Curated OER
Weather's Outer Limits
Students make educated guesses and explain their reasoning and compile, graph, and map weather data. They then study environmental weather extremes on earth and discover that many variables determine climate.
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Food chains and webs
Here is an extremely simplistic look at food chains and webs. It depicts three different food chains, each containing a plant, plant eater, and meat-eater. Learners fill in the missing part of each chain by using the images provided at...
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Biomes: Extreme Climate
Students create a web connecting global warming, the Arctic, and wold climate. They write a paragraph explaining the role of the Arctic in world climate.
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Extreme Climate
Middle schoolers discuss global warming, greenhouse effect, permafrost and other key words. In this climate lesson students create a web that connects global warming, the Arctic and world climate then write a paragraph explaining the...
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Polar Quest Expedition
Students investigate how to design a jacket that can be worn in extremely cold temperatures. They use the internet to research materials and different types of designs. As an extension to the lesson students go to a sporting goods store...
Virginia Department of Education
Charles’ Law
Searching for a relatively interesting way to demonstrate Charles' Law? Here is a lesson in which pupils heat air inside a flask and then cool the flask to quickly cool the air. They make observations about what occurs during the cooling...
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Activity 1: The Effect of Cold on Characteristics Important to Fishes
Learners explore how organisms are adapted to live in the ultimate of extreme environments. They discuss the reasons for the similarities and differences between them, themselves, and the more familiar organisms around them. Students are...
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Adaptations of Fishes for Survival in Polar Environments
High schoolers compare the anatomy of temperature and polar fishes. They explore the adverse effects of cold on metabolism and physiology and discuss how polar fishes adapt to their environments. Comparisons are also made to the DNA...
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Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...
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Global Warming Statistics
Students research real-time and historic temperature data of U.S. and world locations, and analyze the data using mean, median, and mode averages. They graph the data and draw conclusions by analyzing the data. A spreadsheet is used to...
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Exploration of the Moon
In this moon worksheet, students will use a table with facts about the moon to answer questions about the moon's rotation, distance from the Earth, gravity, and temperature. Students will complete 9 short answer questions.
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The Tropopause
In this tropopause activity, learners read about the temperature of the air in the tropopause or the layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth. They answer four critical thinking questions about this layer and the energy changes that...
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Irish Potato Products
Students investigate the effects of low and high temperatures on potato products. For this potato products lesson plan, students demonstrate the effects of storage conditions on Irish potatoes. They investigate the effects of frying,...
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The Young Virginia Gardener
In this recognizing plant problems worksheet, students read causes and effects of insects, diseases, watering, soil, and temperatures and identify problems in their gardens. Students list a maximum of four problems.
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Traveling as an Ancient American
What would you bring on a trip...if you had to carry it all through freezing temperatures for 3 months? Historians consider this question, faced with their family's need to move south for warmer temperatures in the ancient world....
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Biomes: Extreme Climate
Students discuss the causes of global warming. In this earth science activity, students examine how global warming is connected to the arctic and world climate. They write a paragraph about their interconnection.
It's About Time
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Emerging biochemists more fully understand the flow of energy in ecosystems as they explore the laws of thermodynamics and relate them to energy transfer in food chains. They also investigate heat loss from the human body and how...
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Chalk Chromatography
Your chemistry class is sure to love this experiment on column chromatography, as demonstrated with chalk sticks and felt tip markers. Pupils use sidewalk chalk (another inexpensive form of chalk stick) to demonstrate adsorption and the...
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So You Want To Travel To Namib
Middle schoolers research and plan a trip to the Namibian desert. They watch and discuss a video, develop a list of the harsh conditions while viewing the film, identify the precautions needed for traveling in the Namib environment, and...
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Earth in the Hot Seat
Students identify the different viewpoints on the issue of global warming. While watching a video, they take notes on the issues presented to them and answer questions about what Alaska, Peru and East Africa are doing to prevent global...
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Temperature Probe
Fourth graders perform activities that involve electronic measurements through probe software. Students collect data and create a variety of visual formats: graphs, charts, tables, and gauges. They compare and contrast their data to...
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Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold
Students are explained that thermophiles are organisms that have optimal growth temperatures above 50oC. They investigate the temperature ranges for the growth of common bacteria. Students answer the question of do either of these...
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Feelin' Hot, Hot Hot!
Students explore human anatomy by researching first aid care. In this heat related injury lesson, students discuss the problems extreme temperatures can cause on the human body if left untreated. Students define the different injuries,...
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Properties of the Ocean: Measurement
Students simulate the development of an underwater amusement park after reading background on Coral Reef State Park. They decide which factors they would need to consider such as the ocean floor, currents, wave patterns and water...