Baylor College
Using Heat from the Sun
Let's heat things up! This simple experiment demonstrates for students the important role the sun plays in providing the earth with energy. Place one cup of water in direct sunlight and one in shade, then take measurements in order to...
Curated OER
Solar History
Using the sun's light as a source of energy is not a new concept. Give your environmental studies, engineering, or physical science class this list of how humans have used solar energy throughout history. Assign groups a certain time...
NOAA
The Climate Team: Make a Solar Heat Engine
Learners investigate how solar energy is converted into heat in part two of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build and test homemade solar cookers to boil water and cook rice. Pupils consider the impact of heat...
University of Waikato
Māui and the Sun
Using a Maori legend, How Maui Tamed the Sun, youngsters are introduced to the importance of sunlight to civilization. Teach them about nuclear fusion that occurs to produce the solar energy we later receive on Earth as electromagnetic...
Curated OER
Renewable Energy Sentences
Students construct sentences using nouns and verbs from a "renewable energy" word bank. In this cross curriculum ecology and sentence structure grammar and mechanics lesson, students listen to the book Our Earth: Clean Energy by Peggy...
Baylor College
Greenhouse S'Mores
Your class will agree that this is the best way to demonstrate the greenhouse effect: making solar s'mores! Using a clear plastic cups as mini atmospheres, lab groups compare how adding different materials affects the melting rate of...
Baylor College
People and Climate
Model how the sun's energy strikes the planet and help your class relate it to a climate map. Assign small groups an individual climate zone to discuss. They reflect on and research how humans survive in the assigned climate and write a...
Curated OER
Windowsill Gardening: Food From Sunlight
In this windowsill gardening food from sunlight worksheet, students research photosynthesis, write about it, observe and record sunlight at home as it relates to the needs of a plant.
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy
Energize an environmental science unit on natural resources with this collection of instructional materials. From simple coloring sheets for primary grade children, to guiding questions for a high school research report, a wide variety...
Curated OER
Methods of Power- Solar, Hydrogen, and Electric
Students examine solar, hydrogen, electric power. In this research based lesson, students will do simple investigations, view videos, discuss, and research how these three types of energy are used for power. They illustrate a...
American Museum of Natural History
Moon Flip Book
Flip over the phases of the moon. Using an interactive, pupils view the location of the moon relative to the sun and earth for the eight major phases of the moon. Individuals record how the moon looks through a complete cycle. Using...
Curated OER
How Can Renewable Energy Be Used?
In this renewable energy worksheet, students will write in details about the 4 types of renewable energy sources: solar, wind, moving water, and nuclear energy. This worksheet is a graphic organizer.
Curated OER
Nature's Superheroes
Learners compare their prior knowledge about the relationship between sunlight and cancer with new findings. They research how different vitamins and minerals affect the human body.
University of California
Seasons Lab Book
Unlock the mystery behind seasonal change with a collection of worksheets and activities. Whether they are drawing pictures of Earth's orbit around the sun or graphing the temperature and daylight hours of different locations from around...
Alliance Theater
The Jungle Book Post-Show STEAM Lesson
An ecosystem is really just the flow of energy through many different living organisms. A study of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book leads to an environmental science activity in which learners study how various factors can affect...
Baylor College
Needs of Plants
What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water, sunlight, and...
Curated OER
Energy Alternatives and Conservation
In this energy alternatives and conservation worksheet, students research the topic, answer 3 questions, then complete a 4 step plan to create a print or digital project. This page has numerous links to web resources.
Curated OER
Night Golf Classroom Guide
Students read the story "Night Golf" and respond to questions that enhance their comprehension of the book's message. In this reading lesson, students participate in a literature circle to explore reading passages. Students personalize...
Curated OER
Window Treatments for Energy Savings
Students investigate energy-saving window treatments. In this environmental lesson, students research how energy-saving windows work by conducting an experiment using a thermometer and graphing data. Students identify why energy-saving...
Curated OER
Matter and Energy
Students explore energy by completing a science worksheet in class. In this principles of matter lesson, students define the vocabulary terms force, gravity, nuclear, and electromagnetic before reading assigned text about energy....
Cal Recycle
Conserving Natural Resources
Trying to plan an engaging elementary science unit on natural resources? Conserve your energy! This five-part series of lessons and hands-on activities has exactly what you need to teach young scholars about the importance of conservation.
Curated OER
Sunlight and Heat
Pupils brainstorm about the sources of heat. They discuss that sunlight is one of those sources. Students complete a lab about cold water and warm water. They record the temperatures from each thermometer and discuss which container...
Curated OER
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...
Virginia Department of Education
Go with the Flow
How does nature's hierarchy relate to our local human environment? Answer this question, along with others, as the class visually depicts the natural hierarchy provided by nature. Pupils discuss each piece of the pyramid and its energy...