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Exploring the Celestial Neighborhood
Ninth graders study the origin and organization of the solar system. They investigate the Earth's place in the system and how planetary motions explain natural phenomena observable from Earth.
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How Far Away is SOHO?
Students create a scale model of the Earth and the sun that demonstrates where the SOHO satellite is in relation to the Earth.
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Seasons' Journey : Putting it All Together
Third graders complete a diagram of the revolution of the earth around the sun and write a one paragraph explanation of the factors that cause seasons.
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"Use an Anemometer," said the Meteorologist
Students participate in an hands-on construction of an instrument to measure wind speed.
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Movement of Air
In this air worksheet, students identify polar easterlies, prevailing westerlies, and trade winds on a Earth diagram. This worksheet has 13 fill in the blank questions.
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Listening to the Prairie
Students, in groups, visit an exhibit and for a prairie scavenger hunt to locate sunflowers and name products made from them. After sketching a prairie dog, they find nature cues farmers use when growing plants and raising animals. The...
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Globe Lesson 12: Global Time
Students explore the concept of global time. In this geography skills lesson, students use standard meridians and the hour scale on globes to determine global time as they respond to questions in this self-directed lesson.
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Season's Greetings
Students explore Earth's seasons using an interactive website. In this earth science lesson plan, students watch video segments and explain Earth's seasonal milestones. They discuss the factors that causes seasonal changes.
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Crop Circles
Students calculate the area and circumference of a circle. In this geometry instructional activity, students solve word problems with circles and create formulas to calculate the area. They find the rate and complex area of a circle.
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Agriculture is a Cycle
What do a bicycle and the life cycle have in common? Cover this and more with the series of cross-curricular activities included in this plan. Learners do everything from making bracelets that represent the life cycle to checking out the...
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Cupcake Core Sampling
Students discuss core samples. In this environment lesson plan, students experiment discovering what is beneath the surface by using cupcakes as models finding out what sort of layers are found within the cupcakes.
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Weather Versus Climate
Students differentiate weather and climate. For this earth science lesson, students investigate the climate of a zone they chose. They create a presentation and share their findings with the class.
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Toilet Plunger Sundial
Young scholars build a sundial to measure the local noon time. For this third grade science lesson, students build a sundial out of common materials and align to measure the local noon. This lesson is a hands-on tracking of the sun, and...
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In the Eye of the Hurricane
For this science worksheet, students read about temperature and thermal energy in a hurricane. Students also draw their own hurricane and label 5 different parts.
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Weather
In this earth science worksheet, students use the clues given at the bottom of the sheet to solve the crossword puzzle related to weather. They identify various cloud types and how they are formed. Students also identify atmospheric...
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The Shadow Knows - Creating Shadows
Young learners recognize a shadow and witness how shadows occur when light is blocked. They access streamed video, standard video, and websites in order to engage in their study of how light is naturally blocked to create shadows. An...
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#24 Rotating Frames of Reference in Space and on Earth
Students explore rotating frames of reference, focusing on the weightless environment in space and the Coriolis force.
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Why Does the Moon Have Phases?
In this moon worksheet, students complete the sequence of the different phases of the moon to determine why the moon has phases. This worksheet is a graphic organizer.
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Orientation of the Earth in Space
Students hypothesize the location of the sun in the sky at diferent times of day and at different latitudes. They perform several experiments to provide evidence for their hypothesis. Experiments including observing the sun's position at...
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Seasons of the Year
Students examine how the link between the tilt of the Earth's axis to the ecliptic and seasons of the year--length of day, effectiveness of sunlight, polar day and night, and seasons south and north of the equator, as well as near it.
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Accelerated Frames of Reference: Inertial Forces
Students examine how when applying the laws of motion to an object in an accelerating frame, using coordinates defined in such frame, one must always add an "inertial force", representing forces caused by the frame's acceleration.
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The Path of the Sun, the Ecliptic
High schoolers are introduced to the ecliptic, the zodiac and the apparent motions of the Sun, Moon and planets across the sky.
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Water: The Liquid of Life
Sixth graders complete a lesson on the properties, types and amounts of water on Earth. In groups, they travel between stations to identify water resources in Illinois and pollution sources. They complete the lesson with a field trip...
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Water and Ice: Part 1
Students observe the state changes in water. In this matter lesson, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. Students explore how water can change from a solid to a liquid then back again. They journal their...