Nuffield Foundation
Biodiversity in Your Backyard!
Take your enthusiastic ecologists outdoors to explore the biodiversity right in their own schoolyard! In preparing for this activity, it may be worthwhile to research websites with local flora to help in the plant identification portion.
Curated OER
Bye-Bye Bison
Fourth graders investigate the bison's struggle for survival. They discuss the importance of bison while participating in an role playing activity showing how important the food supply and surroundings are to their survival.
Curated OER
Investigating comparative biodiversity of wetland and schoolyard sites
Fourth graders participate in an activity dealing with the environment.
Curated OER
Feeling the Heat
Students investigate the urban heat island effect. In this urban heat island effect lesson, students learn how trees, grass, asphalt, and other things on the school grounds effect temperature. They use the information to generalize it to...
Curated OER
Sampling Rocks
Students explore Earth science by identifying types of rocks in their schoolyard. In this geology lesson plan, students collect a group of rocks from their playground and categorize them based on color, shape and size. Students read the...
Curated OER
Sound Portraits
Students observe a variety of sounds which can be heard within their schoolyard habitat by sitting quietly by themselves for five minutes, listening, and then recording the sounds around them by drawing them.
Curated OER
Now You're In Trouble
Second graders study how actions in the schoolyard and home can affect water quality. They discuss how rainwater can clean plants and sidewalks on its way to storm sewers. They draw an example of a simple maze that represents the maze...
Curated OER
Sand or Rock? Finding Out From 1,000 km
Students observe how measurements are made with different instruments. In this remote sensing lesson students investigate the physical state of surfaces including the surfaces of the solar system.
Curated OER
Life in a Drop of Pond Water
Students investigate living creatures that inhabit a pond and explore how various organisms satisfy their needs within their environments. In this life in a drop of pond water lesson, students examine microorganisms under magnification....
Curated OER
Get to Know- Insects, Spiders and Others
Students investigate live insects. In this insects and spiders lesson, students work in groups to explore the outdoors and capture insects. Students observe, discuss and record information about the insects they discover. Students...
Curated OER
The Very Busy Spider
Students determine the best habitat for spiders. In this spider lesson, students listen to a reading of Eric Carle's, The Very Busy Spider. They discuss the spider's habitat before visiting the schoolyard to look for spiders in their...
Berkshire Museum
Camouflage!: Collecting Data and Concealing Color
Help young scholars see the important role camouflage plays in the survival of animals with a fun science lesson. Starting with an outdoor activity, children take on the role of hungry birds as they search for worms represented by...
Curated OER
Get to Know: Mammals
Students discover the mammals in their community. In this animal lesson, students survey their school grounds for signs of mammals. Students examine tracks, droppings, and other signs of wildlife to learn more about the animals and their...
Curated OER
LOOKING AT LAWNS
Students investigate the importance of plants to animals by exploring their own schoolyard. They record relevant observations, findings, and measurements, using written language, drawings, charts, and graphs. They describe ways in...
Curated OER
The Sensitive Scavenger
Learners create multi-sensory scavenger hunt worksheet to be used on a scavenger hunt throughout the schoolyard habitat area to introduce students to concepts of biodiversity and interdependence within a habitat.
Curated OER
Wild Thing!
Sixth graders view several segments of the video, "How Animals Survive." They discuss elements of survival. Students list living and nonliving things found in their backyards and schoolyards. Students work in groups to complete the...
Curated OER
Environment: Water Flow
Students brainstorm the ways that water flows when it falls to the ground. After discussing three things water can do, they investigate and predict water movement outdoors on school grounds. They experiment ways to alter the water flow...
Curated OER
Sampling Rocks
Young scholars study about sampling through an investigation of rocks found in the schoolyard. They sort the collected rocks by characteristics such as size, weight, and color, to see if any generalizations can be made about the types of...
Curated OER
Sampling Rocks
Students examine sampling by investigating rocks found in the schoolyard. In this sampling rocks lesson students collect and analyze a sample of rocks.
Curated OER
Sampling Rocks
Students will collect and analyze a sample of rocks from the schoolyard. They will array the collected rocks by characteristics such as size, weight, and color, to see if any generalizations can be made about the types of rocks that can...
Curated OER
Pond 1: Pond Life
Students work together to investigate familiar and unfamiliar ecosystems. Using the internet, they discover how different organisms use their environment to satisfy their needs. They also examine the relationshiops between organisms...
Curated OER
The Mathematics of Space and Place
Students investigate the measurements and geometry of the school grounds. They conduct inquiry while measuring the campus and some of the city blocks. Then students draw a map to scale and categorize property types using a pie graph.
Center Science Education
Feeling the Heat
What is an urban heat island? Middle school meteorologists find out by comparing temperatures at different locations on campus. They relate their findings to what might be happening in a concrete jungle and how it impacts local weather....
Captain Planet Foundation
Which Plant Is Which?
Learn about dichotomous keys, plant identification, and how to care for the planet with a lesson that includes several hands-on and innovative activities. Kids go on a plant scavenger hunt and classify the plants that they find...