Curated OER
Agriculture Defined
Open your Agriculture 101 course with a lesson on defining agriculture. Guide your class with thought-provoking questions and discussion. Give them time to play the card game, "Pit" in order to experience commodity exchange. This is a...
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Everybody Needs a Little Sunshine
Three activities introduce upper elementary ecologists to photosynthesis and food webs. In the first, an experiment is set up to determine how plants respond to different types of light. In the second, they connect organism cards with...
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Soil Nutrients - Phosphorus Lab Lesson Plan
Students list sources of phosphorus in soil. They explain how phosphorus is removed from the soil and used by plants. Students list the symptoms of insufficient or excess phosphorus. Students perform experiments to examine the effect of...
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Bycatch
Bycatch is the unwanted and discarded marine life caught during commercial fishing. Young marine scientists review bycatch litigation and analyze graphs of bycatch data and answer questions about it. This raises awareness while...
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Investigating the Response of Worms to Soil Improvers
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, but do they care what soil is all about? Find out in an easy and fun controlled experiment. Have your young biologists hypothesize, test, and draw conclusions about which type of soil worms...
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
DNA Extraction
What does your DNA actually look like? Use simple materials with this experiment to find out! Geneticists of all ages can follow these instructions to extract their own DNA. For learners who are hoping to extend the activity, there are...
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Simplified Vertical Rebound Testing
Students participate in a lab activity in which they examine a simple energy transformation system. Students test the rebound of elastomers, produce rebound data, and determine the kinetic energy transformed by the impact of a free...
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Seashore Explorers
There are three separate lessons within this resource that can be used together, or that can each stand alone. In the first, five simple activities allow junior scientists to examine the amazing properties of water. In the second, they...
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Energy and Change: The Five Basic Laws
Five basic law of physics and energy are listed here, with a simple explanation of what each actually means in the real world! Your young physicists will appreciate the concepts being made more relevant and the language being made more...
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Earthquake Science Project
Pupils simulate the Earth's plates moving like an earthquake by using newspaper and soil. In this earthquake lesson plan, students push and pull the newspaper together that has soil on top and observe what happens.
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Casual Pattersn in Air Pressure Phenomena
Students experiment with a jar, plastic bag and a rubber band to perform a science experiment. Students study the photocopy of Thinking About Relational Causality. Students explore the concept of a pressure-related phenomenon that...
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DNA Extraction
Students explore biology by participating in a fun science experiment. In this DNA lesson, students discuss what DNA is and where it comes from. Students utilize two bananas, a blender and a microscope to view the DNA of a banana in class.
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Planets in a Bottle
Students experiment with yeast. For this environmental conditions lesson students test the viability of samples of yeast. Students investigate the effects of environmental conditions on the yeast.
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Balloon Rockets
Students, after reviewing and analyzing Newton's third law of motion, make balloon rockets and experiment with a variety of models. After the experiment, they chart the results and form conclusions. In addition, they compare/contrast...
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Who Is It?/Who Done It?
Students conduct an experiment that allows them to assess individual differences in random DNA sequences and apply those differences when solving a forensic problem. After discussing the polymerase chain reaction and its use to identify...
Michigan Sea Grant
Food Chains and Webs
Starting with a simple food chain, young scientists interpret the difference and interrelatedness between herbivores, carnivores and producers. They answer questions related to cause and effect of food chain disruptions, including the...
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Beach Life: Clam Dissection
Students investigate clams. In this clam life activity, students conduct an experiment where they dissect clams. Students compare anatomies of humans and clams.
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What is Plastic?
Students experiment with plastics. For this what is plastic lesson, students make a simple polymer and discuss recycling. Students identify various types of plastics.
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Glacier Dynamics
Students create flubber glaciers. In this glacier dynamics lesson, students experiment factors that may affect glacier speed. Factors include slope, ice temperature, and basal conditions. Students develop hypothesis, conduct experiment,...
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The Nature and Science of Technology
Fifth graders practice using the scientific method by observing and creating mold. In this bacteria lesson, 5th graders experiment creating their own mold and fungus using petri dishes and oatmeal. Students create an...
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Alka-Seltzer Cannons
Fourth graders examine how to conduct a reliable scientific experiment so that the results are valid. They compare and contrast the reaction of Alka-Seltzer tables, one whole and one crushed, and time how long each takes to pop the top...
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Shine On, Moon
Students explore space science by conducting an experiment in class. In this Moon lesson, students define a list of space science vocabulary and read the book The Moon. Students utilize shoeboxes and string to conduct a sunlight...
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Weather and Oceans: Uneven Heating of the Earth
Students investigate what causes the heat on Earth. In this Earth heating lesson, students experiment with different heat sources and determine where the Earth gathers the most heat. Students explore vocabulary words...
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To Float or Not to Float - A Lesson on Density
Students observe and experiment with the concept of density. This is done using a simple experiment that helps them to apply scientific principles of observation and proving a hypothesis.