Curated OER
Our Changing View of the Earth
Students explore the theory of Plate Tectonics. They participate in a simulation in which they re-enact the debate over Plate Tectonics vs. traditional beliefs of stationary continents that were widely accepted during the 1800's and...
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Changes Inside Planets
Students relate meteorites to the mantle and crust of asteroids. In this planetary lesson students complete experiments to model the separation of light.
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Dark Skies: Volcanic Contribution to Climate Change
Students examine how volcanic eruptions affect global climate. They listen to first-hand accounts of the effects of a large volcanic eruption and illustrate a landscape to show understanding. They experiment with the loss of light and...
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Winter Season
Students recognize the relationship between Earth's tilt and the Winter season. In this Winter lesson, students work in pairs to complete make frost and design snow goggles. Students experiment a hand lens to study the frost created....
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Earth's Age: The Dating Game
Learners conduct a simulation to determine radioactive decay and half-life. Using pennies, dice or sugar cubes as isotopes placed in shoe boxes simulating rocks, they hold five trials representing 1000 years each to find the theoretical...
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Cloudy vs. Clear
Learners analyze line plots. In this weather lesson using real NASA data, students discuss how weather affects the way the Earth is heated by comparing different line plots.
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Fossils
In this earth science worksheet, students use the clues given at the bottom of the sheet to solve the crossword puzzle on fossils. They identify specific names of fossils and how to make a mold of one.
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Ozone Tag
Seventh graders explain the role of stratospheric ozone and predict at least three ways in which depleted ozone would change her/his lifestyle. They then describe the process by which chlorine or bromine compounds can break down ozone...
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Cracked Marbles
Fourth graders determine how weathering, specifically ice, snow, and freezing water change the Earth's surface and rocks. After completing the investigations, they explain how heating and cooling expand and contract marbles until cracks...
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Physical Changes and the Water Cycle- Three
Third graders take note of the changes in the water level in a cup of water that is left out. Using a model of the water that depicts a lake and landscape that is being heated by a heat lamp, the students observe precipitation, and...
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Junior Engineering Surface Water
Pupils experience the effects of pollution and erosion on a model of a watershed and explore ways to change the outcome.
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Water Cycle in a Box
Fourth graders investigate how the water cycle is vital for all living things to survive on Earth. They observe the teacher set up a simulation of the water cycle using a Plastic Earth Simulator, desk lamp, and water, and make...
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Applied Science - Science and Math Lab
Students investigate topology. In this Applied Science activity students explore higher, more abstract mathematics using tangles. Students make topologically related shapes.
Space Awareness
The Intertropical Convergence Zone
Young scientists know it is hotter along the equator, but why is it also rainier? Through the process of completing two experiments and a worksheet, scholars discover the answer is the intertropical convergence zone. First, they...
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Air Pollution: The Issue of Global Warming
Here is an outstanding 10-page lesson plan on global warming. Learners discover that there is a lot of controversy surrounding this topic in that the science behind global warming is difficult to prove. The best thing about this plan is...
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A Comparison of Land and Water Temperature
Students examine NASA satellite observations of surface temperature and investigate the seasonal changes of land and water temperature.
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Biochemical Cycles
When learning about several different processes at a time, it can be difficult to differentiate between them. In the resource found here, you can see what your kids know about some of Earth's systems including the carbon, hydrologic,...
Wild BC
The Greenhouse Effect: The Role of CO2
Though this is meant to be second in a two-part lesson, the two are not dependent on each other. Pupils play the roles of visible light rays, light or dark surfaces, and carbon dioxide molecules. They interact and react according to...
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Mapping Ancient Coastlines
Most of this lesson plan is spent working on the "Bathymetry Worksheet." It includes a graph of the changes in sea level over the past 150,000 years and a bathymetric map of changes in an imaginary coastline over time. Participants...
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The Rock Cycle: The Story of a Rock
Students describe the changes undergone by rocks during the rock cycle and develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of the rock cycle.
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Structure of the Earth
Eighth graders explain the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. They identify the stages in the rock cycle. They discover the origin of rocks as well.
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Plate Tectonics: Surface and Subsurface Processes
Eighth graders explore the geological process of plate tectonics. In this plate tectonic lesson, 8th graders design, construct and present a working model of a plate tectonics concept. This lesson includes a rubric, worksheets, and 2...
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Great Blobs of Jelly!
Young scholars explain how zoo-plankton have an impact on the global process. In this ocean zoo-plankton lesson students calculate carbon flux and plankton densities.
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A Moving Experience
Students visit Time Machine's San Francisco Earthquake Era. They understand how the Earth's layers interact to cause changes in the Earth's surface. They review information about earthquakes and Earth's layers.