Curated OER
Radiation Budget
Students solve the mathematical word problems by looking at the Earth's Energy Budget Diagram. They will work in small groups and then develop their own unique math problems from the diagram and share with the class.
Curated OER
Climate Change & Coral Activities
Students study how the ocean stabilizes our planet's climates and how global warming is becoming a threat to this fine balance. In this climate change lesson, students identify that fossil fuel emissions are responsible for global...
Curated OER
Why Does a Puddle Shrink?
Fourth graders describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and condensation of water on Earth. They compare evaporation rates when the back of the hand and an equal area of a paper towel are moistened with the wet swab.
It's About Time
The Electricity and Magnetism Connection
Magnets don't grow in fields, but magnetic fields are important to understand. The lesson covers the effect electricity has on magnetic fields. Scholars use a compass, magnets, and electrical wire to test magnetic fields and energy...
Curated OER
Energy from the Sun
In this energy from the sun worksheet, students are given 20 terms to complete sentences about the sun, the energy of the sun, the radiation of the sun, the transfer of energy from the sun and the currents created by the energy of the sun.
Curated OER
WorldWatcher Activity: What Happens to Sunlight?
Students examine a set of data to try to determine the amount of cloud cover. In groups, they make a list of items that reflect light in the atmosphere and how different amounts of it can change the temperature. Using WorldWatcher,...
Curated OER
How Do Clouds Affect Radiative Energy
Students graph the upwelling and downwelling of shortwave radiation. They create a data table with the information. Students compute the Watts per square meter. They discuss their results and whether or not cloud type affects daily...
Carnegie Mellon University
Bathtub Model
Using a colorful infographic handout and a guide sheet, hold a class discussion about how a bathtub can serve as a model for the greenhouse effect created by Earth's atmosphere. Participants will understand that as energy or matter is...
Curated OER
Daily Radiation "Balance"
Students explore the amount of radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. They calculate the total amount of incoming and outgoing radiation over a day and determine how "balanced" the radiative system is over a particular location.
Curated OER
The Biomass Balancing Act
Students work in groups to research biomass using the International Energy Agency's website. Students use evidence from the web search to assess biomass energy potential in Pennsylvania as part of a classroom "Alternative Energy...
American Chemical Society
Combustion and Burning
On Earth, a candle flame points up, but on the International Space Station, it forms a sphere. Young scientists practice their skills by recording observations before, during, and after a candle burns. Chemical and physical changes...
Curated OER
Heat Absorption and Radiation
Students experiment with the concepts of absorption and reflection of radiant energy.
Curated OER
Getting A Charge Out of the Sky
Students investigate electricity from the sky. In this electricity lesson, students participate in an experiment to simulate the electric charges from the sky. Students discuss results.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Curated OER
Fossil Fuels (III), The Geology of Coal: Interpreting Geologic History
Students hypothesize about why various samples of coal have different characteristics. Pupils use information that they found during Internet searches to ascertain the validity of their hypotheses and verify the "story" of coal. ...
Curated OER
Renewable vs. Non-Renewable Resources
Here's a fine lesson on renewable and non-renewable sources of energy for your 5th graders. In it, learners list a number of natural resources on the board, then try to sort the resources into appropriate categories. This helps them to...
Curated OER
Avoiding Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Burning Fossil Fuels
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...
NOAA
Ocean Primary Production
A cold seep is an area on the ocean floor where hydrocarbons leak from the earth, creating entire unique biomes. Learners explore cold seeps, photosynthesis in the ocean, and its limitations due to loss of sunlight. They further explore...
Curated OER
To Renew, or Not to Renew
Young scholars explore the various types of renewable energy. After reading articles, they discover the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy. They also explore the challenges to switch over to using more and more renewable...
Curated OER
A Cosmic Cafeteria
Students indentify and differentiate between transit and surface food systems. Students measure energy that is released by various foods. Students compare and contrast cooking with solar energy on earth and what they might have learned...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Coal
Students investigate the chemistry of coal. This lesson serves as a review of conservation of mass, simple reactions and equation balancing. During the lesson, students research chemical components of coal, as well as environmental...
Curated OER
(S-1) Sunlight and the Earth
Students discuss the solar heating of the Earth and atmosphere, its heat loss proceses, and the way these relate to weather and climate.
Curated OER
Earth's Orbit Lesson
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.
National Energy Education Development Project
Introduction to Wind Energy
The U.S. produced enough wind energy in 2015 to power all of the homes in Alaska, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and...