Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Leaders' Decisions and Actions
Community leaders try to make choices that protect the community and the environment. Little ones learn about how tribal communities look to their chief to guide the decision-making process. Your class will become part of the community...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Teachers' Guide to Using A Day In the Life of a Drop
Hydrology hopefuls learn about their local watershed. Through discussion and online interactives, they see that their habits affect the water supply. The instructional activity concludes with a pledge to filter out bad water usage...
Curated OER
The Movement of Water
Here is an excellent lesson plan on the water cycle and the states in which water exists. Learners identify the features of the water cycle, describe how water changes form, and look at ways that people affect the natural movement of...
Curated OER
The Day After Tomorrow: How is the Density of Water Related to Climate Change and Global Warming?
Science learners simulate what happens when ice breaks up and floats on water and how increased pressure on ice causes it to melt faster. They view a clip from the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, and relate their lab activities to what...
Rustle Leaf
Tell Someone About Earth Day
Celebrate Earth Day by spreading the word of conservation. Teach children ten easy ways to help preserve the Earth and share this knowledge with others by sending e-cards and printable cards to loved ones. Extend learning about the...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
One Ocean: It Matters!
Here is the first of four poignant lessons on how humans and oceans interact, even if people live far from the coast. This particular instructional activity also examines studies that are taking place in Antarctica of how climate change...
NASA
The Big Climate Change Experiment Lesson 1: Pre-Exploration
Most have heard of climate change, but what does it really mean? Scholars first answer a set of pre-assessment questions about climate change to help instructors gauge how much they know. They listen to a video lecture, watch a news...
Rainforest Alliance
Knowing the Essential Elements of a Habitat
To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then...
Beyond Benign
Evaluating Sustainability and Lifecycle
What makes one product greener than another? Ecology scholars analyze sustainability and lifecycle through a thought-provoking activity. Individuals pick a product, then examine its components to determine its overall impact on the world...
Curated OER
The American Wilderness? How 19th Century American Artists Viewed the Separation of Civilization and Nature
The attitudes of European settlers toward the American wilderness, as reflected in art and literature, is the focus of this resource packet designed for teachers. Included in the unit overview you will find lists or paintings and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines, Engines and the Environment
Fourth graders calculate the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane. In this physics lesson, 4th graders identify the different types of simple machines and their uses. They give examples of compound machines.
Curated OER
Galileo's Thermometer: Measuring the Density of Various Unknown Liquids
Sprouting scientists explore the concept of density by making mass and volume measurements for five different liquids. From these measurements, they calculate densities. They apply their learning to explain Galileo's thermometer works...
Beyond Benign
Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiesel
Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources and have become crucial to the livelihood of countless individuals. Young chemists investigate an alternative method of generating energy by performing a series of activities that lead to the...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Diseases
During a cholera outbreak, scientists presented two theories; one theory was based on miasma and the other on germs and contaminated water. The lesson looks at the scientific process for finding the real culprit.
Berkshire Museum
Meet a Naturalist: Researching, Writing, Interviewing
Young scholars reach out into the community and learn about different environmental science careers in this inquiry-based instructional activity. Beginning with a short research assignment, children gain background knowledge about...
Curated OER
Investigating the Climate System: Energy, A Balancing Act
Earth science explorers design an experiment to demonstrate that the albedo of a surface affects its temperature. They test to find out if moisture on the surface affects temperature. They discover whether or not concrete or asphalt heat...
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Pennsylvania State University
Learn, Protect, and Promote Water
A hands-on activity helps learners explore the water cycle. After discussing how they use water, classes discuss water pollution and then move into a simulation where 20 pupils move through the water cycle based on description cards.
Virginia Department of Education
The Cycles of Nature
Encourage peer collaboration and assist with the creation of visual aids to identify carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles as your class learns more about nature. They discuss relative information, create a visual aid...
Pulitzer Center
The Global Water Crisis
High schoolers examine the "quiet crisis," the lack of clean water, by reading articles and viewing video clips. They discuss the situations in Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya, and Nepal. There are two options for the lesson, but one of them...
Serendip
Changing Biological Communities – Disturbance and Succession
After cutting down a forest to make a farm, how long would it take the environment to turn an abandoned farm back into a forest? Scholars study this exact scenario while they interpret many charts and graphs of the changing ecosystems as...
Ventura County Air Pollution Control District
Effects of Global Warming
Your learners have probably heard of climate change, but do they really understand what it is? Study the history, details, and future implications of global warming and the greenhouse effect with a set of activities designed for an...
NOAA
Exploring Potential Human Impacts
Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...
Curated OER
Leaves, the Sun, and the Water Cycle
As a way to combine life and physical science, or simply as an investigation of plant transpiration, this lesson is sure to inspire! Middle schoolers capture the moisture given off by plants that are placed in different conditions. They...