Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Forces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use geological techniques such as plate tectonics, mountain building, earthquakes, and volcanoes, in order to explain the earth.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare Topography of Earth and Mars with a Worldwide Telescope

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students compare geography to topography. In this topography lesson, students examine the topography of the surfaces of the Earth. Students compare one feature of Earth to one feature of Mars and present in a PowerPoint.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Movers and Shakers

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students explore how the centuries-old invention of the lever led to today's applications in mobiles and crowbars. They watch a video on the lever, then utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan to guide their experiments.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tsunami! Examining Earth's Most Destructive Waves

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars investigate just what a tsunami is, what causes it, how fast it travels, what it looks like, and its devastating effects upon landfall. They read the experience of a former Peace Corps Volunteer who went to Sri Lanka...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weather and Oceans: Uneven Heating of the Earth

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students investigate what causes the heat on Earth.  In this Earth heating lesson, students experiment with different heat sources and determine where the Earth gathers the most heat.  Students explore vocabulary words...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Make Your Own Quick Sand

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students create a quick sand model using cornflour and water. In this earth science lesson plan, students explain why stirring the mixture quickly makes it thick but the opposite happens when you stir it slowly.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Is Our Stream Changing?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars test turbidity, pH, oxygen content and temperature of local stream. In this earth science lesson plan, students collect and record data from the experiment. They analyze findings and present it to class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day And Night: Interdisciplinary Study of Cyclic Change

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders conduct a "Length of Day Symposium." They complete a variety of activities and explorations regarding the earth's rotation, its revolution around the sun and the cyclic changes in climate and energy distribution on the...
PPT
Curated OER

Jeopardy

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Providing an interactive experience, this Jeopardy-style game leads players through a review of scientific concepts. The presentation covers topics such as sound, the Earth's layers, magnetism, and the states of matter. This would be a...
Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Determining Absolute Age

For Teachers 9th - 12th
How can radioactive decay help date old objects? Learners explore half-life and radioactive decay by conducting an experiment using pennies to represent atoms. Young scientists graph data from the experiment to identify radioactive decay...
Lesson Plan
Maine Math & Science Alliance

Earth as a System

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Ecosystem, human body system, weather system. We hear the word system a lot, but what does it really mean? In the activity, pairs or groups of learners discuss how a bicycle is a system and then analyze objects in their classroom and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Earth's Atmosphere and Temperature

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Connect the Spheres: Earth Systems Interactions

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Is everything really connected? Take your class on a walk outside, where they will make observations and write them down on a worksheet. Once they are back in the classroom, learners will work to determine if and how things like birds,...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Transpiring Trees: Plant Transpiration and the Water Cycle

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Looking for a tree-rific addition to your water cycle unit? Teams of young foresters examine the role of transpiration in the water cycle through a week's worth of activities. Pupils analyze how trees take in and transport water during...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Miller-Urey Experiment Amino Acids & The Origins of Life on Earth

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students study the Miller-Urey Experiment including its history and criticism.  In this origins of life lesson students repeat this experiment to see how it works.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Striking Earthquake!

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students simulate strike slip faults using CEENBoTs. For this earth science lesson, students identify the fault lines and tectonic plates on a world map. They label the different parts of a fault line.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Converging Earthquake!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers identify the fault lines and tectonic plates on the map. In this earth science lesson, students simulate landscape formation using robots. They take a quiz at the end of the lesson to demonstrate mastery.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Changes

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Pupils investigate the earth's structural layers by participating in hands-on activities. They identify the earth's structure and investigate earthquakes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth's Radiation Budget

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders explore the Earth's radiation budget using Earth radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data archived at the IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library. They use photometers and light sources to work through several hands-on activities...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Mother Earth" -- Past

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine our connection to the Earth. They identify how Native Americans believed in a "Mother Earth". They discover how the earth and life are connected.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Don't Trash the Earth

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers experience a hands-on environmental science project. They access about recycling as they collect data on their own family's trash production. Students analyze the data with worksheets, chart the data, and present their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Water Cycle

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students identify the various ways water move throughout the earth as part of the water cycle. In this science lesson, students gain a knowledge of basic science concepts related to everyday life through patterns and how they repeat as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

We are the World - Writing about our Earth

For Teachers 1st
First graders write facts about the Earth. In this Earth instructional activity, 1st graders discuss natural resources, recycling, and how to keep the Earth clean. They work in groups to create a small book with 3-5 facts about the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth, Sun and Moon

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students investigate that the sun is at the center of the solar system through role play. One student is the sun and one student is the Earth. The students then show how the Earth orbits around the sun. Students view a flashlight and...