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Water and Ice
Students observe what happens to water as it goes from a solid to a liquid. In this exploratory lesson students gain an understanding for the water cycle while working in groups observing what happens to water as it changes...
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Water Quality Monitoring
Students comprehend the four parameters of water quality. They perform tests for salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and clarity or turbidity. Students comprehend why scientists and environmental managers monitor water uality and aquatic...
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Powering a Green Earth
Students compare and contrast renewable and nonrenewable energy. In this environmental science lesson plan, students discuss the importance of going green. They identify the different components in a power grid system.
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Oceanography Research
Fifth graders locate information on a specific ocean animal using encyclopedias, nonfiction books, SIRS Discoverer, multimedia encyclopedias, and the Internet. They create an acrostic poem about the ocean animal they have been researching.
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A Tale of Two Cranes How Do Wild and Costume-raised Whoopers Compare?
Students explore what young cranes need to do to survive.
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Reverse Glass "Painting"
Students examine the life and works of John Audubon. They compare and contrast various pieces of art and identify the purposes of stained glass. After observing his art, they create their own stained glass creation using the concepts...
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Fish Communities in the Hudson
Learning to read data tables is an important skill. Use this resource for your third, fourth, or fifth graders. Learners will will study tables of fish collection data to draw conclusions. The data is based on fish environments in the...
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Urban Ecosystems 5: In Defense Of Cities
Students explain that while cities have unattractive features, the density of human life enables energy efficiency, mass transit, recycling, and other benefits which are difficult or impossible in rural areas. This is the fifth in an...
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Telling Our Own Stories
Explore online profiles and social media with your middle and high school classes. Use blogs to inspire your class to craft a well-written, thoughtful response to a prompt you give. A few example prompts are given.
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Introducing Biodiversity
Students are introduced to the life around them. As a class, they discuss their prior knowledge about the habitats in their local area. Using the internet, they identify the basic components needed for biodiversity and the major...
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De-composers - Terrarium
Learners explore the environment by building a mock ecosystem. In this rainforest analysis lesson, students define many environmental and rainforest related vocabulary terms and discuss the current status of our planet's rainforests....
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Modeling Changes to Ecosystems Pt. 2
Learners explore the environment by creating a poster. For this ecosystem protection lesson, students analyze a list of vocabulary terms associated with the scientific method. Learners create a poster which answers a specific question...
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Toothpick Fish
Students experiment with genes and environment for a population of "Toothpick Fish."
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Populations- The Survival of the Fittest
Students examine the ways that populations become diverse and how mutation changes the diversity of a population. In this exploratory lesson students study natural selection by completing a lab activity and discussing what they...
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An Introduction to the Ocean World
Students comprehend how the organisms that exist within the ocean biome, and categorizing each into producer, consumer, or decomposer. They place various human actions under the headings of "hazard" or "help," illustrating how humans can...
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Extreme Environments
Students examine extreme environments and the characteristics that make them. For this adaptation lesson students see how animals have adapted to these environments.
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Rock of Ages
Young scholars use a video, the Internet and hands-on activities to explore how to determine the age of rocks and fossils based on radioactive decay data.
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Dino Hunt
Learners use the Internet to gather information about dinosaurs. They practice navagating through the different websites. They also practice listening to directions and also explore how to fill out a KWL chart.
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Invent a Critter
Students create a living animal that could survive in at least one specific region and use the digital desert library to gather information. In this invent a critter lesson, students draw a picture of their animal, describe their...
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Land Use Issues
Learners observe and describe the properties of rocks and their significance relationship in the environment. They explain the implications of destroying habitats and the importance of rebuilding them.
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Habitat Cards
Students discuss the relationship between a habitat and the environment. In groups, they use the internet to research the relationship between the animals and the habitat on their card. They present their information to the class to...
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Insects: Grasshoppers
Students examine grasshoppers as they practice following instructions. In this biology lesson plan, students identify the characteristics of grasshoppers and the functions of grasshoppers' external body parts.
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Forest Ecosystem Field Trip
Pupils investigate the environment by participating in a class field trip. In this botany lesson, students attend a field trip through their local park or forest while listening to a nature guide. Pupils practice using their 5 senses and...