Virginia Department of Education
Changes in Ecosystems
How does water pollution affect the environment? Provide your class with the resources to answer this question as they learn about eutrophication and ecosystem changes. Over two weeks, they simulate the effects of pollution on the...
Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Does It Soak Right In?
Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign...
Teach Engineering
Biological Processes: Putting Microbes to Work
Is there such a thing as useful microbes? Get ready to perform experiments on applying microbes for wastewater treatment. The first installment of the three-part unit provides background information to prepare young engineers for two...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Students study the water cycle. In this water cycle instructional activity, students examine how the water cycle works, what its functions are, and how to diagram it.
Curated OER
Salinity and Brackish Water Systems
Students are able to tell the difference between brackish and salt water. They also are able to distinguish water qualities specific to each type of water. Students answer various questions about all types of water.
Curated OER
Structures and Behaviors of Planarians
Students investigate planaria of the phylum platyhelminthes. They use DigiScope technology to observe and describe the structure and movements of planarians.
Curated OER
Water Quality Monitoring
Students work together to gather water samples. They compare and contrast the water quality from different places in the community. They answer discussion questions to complete the lesson.
Curated OER
Can't Bayou this Water Cycle
Learners identify the stages in the water cycle. They observe a local water source and view the cycle in action. They create their own water cycle using software.
Curated OER
Graphing Aquatic Insects
Students identify aquatic insects. In this organism instructional activity, students locate aquatic insects near a local waterway and collect them. Students graph the amount of insects that they collected.
Curated OER
Clarity And Turbidity
Learners measure the clarity of a body of water and identify possible environmental complications that can be attributed to clarity and turbidity.
Curated OER
Your Five Senses
Students identify the five senses. In this biology lesson, students participate in an experiment and use their five senses to identify various substances.
Curated OER
Week 7: Animal Adaptations - Bird Beaks
Students use tools to represent bird beaks and pick up different types of food with them in order to discover which beak would help the bird survive depending on their food type.
Curated OER
Exercise and Water
Second graders discover the needs of their body by trying different types of aerobic exercise. In this physical education lesson, 2nd graders analyze The Busy Body Book by glancing at the pictures inside and predicting what the...
Curated OER
Wonderful World of Bats
Students create a book about bats. They write a letter to a scientist containing questions about bats. They compare the socialization of bats to humans; compare the needs of bats to humans and other animals.
Curated OER
What is a Watershed?
Students create a classroom size model of a landscape to define the concept of a river watersheds. They spread crumbled newspapers around the floor to simulate different elevations then cover the whole landscape with a sheet. They pour...
Curated OER
Paper Mache Globes
Third graders create a paper mache model of the earth. At the conclusion of a discussion about the earth, they are given paper mache materials, they create their globe and appropriately draw and label landforms, bodies of water and the...
Curated OER
Displaying Sea Ice
Students display their knowledge of sea ice. In this earth science lesson, students create displays reflecting their understanding of sea ice.Students research the development of sea ice on a variety of bodies of...
Curated OER
Watersheds
Middle schoolers discover the importance of watersheds and how they impact other bodies of water. Using a map, they identify and analyze a watershed in their local area and evaluate the health of the water nearby. In groups, they plan...
Biology Junction
Plant Diversity
Ginkgo trees existed for more than 350 million years, and, at this time, only one species still remains. While plant diversity generally increases over geologic time, some interesting exceptions occur. Young scientists learn about plant...
Virginia Department of Education
The Germ Theory and Koch’s Postulates
Explore the history of cholera and its effect on society with your biology class. Young biologists will then proceed to grow their own germs, prepared from live cultures, and follow the steps of the scientific method to generate data....
National Science Teachers Association
Paper Car Crash Design
High school physical scientists collide with motion. They work in pairs to design a paper car that will protect a raw egg during a head-on collision. Measurements of distance traveled, time of run, vehicle specs, and photo gate flags are...
Curated OER
Mini-Ponds
In this mini pond worksheet, students create a mini-pond ecosystem with soil, water, and plant life. Students let their ecosystem sit for a day and they observe a sample the next day. Students identify all the pond water microorganisms...
Curated OER
Sound Observations
Students explore sound waves by conducting an experiment in class. For this sound frequency lesson, students utilize a tuning fork in class and identify which objects in class create different sound pitches on the fork. Students conduct...
Curated OER
Digging the Earth's Crust
Students investigate the Earth's crust. In this geology lesson, students identify the materials made up of the Earth's crust and investigate the different kinds of soil.