Curated OER
Composting and Mulching
Second graders define composting and recognize what can be composted. In this composting and mulching instructional activity, 2nd graders classify objects or pictures as good or bad for composting. Students write a story about life...
Curated OER
Talkin' Trash (All About Landfills)
Students investigate the types of waste created by people and identify various options for trash disposal. They read and discuss a handout about what a landfill is and the different types of trash, match types of trash with the proper...
Curated OER
Now you see it....Now you Don't
Learners investigate the biodegrading process of packing peanuts. In this biological process lesson, students conduct an experiment to see how quickly packing peanuts biodegrade. Learners check the process each day and record their results.
Curated OER
Soaring Towers
How tall can your tower get? Implement shapes, building strategies, teamwork, and prediction in this interactive tower activity. Learners discuss past experiences with stacking materials, recalling ways they kept it from falling over....
Curated OER
Going Green School Campaign
Students explore ways to make their school's interior and exterior environmentally 'green.' In this environmental concern activity, students work in groups to examine their school's interior and exteriors to make them 'green.' Students...
Curated OER
Help! Help! Save the Earth!
First graders analyze ways to save our natural resources and preserve the environment. In this environmental protection lesson, 1st graders complete four activities to analyze the importance of our natural resources and what trash does...
Curated OER
Art Savers
Need a cheap way to get all those fabulous paintings, collages, and drawings home? Learners use old paper towel tubes to create a handy art transportation device.
Curated OER
Recycled Water?
Students participate in a hands-on activity to investigate how water is recycled in a small environment, and determine how water is cycled on earth.
National Park Service
Nutcracker Fantasy
The Clark's nutcracker bird hides seeds in 25,000 different sites every year to save for winter. Lesson demonstrates how difficult it would be to find these seeds months later when they need them for food. In the first of five lesson,...
Curated OER
Trash Talkin
Middle schoolers investigate recycling at several scales, including local, state, national and global. They become aware of recycling, re-use, reduce efforts and policies. Students read the article Where Does Your Garbage Go. They look...
NASA
Cleaning Water
Give young scientists a new appreciation of fresh, clean drinking water. After learning about the ways astronauts recycle their air and water, your class will work in small groups creating and testing their very own water...
Teach Engineering
Magnetic or Not?
The class must determine the magnetic properties of different materials, including aluminum and steel by sorting through materials using a magnet. Groups make a prediction on whether a material is magnetic and then perform...
Curated OER
Green Stuff: Designing an Earth-Friendly Room
In this activity young scholars explore earth-friendly materials that can be used in home environments. They learn about the relationship between the environment and design, and use a variety of problem-solving strategies. They work in...
Curated OER
Pollution
Young ecologists investigate some of the many ways that human activities adversely affect the environment. After identifying the main types of pollution (air, water, soil), 3rd graders fill in a Venn Diagram by pasting cut-out pictures...
Curated OER
Crafting Models of Efficiency
Young scholars build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. For this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts...
Curated OER
The High Cost of Chemical Dependency
Sixth graders explore, analyze and study the effect and impact that humans have on the environment based on their choices as individuals, businesses and governments. They assess the balance between human activities and aquatic pollution.
Eastern Michigan University
Energy Flow in a Wetland Ecosystem
How is energy transferred within an ecosystem? What would happen to a food web if one of the organisms was removed? Elementary or middle school ecologists examine these questions and more in a comprehensive 5E learning cycle...
Curated OER
Biomass Energy
Junior ecologists relate how food chains and food webs route matter and energy through an ecosystem. They trace feeding levels of a food chain or food web through a pyramid of energy. As a reinforcement activity, learners construct three...
Curated OER
Animals Must Fit In
A instructional activity on tadpoles is here for your young biologists. Learners read a short paragraph on tadpoles, then answer three questions regarding how parts of their bodies help the tadpole to survive in the pond. There is a good...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Good Litter, Bad Litter
Which ones can be thrown on the ground? Discover the difference between natural litter and unhealthy trash, helping scholars by using several examples. Use the information here to give them a basic background, but also encourage prior...
Macmillan Education
Teamwork
Learners develop self-awareness and discuss the importance of cooperation and communication through worksheets and hands-on, collaborative activities.
Montana State University
Climb into Action!
Climate change affects even the largest and intimidating of landforms—even Mount Everest! A resource helps teach learners the connection between global climate change and its effects on Earth. Activities include videos, class discussion,...
Curated OER
Litter From Lunchtime
Students explore environmental care by participating in a litter identification activity. In this food trash lesson, students discuss the destruction litter causes in our environment and ways we can avoid littering ourselves. Students...
Curated OER
The Point is to Make ATP
Storing and transferring energy is explained here with reference to the fight or flight response, along with the need for activity in times of lowered nutrition. This is a great summary of ATP applications, and after the multiple stages...