Curated OER
There Is No Away
Students identify how trash is disposed of. In this environmental lesson, students read and discuss the poem "Sarah Sylvia Stout" by Shel Silverstein and discuss the ways people treated the items in the poem. Students discuss how trash...
Curated OER
Solar Cell Simulation
Second graders describe how energy moves from the Sun to the photovoltaic cell to the wire and to the load. In this solar cell simulation lesson, 2nd graders demonstrate the movement of photons and electrons to emulate how solar energy...
Curated OER
Investigating Leaves Through Printmaking
Students create leaf rubbings as they study the parts of a leaf. They describe the leaves and chart their observations.
Curated OER
Mayan Farming Practices
The introduction of this lesson requires reading a from The Maya by Jaqueline Dembar Greene. Learners sketch a Mayan during the reading. Teaching strategies include direct instruction, grouping the young scholars for discussions,...
Curated OER
Math and Science in a Wetland
Students describe safe practice when doing field and lab investigations in a estuary or wetland. They create a model of an estuary and describe their value and function. They participate in field study in which they collect and analyze...
Curated OER
The Science of Psychology
Students explain the differences between psychology, pseudoscience and popular opinion. In groups, they describe, compare and contrast the various biological and cognitive perspectives in the field. Using the internet, they describe the...
Curated OER
BIOMIMICRY, Housing Naturally: Habitat as Model
Young scholars explore natural animal habitats. In this lesson on biomimicry and habitation design, students will use classroom and field examples to examine animal habitats. Young scholars will construct a model of a natural animal...
Curated OER
What Birds Are Flying Around Your Schoolyard?
Students conduct a long-term census for the birds that are seen or heard around their schoolyard. They practice identifying birds using field guides and then count and record the birds in fifteen minute sessions every other day for four...
Curated OER
Soil Science Study
Students complete an activity by looking and gathering data on plants and soils.
Curated OER
Field Trip to San Bruno
Young scholars contrast a weedy annual grassland of introduced species with an undisturbed, ancient plant community of native bunchgrasses and wildflowers.
Curated OER
A Day in the Life
Students use their research skills to investigate the behavior and characteristics of a rainforest animal. After creating a diary entry, they illustrate the habits and life cycle of the animal. They write the diary entry from the point...
Curated OER
A Brand New Day
Students locate Maine on a classroom map and discuss if Maine is where the nation's first light is found, where would the nation's last light be seen. They explore the idea of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Curated OER
Engineering Redesign
You can use these hands on lessons to get kids excited about the field of engineering!
University of Colorado
Patterns and Fingerprints
Human fingerprint patterns are the result of layers of skin growing at different paces, thus causing the layers to pull on each other forming ridges. Here, groups of learners see how patterns and fingerprints assist scientists in a...
Curated OER
True North, Magnetic North
Young scholars explain why compass angles need to be corrected for regional magnetic variation. They observe the difference between magnetic and true north. Each student measures the angle of variation for a town in a different state.
Urbana School District
Light
You matter, unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light ... then you energy. Presentation covers the behavior of light as both a wave and a particle, light versus sound, space travel, why objects have colors, depth perception,...
Workforce Solutions
On the Job
Four lessons spotlight a variety of professions while boosting listening and observational skills and making inferences. Lesson one challenges pupils to group cards based on a commonality then justify the relationship they see....
Curated OER
Bird Banners
Students, after researching the internet for information about native bird species, create an informational banner. They follow all the directions from their copy of "Bird Banner Guidelines" and complete this task in groups of four or five.
Pulitzer Center
Extractive Industries
Here is a chance for environmental studies classes to take a critical look at crises occurring around the globe by reading articles and viewing video clips. The human activities under scrutiny are the extraction of oil, logging, and...
Curated OER
Invisible Life
By setting up an aquarium in the classroom, learners are able to describe some macroscopic and microscopic organisms that are found inside. This well-designed, and educationally rich lesson requires pupils to use microscopes to view...
Kenan Fellows
Unit 1: Introduction to Pharmacology
Learn about the study of medications, including those found in nature and those made synthetically. The first of four lessons in a series on pharmacology includes lectures, hands-on experiments, research, and more.
Curated OER
Ecology Explorers
Students create accurate, detailed map showing physical features, plants and trees, and other details of three school sites.
Messenger Education
Give Me a Boost—How Gravity Assists Aid Space Exploration
The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...
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.