Youngsters examine four fossil replicas and chart their time periods, vertebrate or invertebrate, and the names of other organisms living at the same time. A specific fossil kit is available for sale if you do not have the same samples....

A fossil is worth a thousand words! Individuals craft their own amber fossil of an insect in addition to molds and casts of seashells. A third activity takes the lesson a notch higher: Learners measure stride lengths between tracks and...

Earth, life, and physical science classes can all benefit from understanding heat transfer. There is not room enough to describe these seven exceptional laboratory experiments that explore conduction, convetcion, and radiation. Several...

Learners explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model...

Students are able to describe the principles of gravity. They name other places in the real world where we compensate for gravity. Students design a shock absorber with limited materials and explain how it works to protect an egg. They...

In this math and geography real world investigation, 6th graders plan a driving trip to a city that is located several states away from their home while recording the elevations of three cities that are included in the trip. They use...

Students investigate biology by examining body sizes of different animals. In this antelope measurement lesson, students research the physicality of Antelopes and other large animals that inhabit Earth. Students create a model Antelope...

Juvenile geologists drill clear plastic straws down into a playdough sedimentary rock model, pulling out sample rock cores. As they analyze their cores, they apply the law of superposition and discover that originally horizontal layers...

Where does all of the carbon dioxide come from that is supposedly leading to climate change? Earth science pupils test animal, plant, and fossil fuels as sources in this investigation. Using an indicator, BTB, they are able to detect the...

Collaborative earth science groups create a working model of a watershed. Once it has been developed, you come along and introduce a change in land use, impacting the quality of water throughout their watershed. Model making is an...

Buoys around our coastlines are equipped with sensory devices which monitor temperature, salinity, and water pressure. Emerging earth scientists examine some of this data and relate salinity to the electrical conductivity of the surface...

This demonstration of solar ponds can be used in an earth, environmental, or physical science setting. Lab groups set up a solar pond and model how it is able, due to a salt concentration gradient, to maintain heat for future use. 

Class members engage in a STEM experiment and investigate how materials affect heating in a house by creating models of houses and using different top surface materials. They record the temperature inside the models and consider what the...

Round and round in circles it goes! A hands-on activity has learners recreate a model of a convection cell. They watch as the difference in density of their materials creates a current.

Dig deep into a lesson studying volume. Learners view images of a Guatemalan sinkhole that seems too big to be true! Their task is to determine the amount of material needed to fill the hole using information from news articles and videos.

Water covers around 75 percent of the earth, yet humans struggle to find enough fresh water to live. The fourth of 10 lessons focusing on Fresh Solutions requires brainstorming. Young scientists consider various problems related to fresh...

You can demonstrate the destructive force of volcanic mudflows to your early earth scientists using this lesson plan. Messy, but memorable, the two demonstrations require some preparation. Use one or both! Included is a link to activity...

Young scholars should gain a better understanding of the processes involved in extracting coal from the Earth as a result of this lesson. They reearch the history of coal mining, look into coal mining towns, and create a short story...

Once junior ecologists are familiar with Earth's major biomes, they hone in on Arizona's biomes. Using a website about Arizona's natural resources, learners will identify biotic communities. Beautiful maps and worksheets are provided for...

A nine-page physics resource supports your lesson on acceleration. A step-by-step lesson plan walks you through the materials you need, the background information, steps for leading experimentation, and the explanation of the results....

Ecology aces examine sea surface temperature maps and relate temperatures to concentration in fish and zooplankton populations. Take your class to a computer lab and provide experience with actual remote sensing data. Some of the links...

Chemistry and earth science meet in a lesson on carbon dioxide emissions. After reading about atmospheric problems caused by using fossil fuels, science stars balance equations for the burning of different alkanes. They compute the...

Consider our energy sources: wood, coal, oil, uranium. Learners compare the pollution to energy produced for each. They practice fractional distillation of an alcohol/water mixture to simulate the process of refining crude oil....

Werner Herzog's film, Lessons of Darkness is the topic of this lesson on art, politics, and culture. Learners discuss the concepts of utopia, dystopia, detournment, and Scorched Earth then compose a paper which describes dystopian reality.