Curated OER
Organism Detectives
First graders take a nature walk and search for organisms. They use magnifying glasses to see things that live on or near the surface of the Earth in land, air, and water.
Curated OER
Life Science: DNA Whodunit?
Students role play an honorary detective to assist in solving a crime committed. They investigate by a bank robbery and interview eyewitnesses using their Crime Investigation Notebook and clues from an eyewitness account from the...
Curated OER
Methods of Collecting Information
Third graders examine a bag or box of soil containing items that they dig for. Their task is to become detectives to make conclusions about the area from which the items came as real archaeologists do.
Curated OER
The Mysterious Plant Caper
Students investigate the basic parts of plant and that plants are living things which require water, air, light and nutrients for survival. They do this through a series of scientific experiements and multi-curricular hands-on activities.
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
University of Colorado
Is There Life on Earth?
To find life on another planet, scientists look for gases (atmosphere), water, and temperatures that are not extreme. For this activity, groups of pupils become "Titan-ians," scientists who want to explore Earth for possible life forms....
Curated OER
Are You an Animal Safety Sleuth?
Students identify animal behaviors that are unsafe and react appropriately to the warning signs. In this animal safety lesson, students discuss animal behavior in uncertain situations. Students make flip cards for younger students to...
Curated OER
Change Agents
Third graders experiment with three erosive change agents. They do an observation log, which they present to the class through a song, poem or skit.
Curated OER
Fossils
Young scholars act as paleontologists to discover who a mystery guest to the classroom was. They do not know the identity of the guest but infer the identity from items left behind in the classroom. They make inferences from dinosaur...
Curated OER
Miners
Students complete various activities related to mining and mining safety. They write an energy sentence, complete a word puzzle, cut and glue safety equipment on a mining character, solve a math code word puzzle, and complete a maze...