Curated OER
Cloning a Living Organism
It's the attack of the clones! Not to worry; these are just plant clones. Teen horticulturalists will enjoy growing their own clone into a plant in an activity designed to be revisited after a few weeks. It is one experiment that kids...
Curated OER
Origins: Earth Is Born
Students develop a timeline of all the major events involved in the formation of the Earth and the emergence of humans. In groups, they focus on a specific topic by watching a PBS program and taking notes. After the video, they list...
Curated OER
Mesozoic Murals
Students create a mural of one of the Mesozoic Periods. In this geologic timeline lesson, students will research the plants and animals that lived in the Mesozoic Era in order to create a mural to scale that represents one of the three...
Curated OER
The Urban Explosion
Students investigate the uncontrolled development of the world's major cities. They define key vocabulary terms, view and discuss video excerpts, and complete a project that involves drawing a "perfect city," developing a plan to...
Curated OER
The Tilting Earth
Fourth graders use a styrofoam ball on a stick to represent earth and a light bulb in the center of the room to represent the sun. They walk around the light, holding their sticks at an angle to show the tilt of the earth's axis. They...
Curated OER
Water Cycle Reading and Writing
After listening to a story about the water cycle, learners create their own versions of this tale. This is a great way to have your class review the concepts of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
NASA
Century Timeline
Scholars use the Cosmic Times and the Internet to create a timeline of events from 1916 when Einstein presented the Theory of General Relativity to 2016. Scientific discoveries are the main focus, then pupils add in events from culture,...
Space Awareness
Star in a Box
What happens to stars as they get older? A simulation takes pupils through the life cycle of stars based on their masses. The resource introduces the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the common relationships and life cycle patterns observed.
Carnegie Mellon University
Ocean Acidification
After brainstorming what they know about ocean acidification, youngsters place eggs in acid to determine the effects on calcium-containing organisms, and add carbon dioxide to solutions with sea shell material to discover the impact on...
Curated OER
What Causes the Seasons?
Third graders investigate why the seasons occur throughout the year. They read a traditional wisdom story pertaining to the seasons. They create their own wisdom stories about the seasons and act them out for the class.
Curated OER
Can small actions change the World?
Students review some examples from the website "We Are What We Do" and examine the impact of lots of people making small changes to their lifestyles. They complete a worksheet to introduce them to the variety of challenges. Students...
Curated OER
The Nature of Matter
Students compare and contrast how the theory of atomic structure has changed over time. They explore how different people have contributed to our knowledge of the atom and its structure. Students identify how matter is made of discrete...
Curated OER
Easy Street
Students work together to complete a simulation on drought days. As a class, they discuss their results and compare water usage of the past to current numbers. After reading short excerpts, they answer discussion questions and review as...
Green Learning
Build Your Own Biogas Generator
Where this is not exactly a lesson plan, it is a terrific outline of how to generate biogas from an animal manure sample. If you are up for the challenge, the generator can be built by your class as a concluding project at the end of an...
Curated OER
The Tropical Rain Forest
Learners use various web sites to access information about the rain forest. They use the Tropical Rainforest Interactive CD to make their own rain forest pictures and stories and learn facts about the rain forest. They use various books...
Curated OER
Oil and the Environment
Learners present information regarding oil and how it affects the environment. In this environmental awareness lesson, students work in groups to write a paper, create a PowerPoint, and put together a poster about their specific topic...
Curated OER
The Solar System
Learners research origin of solar system, discuss theories they have found, and create paper mache solar system models.
Curated OER
For The Birds
Students observe birds building their nests. In this habitat lesson, students develop a Best Building Supply Bag and record how the birds build their nests. Students keep a Field Journal.
Curated OER
Inside the Egg, Hatching Chickens
Students explore how an egg becomes fertilized. In this biology instructional activity, students "candle" a variety of eggs in order to determine which ones have been fertilized and which ones haven't. Student use paper plates to create...
Curated OER
Debating the Bomb
High schoolers research how the development of the atomic bomb affected people in World War II, participate in a debate about the bomb's use, and investigate how it has affected people's lives since 1945.
Curated OER
A Study of Erosion on the Weller School Playground
Students study an erosion problem which existed on the school playground from as many points of view as possible. The ultimate aim is to suggest and encourage implementation of a plan to prevent further damage to the playground.
Curated OER
The Warrior Role in Greek Society
Students are introduced to the various gods and goddesses in ancient Greek mythology. In groups, they use print and electronic resources to research the ways Greek culture has influenced the modern world. To end the instructional...
Curated OER
Interdisciplinary Unit On Wellness
Students create a portfolio throughout their middle school years on wellness. Students explore their awareness of the connections between health, physical education, and family and consumer sciences with particular emphasis on the areas...
Curated OER
Making The Geologic Time Scale Real
Students are assigned significant geologic events in Earth's history. They convert the date of the events into distances and then space themselves (on an outside playing field) away from other groups, to represent time between various...