NOAA
Marine Ecosystems
Be at the top of the food chain when it comes to understanding marine ecosystems. The 21st installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates marine ecosystems, ocean zones, and food...
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Cosmic Chemistry: An Elemental Question
Space scientists investigate the cosmic phenomena in order to search for answers to possible origins of the solar system. They consider the concepts of elements and isotopes. Data is analyzed looking at tje abundance of elements...
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Solar System
Students research the nine planets on the internet using the provided links. They also search for pictures of each of the nine planets and use these pictures to create a PowerPoint slideshow. Finally, they prsent their slideshow report...
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Analyzing Tree Rings to Determine Climate Change
Students examine how to locate and access data sets. For this climate change lesson students import data into Excel and graph it.
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Landforms of Illinois
Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...
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Weather Dance
Students study weather and focus on specific dance concepts. They are introduced to different ty es of clouds and how they are formed. Next, they study wind and why it occurs.
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Radiation Budget
Learners examine the radiation budget and the launching of the Budget Satellite. They role-play as designers of the satellite and construct one with a power source, instruments, and sensors. they explain how their satellite functions...
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The Coriolis Effect
Learners will determine the direction of Earth's rotation as viewed from the north and south if they were suspended out in space. They will model how the rotation of the Earth causes currents to be deflected in different directions for...
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Life Beyond Earth
Students investigate the solar system and what makes a planet habitable. They complete an online Webquest, simulate a NASA training program online, take an online quiz, answer discussion questions, and locate newspaper articles about the...
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Delta, Delta, Where is the Delta?
Pupils explore several images of Earth from space. They identify parts of deltas. They observe, label, and measure delta images, taken from space. They consider how deltas form and why they differ in shape.
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The Role of the Atmosphere and Greenhouse Effect in Determining the Surface Temperature of the Earth
Pupils complete research and solve problems that show the factors that determine the temperature of the earth's surface including the effect of greenhouse gases. They look at the relationships between solar energy, atmosphere, and how...
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Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation with Simple Machines
First graders engage in a lesson that is about Newton's Laws Of Gravitation while conducting research in order to perform an information search. They sing a song about the Law of Gravitation and play a game of Ring Around The Rosie. Then...
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Space, the Final Frontier...
Students study a common theory on how the solar system was formed and examine the relative scale of the size and distances among the bodies of the Solar System.
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The Water Cycle
Seventh graders discover how water circulates through the earth and its atmosphere while determine how much of the Earth's water is suitable for drinking. They discover the meaning of evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation and...
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Science: What Is a Barometer?
Fourth graders discover how barometers help to predict the weather. Using newspapers, they examine the weather forecast and determine the meaning of high and low as they pertain to pressure. After making cluster diagrams, 4th graders...
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Organisms and Their Environment
Young scholars explore Earth's biosphere. For this biosphere lesson, students participate in group activities regarding biotic and abiotic factors, population density, and species' habitats.
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How Clean is the Water?
Students read about and discuss water and how it is used as a resource and how engineers use technology to preserve it. In this water lesson plan, students look at a picture of water treatment and tell what is wrong with the picture.
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Heat Up the Floating Plates
Eighth graders research the connection between the convection currents within the mantle of the earth and the moving of Earth's plates. A connection to lessons at previous grade levels on the rock cycle and important background...
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Outdoor Observation
Second graders explore Earth science by participating in a nature observation activity. In this four seasons instructional activity, 2nd graders identify the four seasons on Earth and the weather patterns they are known for. Students...
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LCROSS Moon Mission
Students read to discover the sequence of events of the LCROSS moon mission. In this space science instructional activity, students read an article about the LCROSS moon mission and the events that took place. After reading,...
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Wide Open Spaces
Students examine the problem of groundwater pollution. In groups, they develop a solution to solve the problem of a local polluted water source. They also practice measuring the space between sediment particles and the rate of water flow.
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Our Ever Changing Earth
First graders discover plate tectonics. They observe the forces of erosion. They observe the forces of weathering. They state three ways the earth changes. They record observations and make conclusions about their observations.
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The Magic School Bus Lost in Space
Students identify the planets by making two models of the Solar System. They create a model that shows the order of the planets and a model that shows the planets sizes as compared to one another. They may write about the planet they...
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Animal Coverings
Students compare and contrast the types of coverings found on animals. They identify a wide variety of animals in a museum room. They classify animals based on their coverings as well.