Curated OER
Adaptations
Fifth graders are able to physically record on a sheet of paper predictions and results of an experiment pertaining to the adaptations of Arctic animals after a class discussion about the topic.
Curated OER
Web of Life Game: Trout
Students explore the concept of food webs. In this food web lesson, students demonstarte the connection between species. Students use a ball of string show how the food web works, then have a class discussion.
Curated OER
Cycling Water Through the Environment
Students identify the ways in which water moves through our environment and consider the different forms it can be found in. They view videos, conduct experiments and participate in class discussions. Students determine the role that...
Curated OER
Global Climate Change: Understanding the Greenhouse Effect
Students define the term 'global climate change' and explore how it affects our lives. They research greenhouse gases and identify what events are causing an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Students view...
Curated OER
Cellular Structure and Function
Students examine animal and plant cells using a microscope and participate in a class discussion about the functions of the organelles. In this biology lesson, students use microscopes and videos to better understand the functions...
Curated OER
The Earth Apple
Here is a thought-provoking activity that has learners look at how much land can be used to grow food on our planet, along with the fact that our population is ever-increasing. Through the use of math and class discussion, learners get...
Center for Learning in Action
Density
Explore the concept of density within states of matter—gases, liquids, and solids—through a group experiment in which young scientists test objects' texture, color, weight, size, and ability to sink or float.
Cornell University
Making a Battery
Don't be shocked when your class has a blast making their own batteries! Science scholars examine a dry cell battery, then design and construct a wet cell battery. The activity guides them through the parts of a battery, the variables...
Michigan State University
Bug Lyphe!
Introduce ecology classes to biodiversity and interdependence in ecosystems with a PowerPoint presentation. Then, they get up-close and personal with the invertebrate world by collecting insects, classifying them, and graphing their...
University of Florida
Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics!
Make an impact on young physicists with this fun collection of resources. After first watching a video and taking notes on the physics of car crashes, students go on to complete a series of activities that explore the...
Curated OER
Beneficial Bug Scavenger Hunt
Going on a scavenger hunt sounds like a great way to spice up any lesson plan. To better understand how beneficial insects are, the class goes outdoors to search for and observe a bug that has big benefits. Included in the lesson are...
Cornell University
Plant Cell Crime Scene
Use science to solve the mystery of the Poplar murder. Pupils use forensic botany to determine if a suspect could be the killer. By analyzing images from a Transmission Electron Microscope, learners determine if the material found on the...
NOAA
Calling All Explorers
Let's get moving! The second installment of a 2-part series of six adventures helps learners take part in individual explorations by sea and by land. After navigating the waters in an informative WebQuest, groups create and hide their...
Carnegie Mellon University
Renewables Workshop
Youngsters examine resource maps to find out which states are using solar and wind power and discuss as a class various other renewable energy sources. They use a provided data table to record pros and cons to each technology, build and...
Rainforest Alliance
Who Takes Care of the Maya Forest Corridor?
Who keeps animals safe? Who keeps us safe? Discover the helpers that make learning and growing possible through a medley of activities that focus on habitats—ours and those in the rainforest. Scholars are asked to identify one...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Around the World
It is unknown if cloud cover increases in response to carbon dioxide levels changing, helping climate change slow down, or if cloud cover decreases, allowing Earth to warm faster. Part four in the series of five lessons has classes...
Curated OER
A'planting We will Go
Germination is an amazing process that results in amazing things. The book The Tiny Seed is the inspiration for a set of activities that will help build early literacy, observation, language, and writing skills. The class observes how...
Rochester Institute of Technology
Artificial Hearing
Your sense of hearing depends upon tiny hairs deep inside your ear and if you lose these hairs, you lose your hearing. Here, groups explore hearing through the decibel measurement of common sounds. As a class, participants discuss...
University of Colorado
Phases of Charon
Pluto, although no longer considered a planet, has five moons. Pluto's moon, Charon, is the focus of a resource that describes how the moon is viewed from the surface of Pluto. Photos help individuals see how Charon would look at...
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...
Nuffield Foundation
Controlling Body Mass
Many variables impact your body mass, not just diet and exercise. Scholars collect and study data about body mass to better understand the complexity of a sensitive topic. They learn about leptin deficiency, the hypothalamus, and more.
National Institute of Open Schooling
Periodic Table and Atomic Properties
An in-depth lesson, the fourth activity in a series of 36, begins with teaching how the periodic table's arrangement came to its current design. Using this knowledge, pupils then move on to analyze the arrangement of elements to their...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson plan that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the...
Science Friday
Termite Symbiosis
What happens to the wood a termite eats? Pupils learn about the three types of symbiosis with pictures of symbiotic pairs. Afterward, they determine whether there is a symbiotic relationship with a termite by dissecting termites and...