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Three Clouds Activity
Students explore how clouds are produced through three different age-appropriate hands-on experiments.
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Latent Heat and Clouds
Students explore latent heat and how it relates to clouds in the atmosphere. In this earth science lesson plan students investigate how clouds are formed. Students examine clouds and the water cycle.
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Let's Take a Rock Apart
Young scholars take a crushed rock and sort the remains of the rock minerals into different categories based on the different properties. In this sorting lesson plan, students learn what makes up a rock and how to sort something into...
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Delta, Delta, Where is the Delta?
Pupils explore several images of Earth from space. They identify parts of deltas. They observe, label, and measure delta images, taken from space. They consider how deltas form and why they differ in shape.
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Investigating the Dynamic Martian Polar Caps
Students download NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Martian polar ice caps in summer and winter, and measure and compare various images of the changing Martian and Earth polar ice caps.
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Our Sky: Home of Stars and Planets
Students discover that astronomy is a branch of science that includes the study of planets, stars, and constellations.
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Weightlessness
Students use a coffee cup to demonstrate weightlessness. After a lecture/demo, students read an article on free-fall. They perform a simple experiment which helps them explain the concept of weightlessness.
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Hero Or Zero?
Students investigate science and technology by reading a children's book. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read the story Archibald Frisby and discuss the ways we use science and technology in everyday life....
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Conserving Energy Resources
Seventh graders research on energy conversion. After they have researched several types of energy resources, teams of two to four create posters which depict how these resources can be conserved.
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Heat Up the Floating Plates
Eighth graders research the connection between the convection currents within the mantle of the earth and the moving of Earth's plates. A connection to lessons at previous grade levels on the rock cycle and important background...
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Soiled Again
Students propose and perform an experiment using the scientific method. The purpose of the experiment is to discern some earth materials or combinations of earth materials that best increases the pH of "acid rain". From the results of...
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Climate Patterns across the United States
Students articulate differences between climate and weather using examples in a written statement. Using climate data from across the country, they describe climate patterns for various parts of the United States on a map. Students...
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Tanker Spills
Students predict the flow of an oil spill and depict it on a map. They explain the predicted route of the oil spill using knowledge of ocean currents in a short presentation to their peers.
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Rain Shadows and Sea Breezes
Students plot the average rainfall for a variety of cities in the United States. Using the map, they work together to determine patterns on which toxicants are transported through the air. They determine the impacts of various weather...
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An Invisible Pull
Fifth graders explain why objects thrown upward falls back to Earth. For this earth science lesson, 5th graders identify the forces acting on objects. They discuss why planets do not float in space.
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Many Happy Returns
Students compare the journey of Lewis and Clark with the space flight of Apollo 11. Students sequence events using a timeline. Students write a persuasive essay trying to persuade the people of the US to support space exploration.
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Rock Cycle
Third graders identify various types of landforms of the United States. They discuss earth movements that produce geologic structures and landforms and define cycle as it relates to rocks and soil. They demonstrate the processes forming...
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Acid Rain
Students use real-time weather maps to determine the likelihood of acid rainfall in a region. Students apply their understanding of interaction between weather systems, land and air pollution, to address acid rain and the effects on...
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Cooling With Sunshades
Students conduct research in order to find the effects of properties exposed to heat and how they change temperature. They consider the effect of sunlight upon objects that are placed outside with the help of an experiment. They also...
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Measurement: Stream Flow & Stadium Capacity
Eighth graders study the scientific fields and how information can be monitored and recorded. For this scientific inquiry lesson students view a PowerPoint presentation and complete a hands on activity.
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The Ocean Floor
Fifth graders discuss the process of sedimentation and the continental drift theory. They locate major structures on the ocean floor and they identify life forms at each level of the ocean.
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Weather Forecasting: From Then to Now
Eighth graders review the history of weather forecasting. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders identify the different tools used in forecasting weather. They explain why it's important to know the weather.
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Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Students become familiar with coal as an energy source and how it is mined. In this coal lesson, students research the effects of coal mining on the environment. Students discuss the various problems associated with coal mining....
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Earthquake Epicenters and Magnitudes
Students work on a virtual earthquake to increase their understanding of seismograms, earthquake epicenters, Richter Magnitude and triangulation when finding the epicenter of an earthquake.