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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weather Records

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students write newspaper articles using a "weather record" worksheet and information they find in newspapers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frozen Film

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students are introduced to the topic of light interference through this hands-on activity. They observe how light reflects off two surfaces and then meets to form an interesting variation of color on a film surface.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spectral Surprise

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students experience a model that produces, separating, and displaying spectral colors.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Decomposers at Work!

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students design and conduct investigations that illustrate the process of decomposition. After a lecture/demo, students simulate the process of soil composting in the classroom. They closely chart the decomposition of their soil.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Multiplying Microbes

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine environmental conditions that effect bacteria growth. They culture bacteria, design and conduct an experiment, and identify the conditions that effected the bacteria growth using the scientific method.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Precipitation

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders identify the conditions that create rain. They read and discuss weather records, and write a news article that includes factual information fom one of the listed weather records.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Optional Laboratory: Comparing Soil Temperatures In Sun and Shade

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students work together to test the temperatures of different soils in shade and sun. They make their own hypothesis before beginning the experiment. They record their data and discuss as a class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Get Out in the Field

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students visit a shoreline--of an ocean, a lake, a pond, a riverbank, etc., survey it and record what they find there. They map the shoreline and surrounding area and conclude where potential waterfront projects could occur.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classifying Candy III

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students create a classification tree based on grouping candy with eight different properties. This allows students to understand how living things are classified.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Testing Foods

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners perform an experiment using brown paper bags to determine which foods have oil in them. This task assesses student's abilities to make simple observations and inferences from them.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery Boxes

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students make observations about Mystery Boxes that their teacher has made up and describes the motion of the object inside the box and hypothesizes it's shape based on their observations.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Color Dots 3

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students make simple observations, test mixtures, and make generalized inferences from their observations. They observe bleeding of colored inks with water.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gazillions!

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders determine the total value of a collection of coins. They convert money and make money exchanges. Students create and solve money-story problems. They demonstrate the ability to summarize conversations and discussions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What If the Reef Dies?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners complete four activities to investigate how reef ecology can change. They perform experiments to show how sewage discharge can affect a marine ecosystem, look at substances that don't dissolve in water, examine wave action...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is It Hot in the Light?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders make observations about the temperature of items in direct sunlight. In groups, they discuss why asphalt, brick and cement are warmer than items surrounding them. To end the lesson, they examine how heat transfers energy...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Carbon Dioxide: The Heat is On

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Young scholars examine the greenhouse gases affecting the atmosphere. In groups, they participate in activities in which they examine the effects of heat on the atmosphere and phytoplankton. They research how the phytoplankton differ...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Smog Be Gone

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students begin the lesson by identifying greenhouse gases. In groups, they observe and record the effect of the gases on the atmosphere and the temperature of the Earth. They participate in activities that describe the role of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thermal Energy Transfer - Conduction

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine how heat passes through a pane glass window.  In this energy transfer lesson students complete a lab activity.