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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Organic and Inorganic Waste

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students conduct a scientific investigation about organic or inorganic waste.  In this organic or inorganic waste lesson, students create a compost heap to determine the difference between inorganic and organic waste. Students record...
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Activity
It's About Time

Organic Substances

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Host an exciting lab in which learners burn fruit rinds to better understand hydrocarbons. A reading passage and analysis questions wrap up the lesson. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wetland Food Webs

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students study life science. In this food webs and food chains comparison lesson, students examine the wetlands to discover the relationships that exist between the animals that live there. They participate in group activities and...
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Lesson Plan
University of Georgia

Would Your Cat Eat This Stuff?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Processed foods use inorganic compounds for flavoring and preservation. This take-home laboratory challenges scholars to find 20 different compounds identified on the labels of foods to list on their data collection sheet. The activity...
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PPT
Biology Junction

Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Every living thing requires a food source, thus the interconnections in ecosystems become complex. Scholars learn about these interconnections in a presentation on energy flow. It starts with the sun and moves through many different...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Food Chains Are Not A Necklace!

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders examine how food chains interact with different plants and animals. They practice using new vocabulary. They also discover the role of pesticides in the environment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Now You See It, Now You Don't

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students explore organic and inorganic objects. In this environmental lesson students perform a composting experiment using flowers in different soils. Students record their observations.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Natural Resources Matter

For Students 4th - 7th
This natural resources worksheet includes discussion activities about natural resources, 2 word searches, and a list of related books and videos.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Soil, the Forgotten Resource

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students discuss soil understanding that is is often overlooked as a natural resource. In this science lesson plan, students recognize that we depend on it for energy in the form of foods. Students experiment with six boxes of soil to...
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Worksheet
Shelby County Schools

How Ecosystems Work

For Students 6th - 9th
How does one organism get its energy? What is the main source of energy in an ecosystem? How does the flow of energy affect different types of ecosystems? Answer these questions with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet. 
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Handout
National Institute of Open Schooling

Nomenclature and General Principles

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Carbon, the base for all organic compounds, exists in nature in its purest form as graphite or diamonds. The 25th lesson in a series of 36 teaches pupils the nomenclature of organic compounds. Learners read about how to use the IUPAC...
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Interactive
Explore Learning

Student Exploration: Forest Ecosystem

For Students 4th - 6th
In this ecosystem exploration worksheet, students complete 2 prior knowledge questions, then use "Forest Ecosystem Gizmo" to conduct several activities, completing short answer questions when finished.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

9th Grade

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders discuss the principal source of energy entering the marine ecosystem. They name some of the autotrophs at the Maui Ocean Center. Students name some of the heterotrophs at Maui Ocean Center. They are taught that plants are...
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Lesson Plan
Growing Classroom

Space Travelers

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Groups of three scientists from the rocky planet Zog investigate the composition of soil so that they can take the information back to their home, create soil there, and begin to grow food.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Catering Middle-School Science: Monomers, Polymers, and Macromolecules

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students investigate foods. In this biology lesson plan, students will conduct testing on different types of foods as they learn about different molecules that make them up. Students will also learn about the shapes of the molecules.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Worms: Nature's Recyclers

For Teachers K - 5th
Students explore vermi-composting. In this vermi-composting lesson, students listen to the story Diary of a Worm and discuss the parts of a worm. They create worm bins and add organic food for the worms to recycle. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

RIDE THE WILD LEAF

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify and interpret that leaves provide food for new trees and plants. Students cut out leaves and glue them on the appropriate number on included worksheet. Students collect different types of leaves and make leaf rubbings....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

WORM WATCHING

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students investigate how earthworms help build good soil. They examine the worms carefully to find the ringlike segments and swollen band at the front of the earthworm's body. Students take turns dampening the soil every day and adding...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Nitrogen Cycle

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Students design and create a compost pile in order to study the Nitrogen Cycle. They then use the scientific method to determine if plants grow better when they add organic matter from their compost pile to the plant's soil.
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Composting: A Scientific Investigation: California Academy of Sciences

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
Garbage, recycle, compost: Does it really matter where we put our trash once we are done? By making detailed observations over seven weeks, kids will see which materials break down naturally to become a healthy part of the soil, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solid Waste and Recycling

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars demonstrate effects of waste on environment and ways of reducing it, observe how much packaging goes into bag lunches each day, and survey their families to assess awareness levels and household recycling practices....
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Everything is Made of Something

For Students 2nd - 3rd
Young scientists can use this activity to learn about natural resources, as well as what we use them for. A word search prompts pupils to find sixteen words about natural resources.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where to shop?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study a topic of an environmental nature that is relevant to them (as individuals) on a local level, but with global implications. They consider whether their family's shopping habits have any lasting effects on the environment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plankton / Phytoplankton

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss the importance of plankton in the ocean ecosystem. In this biology lesson, students identify the different types plankton by observing them under the microscope. They explain how plankton population affect global climate.