Baylor College
Fossil Fuels and the Carbon Cycle
Humans are quickly depleting Earth's fossil fuels and locating them is becoming increasingly difficult! Layered muffins are used for models as young geologists take core samples in order to determine the presence of oil. Consider first...
Curated OER
Energy Conservation Lesson 1: Fossil Fuels and the Ticking Clock
Students explore energy production by participating in a class discussion. In this renewable energy lesson, students discuss the differences between solar, coal, wind and fossil fuel energy sources and why some are better for the...
Curated OER
The Formation of Fossil Fuels
Middle schoolers participate in an activity in which they explain the difference between renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. They discover why the supply of fossil fuels is limited and practice using new vocabulary.
Bonneville
Replacing Fossil Fuels?
Burn through a instructional activity on fossil fuels. Pupils start a unit by considering why it is difficult to phase out fossil fuels. Using provided data on the energy densities and efficiencies of different fuels, they calculate the...
Curated OER
Fantastic Fossils
Students learn about the kinds of fossils and what scientists can learn from them. In this earth science lesson, students are told how engineers and paleontologists work together. Then students create a "fossil fondue" and write a...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 8th Grade Math – Claim 4
A math model is a good model. A slide show presents 10 sample items on modeling and data analysis. Items from Smarter Balanced illustrate different ways that Claim 4 may be assessed on the 8th grade math assessment. The presentation is...
Curated OER
Fossils Footprints Across Time
Learners examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil instructional activity, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil...
Curated OER
How Old Is Illinois?
High schoolers use fossils found in rocks to determine the age of the strata between Rock Island and Chicago. Pupils pretend they are geologists. They must determine the age of all rock layers between the Mississippi River and Lake...
Curated OER
Math Problem #1: Exhausting Fossil Fuel Resources
In this fossil fuel worksheet, students graph fossil fuel consumption from given information. Afterward, they estimate the annual rate of petroleum consumption and predict future consumption figures. In this one-page worksheet, there are...
Curated OER
Exploring Renewable Energy Through Graphs and Statistics
Ninth graders identify different sources of renewable and nonrenewable energy. In this math lesson, learners calculate their own carbon footprint based on the carbon dioxide they create daily. They use statistics to analyze data on power...
Curated OER
The Appliance Explosion
Students explain why the number of appliances used today differs greatly from the number used previously. They construct a bar graph to show changes in appliance use over a period of time. They also list appliances that could be eliminated.
Curated OER
Discovering Fossils
Students dig for and discover fossils in a classroom setting. They dig on a tarp to find, map, assemble, and photograph their discoveries.
Curated OER
Make a Solar Oven
Students build a solar oven. In this Science lesson, students construct a functional solar oven. Students design the oven and explain the energy concepts involved.
Illustrative Mathematics
Accuracy of Carbon 14 Dating II
The scientific issue of carbon-14 dating and exponential decay gets a statistics-based treatment in this problem. The class starts with a basic investigation of carbon content, but then branches out to questions of accuracy and ranges of...
Curated OER
Determining the Age of Fossils
Students examine the concept of radioactive dating. In this radioactive dating lesson, students investigate how to determine the ages of fossils and rocks as they learn about half-life radioactive decay.
Curated OER
Fossils: The Eras of the Earth's History
Students research the four geologic eras of Earth's history. In this extension on a fossils lesson, students research the different eras of Earth's history. Students use AppleWorks to create a bar graph containing information of the four...
Curated OER
Fossils
Students act as paleontologists to discover who a mystery guest to the classroom was. They do not know the identity of the guest but infer the identity from items left behind in the classroom. They make inferences from dinosaur fossils.
Curated OER
The Mathematics of Convection: Nature's Model for Energy Production
High schoolers conduct a series of experiments to investigate density, buoyancy and climate. In this math lesson, pupils design and build a hot air balloon to demonstrate convection. They research and write a paper about solar chimneys.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Weighing the Evidence for a Mass Extinction: Part 1 – In the Ocean
Extinction events have happen throughout geologic history, but only five mass extinctions occurred over the last 4.5 billion years. Scholars view fossils from a layer of sediment during an extinction event and observe patterns to draw...
Curated OER
MUD-A Walk
Students investigate their tracks to determine the number of footsteps it takes to travel the entire length of their bodies. Then they determine the taller of two children and the shorter of two children with their tracks. Students also...
Consumers Energy
The Cost of Electricity
How much is your toaster costing you every day? Young environmentalists calculate the monetary costs of household appliances based on their average consumption of wattage.
Intel
Plugging into the Sun
What's cooking? A sizzling STEM unit challenges scholars to build a solar cooker that can successfully cook an egg. The unit opens with a study of Earth's rotation, the sun's energy, and shadows. Pupils use a compass and thermometer to...
Curated OER
Making a Fossilized Egg
Students explore fossils by participating in an in class experiment. In this archaeology instructional activity, students utilize dough and classroom objects to create fossil imprints after hiding the toy/fossil in the dough egg....
Curated OER
Fossil Fuels and Its Effects On The World
Middle schoolers explore the effects of a declining fossil fuel system would have on the world. They read the line graph and other information to answer questions about fossil fuels. Students use mathematics to analyze graphical data...