See how estimation is essential to making temperature weather maps. Scholars use ratios and rates of change to estimate temperatures at locations where temperature readings have not been made. They connect this idea to linear functions.

Most families have an emergency kit in their home with flashlights, water, and extra food. But what happens to your money when disaster strikes? An economics lesson focused on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrates the...

Don't wait for a crisis to get your finances together. An economics lesson demonstrates the importance of understanding crucial documents, banking basics, and financial tools with the focus on Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and its effects.

Students watch a series of programs from NASA titled "Earth From Space". After viewing the program, they identify ways NASA is researching the reasons why the Earth is changing. They discuss the various levels of the atmosphere and...

Third graders examine what makes soil by creating a Venn Diagram.  In this Earth environment instructional activity, 3rd graders identify the different components that soil is made from. Students bring soil from their homes to...

Students analyze earth science by creating a frozen treat in class. In this heat transfer instructional activity, students discuss how matter is transformed from solid to liquid and liquid to gas when energy is removed from the equation....

Students conduct a simulation to determine radioactive decay and half-life. Using pennies, dice or sugar cubes as isotopes placed in shoe boxes simulating rocks, they hold five trials representing 1000 years each to find the theoretical...

First graders develop problem-solving skills by designing methods for keeping lunch boxes cool. Once they determine the amount of sunlight and heat generated in shaded and unshaded areas, they explore ways to provide shade. Finally, 1st...

Tenth graders devise a computational model to explore how the orbit of the Earth might change if its velocity were different. Using accurately recorded data, 10th graders defend a scientific argument.

Young scholars examine evolutionary history; the earth's timeline by creating timelines. They determine the timeframes of era, epochs, and periods and study the species that were evident in each.

Middle schoolers recognize the effect of Earth's gravity on an object's weight. In this force and motion lesson students understand the role of gravity when you drop an object. Middle schoolers experiment with small items. Students...

Bring the sun to your class! Young scholars analyze actual solar wind data in the second lesson of a five-part series. Their analysis includes speed, temperature, and density data.

Most appropriate if you are applying the entire unit to build a rain garden at your school, this installment involves calculating the area that will drain into it. Your garden planners will need data from previous lessons, so this one...

Young scientists gain a better understanding of space, the solar system and its vastness by creating a scale model. Students first need to calculate the distance between each of the nine planets according to the size of their scale. This...

Students make several models of the solar system to learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes. Creation of these models will help them identify the planets by size, shape, color,...

Clever! Participants don square-foot cardboard shoes to mark out the rain garden plot that they have spent the last few weeks designing. In this way, they are practicing scale modeling as well! Note that this activity is part of a unit,...

Students explore the greenhouse effect. They set up a simplified model of the earth and the greenhouse effect. Students compare temperatures inside a jar to temperatures outside the jar. Pupils collect information and create a line...

Students explore mass, volume, and weight. For this science and measurement lesson, students compare volume, mass, and weight after listening to the teacher's description of each. Students explore different scales and balances and...

Third graders practice using a database to find information related to dinosaurs. Using the data, they make informational cards to use while developing a timeline that shows when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. They answer comprehension...

Though the website does not seem to have the mentioned video, a reding and lottery style games simulate the chances of finding intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. Without the video, this lesson is short, but it can be a useful...

Sixth graders determine how physical and biological agents and processes form and affect the soil. They analyze soil properties. Students evaluate ways in which human activities have affected the earth's pedosphere.

Fourth graders participate in a Web quest to Internet sites to learn how to identify minerals, discover the types of minerals present in their homes, and learn about birthstones. Students also keep journals to track new information that...

Students study the water quality of a stream in their area, by measuring the temperature, pH, alkalinity and conductivity. They integrate biology with earth science when using the microscope to study the living organisms in the water.

Young scholars demonstrate how to take bearings using a compass. In pairs, they select objects in the classroom then write down its first initial and bearing. They exchange papers and try to disciver their partner's object.