Curated OER
Using Waves on the Job!
A colorful and comprehensive PowerPoint highlights this lesson on waves. Junior geophysicists pretend that they are hired to analyze seismic waves. A worksheet is provided to go along with an online article about how compact discs work...
Curated OER
"Investigating Soil Color and Texture"
Ninth graders will identify/understand the differences between soil and dirt. They will classify soil color accurately and use Munsell notation to describe it (Munsell books provided).Students will classify soil texture using the feel...
Curated OER
Greenhouse Effect
Students investigate the greenhouse effect. In this environmental lesson, students investigate why the greenhouse effect changes the climate through an experiment. Students use vinegar to simulate how acid damages the environment.
Curated OER
Watch This Space!
In this space instructional activity, students, with a partner, answer five questions about the universe and read and discuss ten questions regarding astronomy.
Curated OER
Stratigraphy and Cross-Dating
Students interpret archaeological strata using the law of superposition. They apply cross-dating to determine the age of other artifacts.
Curated OER
Dig Magazine Archeology Quiz #60
In this Dig Magazine archeology quiz, students answer 4 multiple choice questions covering a variety of topics. Page contains answer and additional resources link.
Curated OER
What Lies Beneath the Upper Crust?
Students discover if information in an article is accurate and current. In this science lesson, students read the story carefully and decide on what the subject of the article is. Students search the Internet to see more information...
Curated OER
Excavating the Past
Learners discover how palaeontologists conduct a dig for fossils and how they interpret the age of the fossils. In small groups, they prepare a "dig site" consisting of bones, rocks and soil layered in a cardboard box. They switch boxes...
Curated OER
Three-dimensional cooperative modeling
Young scholars explore what is present below the surface in order to drill into the ground and record the type of material that the drill brings to the surface. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of distance communications. ...
Curated OER
Sedimentary Structures- An Adventure in Painting and Collage
Students identify and interpret concepts about how the Earth was formed and convey some of these ideas in a painting.
Students experiment with different types of paints and paint applicators to achieve a variety of visual textures....
Curated OER
Rock Families
Students study the three types of rock characteristics; igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. They are divided into three groups and each group takes one of the rock characteristics. They then act out the characteristics of their rock...
Curated OER
Where to Live?
Students examine types of spatial data found in a GIS. In this geography instructional activity students use a GIS to facilitate analysis and decision making.
Curated OER
Why Do We Need Petroleum?
Students learn the many ways petroleum is used in our industrial society, and the advantages and disadvantages of its use. They explore what it would be like to live in a world without petroleum.
Curated OER
Air Masses
Students examine the physical characteristics of several types of air masses to discover how air masses can be identified and defined by their temperature and moisture content.
Curated OER
Changes Inside Planets
Students investigate the concept of planetary differentiation. They complete an experiment to simulate it using gelatin and food. The lesson includes vocabulary to increase reading comprehension skills as part of the inquiry. The lesson...
Curated OER
How's the Air Up There?
Students experiment with soda cans and water to discover why air pressure is greater closer to Earth's surface.
Curated OER
Clouds
Students explore the characteristics of clouds, their formation, symbols used in their identification, and the relationship of clouds to weather. The lesson focuses on how they are formed and their classification.
Curated OER
Earthquake Unit
Eighth graders watch the "Earth, the Environment & Beyond" video on earthquakes. Take notes and give an oral summary. They build a working, two dimensional model of a strike-slip, thrust, or normal fault.
Curated OER
The Sun
For this space science worksheet, students learn 4 facts about the sun. Students also read a short passage about the sun to gain more information.
Curated OER
Aquifers and Recharge Areas
Middle schoolers create a model of an aquifer and describe how an aquifer works. They describe how running affects an aquifer and prepare a model presenting to local planners the important aspects of protecting recharge areas.
Curated OER
Recycled Water?
Students participate in a hands-on activity to investigate how water is recycled in a small environment, and determine how water is cycled on earth.
Curated OER
It Looks Like Champagne
Students determine some practical implications of the discovery of liquid carbon dioxide in deep-ocean ecosystems. They interpret phase diagrams and explain the meaning of "critical point" and "triple point."
Curated OER
Jupiter's "Monstrous" Magnetosphere
Students explore Jupiter's magnetosphere. In this Jupiter lesson, students examine a diagram of the magnetic field that surrounds Jupiter.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Action at Plate Boundaries
Young scholars diagram the spreading of the ocean floor. In this earth science lesson plan, students read an article on plate boundaries of the ocean. Young scholars are expected to diagram the oceanic convergent...