Curated OER
Sea and Ice Salinity
Learners conduct an experiment. In this salinity lesson, students learn about sea ice, why it is important and how changing amounts can affect the sea. Learners conduct an experiment to find out the effects of salinity on the...
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Fourth graders participate in an activity which introduces them to common types of precipitation. They examine "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" through a teacher read aloud and make a weather pamphlet.
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Making Hail
Fourth graders investigate the different types of precipitation and conduct a hail experiment. They identify the types of precipitation during a slideshow, and define key vocabulary terms. Next, in small groups they follow the...
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Let's Take a Rock Apart!
Students examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.
Curated OER
Web of Life Game: Trout
Students explore the concept of food webs. In this food web lesson, students demonstarte the connection between species. Students use a ball of string show how the food web works, then have a class discussion.
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Household Pests
Sixth graders discover the various habitat requirements for assorted household pests from ants to wasps. They conduct various activities including researching the life cycles moths, cockroaches, and mosquitoes
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Seeds and Similarities
Students use the scientific inquiry method to identify the changes in a plant's life cycle. In groups, they plant different types of plants and use a chart to compare and contrast their growth rates. They share their conclusions with...
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Lake Superior Ecology Unit
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 contains five days of activities.
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Caterpillar Habit
Learners watch a caterpillar change and become a butterfly. In this instructional activity about the life cycle of a caterpillar and a butterfly, students prepare and maintain the habitat of the caterpillar. Learners observe the stages...
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Sumptuous Sprouting Seeds!
Third graders investigate the wonderful and wondrous world of plants. They examine the inside of a seed, explore the different parts of a seed, plant their own seeds, watch them sprout and then eat them! They describe, using their...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Animal Classes and Their Ecosystems
Young scholars explore animal characteristics by participating in an environment identification activity. In this animal habitat lesson, students discuss a range of different wild life and the ecosystems that they are a part of. Young...
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Growing plants
Young scholars explore plants and recognize that they are living things that require light and water to grow; students identify, name and match the parts of plants.
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Dirty Decomposers
Learners explore the ecosystem by conducting a ziploc bag experiment. In this recycling lesson, students identify decomposer organisms in our environment and how they speed up the recycling process. Learners utilize a ziploc plastic bag,...
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Mealworm Metamorphosis
Students observe offspring (mealworms) that do not initially resemble their parent organism (darkling beetles) throughout complete metamorphosis. They also create and maintain an appropriate habitat for the mealworms.
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Biological Sciences
Students examine biodiversity and interrelatedness concepts. In this ecology activity students go on a field trip and fill out a data sheet.
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Establishing a Baseline Ecology of a Creek Ecosystem
Students investigate the physical, chemical and biological parameters necessary to establish an ecological baseline. Establishing an ecological baseline not only shows the ecological characteristics of a creek but makes the possible...
Curated OER
Wonderful World of Bats
Students create a book about bats. They write a letter to a scientist containing questions about bats. They compare the socialization of bats to humans; compare the needs of bats to humans and other animals.
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Make it a habitat
Students consider the adaptation of life forms through natural selection to fill various niches and accommodate changing environmental conditions. They select an ecosystem and conduct research to provide as much detailed information as...
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Zoo Poo
Students use Internet research to determine the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit energy for biomass and coal. In this alternative energy instructional activity, students research to find out how much energy and carbon dioxide...
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WET Science Lesson #3: Comparison of Aquatic and Terrestrial Plants
Elementary life science explorers compare and contrast aquatic and terrestrial plants (elodea and soybeans) in a Venn diagram. Some background information is provided to support direct instruction, and general instructions are provided...
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Helping Plants Grow Well
Students explain the effect of water, temperature and light on plant growth.
Curated OER
Time, Tide, and Quahogs
Students read tide tables for Waquoit Bay as the simulate determining the best time to go clam digging for a Wampanoag clambake. They graph the tide tables while realizing that the tides a Waquoit Bay are one hour later than those at...
Curated OER
Plant Growth
First graders investigate how seeds are moved and how plants grow. In this plant growth lesson, 1st graders listen to stories, play a game, and view a PowerPoint about plant growth. Students examine various seeds and recognize how...
Curated OER
Something's Fishy
Learners study fish habits and traits. For this marine life lesson, students complete four learning centers of a fish memory game, a fish habitat study, draw and glue fish craft activity, and a fish read-a-thon. Learners complete their...