Channel Islands Film
Human Impact on the Food Web of Santa Cruz Island
What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...
Messenger Education
Snow Goggles and Limiting Sunlight
Why would someone need contact lenses that offer UV protection? With a 28-page packet full of instruction and worksheets, students discuss solar radiation and its potential harm to eyes. They make snow goggles similar to ones hunters...
US Department of Energy
Geothermal Energy
With Earth Day quickly approaching, as well as many science fairs, why not challenge your class to investigate geothermal energy or other renewable energy resources? There are five driving questions explored in depth here, as well as...
Curated OER
Food Chains
Students create their own food chains on Kidspiration starting from the energy of the sun and what it creates. In this food chains lesson plan, students learn about how insects eat plants and so on.
Curated OER
Oceanography: Understanding the Relationship Among Ocean Food Chains
Fourth graders explore relationships among organisms involved in ocean food chains to investigate interdependence of the organisms.
Curated OER
Food Chains & Food Webs
Young scholars examine the concepts of food chains and food webs. They trace back common food chains found in nature, demonstrate the interdependence of organisms through a food webbing activity, and analyze the flow of the food chain of...
Curated OER
Life or Death Food Chain Decision
Students discuss how energy is transferred to different trophic levels. In this biology lesson, students solve a theoretical problem and debate on a solution. They explain how energy is lost during cellular respiration.
Michigan Sea Grant
Food Chains and Webs
Starting with a simple food chain, young scientists interpret the difference and interrelatedness between herbivores, carnivores and producers. They answer questions related to cause and effect of food chain disruptions, including the...
Michigan Sea Grant
Food Web II
A food web consists of complex food chains and the more complex the web, the better likelihood of survival. Learners compare and contrast food webs and food chains and discuss concepts like the predator-prey and consumer-producer...
Curated OER
Energy Conservation
Students discuss the different uses of energy. They examine the consumption percentages to do household tasks. They discover ways to reduce their energy consumption.
Curated OER
Shark Food
Young scholars create a linking chain to demonstrate the food chain. In this food chain lesson, students use the Internet to research sharks, including what they eat, and create a chain link with a picture of a shark. They continue...
Cooking Matters
Happy Whole-idays
Take a look into how whole grains support growth, provide energy to play, and help us to stay strong with a fun-filled resource. The worksheet offers interesting food facts, an exercise in nutrition label reading, a recipe for chunky...
Baylor College
Energy Sources
Take the concept of burning calories to a more literal level in the second of seven lessons about energy in the realm of food and fitness. Using simple materials, groups will burn breakfast cereal and a pecan to see which one gives off...
American Chemical Society
Matter on the Move
Start this mini unit on matter out by demonstrating how food coloring behaves when placed in cold and in hot water. Then have the class experiment with warm water and soap film. Pupils will learn that an increase in thermal energy also...
Captain Planet Foundation
Solar Cooking Race
Study heat transfer with activities that focus on how heat energy works. Using a solar cooker, ice cubes, and heat transfer bracelets, kids experiment and record what they find by keeping ice cubes cold and vegetables hot.
Curated OER
Cooking with the Sun
Students explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day lesson has groups of students build and test a variety of solar cookers....
Curated OER
Consuming Healthy Snacks
Get your class into great shape by introducing them to the benefits of eating healthy snacks and engaing in regular exercise. This set of activities comes with all the worksheets and handouts needed to complete several weeks of nutrition...
Curated OER
Striking a Balance
High schoolers simulate animals in a food chain. In this food chain lesson plan, students are identified as grasshoppers, frogs or hawks. Popcorn is spread across a lawn and high schoolers are given baggies (stomachs) and colored sashes...
Curated OER
Energy Plus!
This instructional activity seems pretty advanced for K-2nd graders, but there are some pieces that can be used with young learners. Look through this comprehensive, fact-filled instructional activity and pull out information and...
US Department of Energy
Draft-O-Meter
Help your class improve the energy efficiency of their homes with the draft-o-meter. Simply tape a sheet of plastic wrap to a pencil and use it to observe any air leaking through windows, doorways, and other locations around the house....
Curated OER
The Web of Life
Students explore the interconnectedness of living things in an ecosystem. They use pictures and arrows to develop a food web, and participate in constructing a class food web with students representing various parts of the web.
Green Learning
Build Your Own Solar Oven
This is not exactly a lesson plan, but rather a six-page document detailing how to build a solar oven. A bit of background information, materials list, diagrams and photos, and clearly-written procedures are all included. There are no...
Curated OER
Food Energy
Students compare the energy value of traditional foods eaten by indigenous people with those of modern commercial foods. They use a calorimeter to measure and calculate the amount of stored energy in various food types, and identify the...
Curated OER
Food Chain: what's for dinner?
Fourth graders identify where foods came from and sequence a food chain. In this food chain lesson plan, 4th graders define vocabulary related to food chains and order a food chain. Students follow the energy of a food chain. Students...