Curated OER
Make a Snowflake
Learners study the design of snowflakes. In this snow lesson, students discover the different shapes of a snowflake, and their similarities. Learners study snowflakes outside, then create their own with popsicle sticks...
Curated OER
Making & Breaking : The Rock Cycle
Students examine the rock cycle and how rocks can change over time. In this geotechnical engineering lesson students draw a diagram of the rock cycle.
Curated OER
Meteorology
Seventh graders examine the job of meteorologists. They decide which characteristics of the atmosphere that meteorologists focus on. They use local weather maps from newspapers to predict weather in their area.
Curated OER
Basic Excel
Students explore basic Excel spreadsheets. For this spreadsheet lesson plan, students enter Alaska weather information and perform calculations. Students title the columns on the spreadsheet and format the cells. ...
Curated OER
How Probable is It?
Students explore probability. In this probability lesson, students look at videos and websites where they discover probability facts that can be used in situations. They determine the probability of different events.
Curated OER
Hurricanes
Upper elementary meteorologists take a glance at what a hurricane is and how it is formed. Because this does not get into the differences in air pressure that drive the associated winds, it may not be useful for older learners. The...
Curated OER
The Earth's Atmosphere and Temperature
Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.
Curated OER
Using Vegetation, Precipitation, and Surface Temperature to Study Climate Zones
Using NASA's Live Access Server, earth scientists compare the temperature, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index for four different locations. They use the data to identify the climate zone of each location using...
Curated OER
Martian Sun Times
Students become weather reporters for the Martian Sun Times newspaper to gather. interpret, and compare current weather information for Mas and Earth. Final articles be posted on-line. There are seven investigations in this unit.
DLTK
Peeping Groundhog Puppet
Using paper and a pencil, produce a pop-up puppet of a groundhog that peers out and over it's burrow to tell us when Spring is coming.
Curated OER
Feeling the Heat
Pupils record temperatures at different locations around campus. They examine the results and draw conclusions about how materials and colors affect the amount of heat produced. They also analyze Los Angeles' temperature records over a...
Virginia Department of Education
Heat Loss from a Fur-Insulated Animal
How do animals adapt to weather changes? Provide your class with the ability to understand adaptations and body temperature as they participate in this hands on experiment, using fake fur and hot water. Pupils collect data and...
Chandler Unified School District
Frankly Speaking: Exploring Benjamin Franklin's Aphorisms
Benjamin Franklin famously had an aphorism for every situation—most of which we still use in modern vernacular. Introduce class members to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack with a presentation that details the characteristics of aphorisms.
Prince William Network
The Incredible Journey
Divide your school gym into breeding grounds and non-breeding grounds so that your zoologists can play a game simulating the seasonal migration of shorebirds. Players pick one of the included game cards and follow its directions, which...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Around the World
You know climate change is happening when you see a bee take off its yellow jacket. Part four in a series of five lessons explores all factors affecting climate change: temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and carbon dioxide. By...
Curated OER
Earth Processes
Fourth graders explore and discuss the process of evaporation. They discuss how wet things become dry. Students observe the process of evaporation and they make predictions about the observations they make about evaporation. Students...
Curated OER
Weather Anomalies
Ninth graders participate in a simulation of a select scientific team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Curated OER
Weathering and Erosion
Students investigate how changes occur on the surface of the earth through erosion and glaciation. They observe what happens to salt and iron after they interact with water and vinegar, and analyze what occurs when water is sprinkled on...
Curated OER
Naming the Clouds
Fourth graders examine how water condenses into clouds and identify the different types of clouds using the same system devised over 200 years ago. They listen to a book about clouds, and create a Cloud Key. Next, they record their...
Curated OER
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
The classic book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs lesson, is used to help readers compare and contrast the weather in Chewandswallow to their own town. Students write their own fantasy weather story. This lesson is intended to be an...
Curated OER
Looking Back, Up and Ahead
Students explore how scientists have forecasted the 2002 Leonid meteor shower. They pose their own predictions for peak meteor rates per hour during the 2002 shower and compare their results with actual observed rates.
Curated OER
Groundhog Day in Punsxutawney, PA
Students read the history of this tradition, examine Phil's predictions for the last 100 years.
Curated OER
Using a Thermometer
First graders use their senses to formulate questions and make predictions to determine what is in the "Wonder Bag". They hold pieces of ice and examine while listing descriptors on a chart and then take their own temperature using an...
Curated OER
The Ups and Downs of It: Wind
Students explore the ways in which wind is formed and how it affects our weather.