines information using bullet...
NOAA
Tracking a Drifter
Be shore to use this drifter resource. The third installment of a five-part series has learners using the NOAA's Adopt-a-Drifter website to track to movement of a drifter (buoy) in the ocean. Graphing the collected data on a map allows...
American Museum of Natural History
Planetary Mysteries
Get to know our little part of the vast universe. Learners read about the common and not-so-common facts about each of the planets in the solar system. The interactive lesson includes a large amount of information as well as a quiz to...
Curated OER
Dissolved Oxygen and Respiration
Students are presented with the question, "Do plants that grow underwater use oxygen?" They create an experiment to test the presence of dissolved oxygen in the water using provided materials. Student experiments include a control jar as...
Curated OER
Tides in the Hudson
Students view an illustration of the Hudson River watershed and identify the bodies of water shown. They discuss what happens when fresh and salt water mix. Students view a teacher demonstration of the stratification of fresh and salt...
Curated OER
Earth's Water
If the majority of our planet is covered with water, why do we need to bother conserving it? With a thorough and varied investigation into the location and types of water on the earth, learners will gain an understanding of why this...