Curated OER
Terrestrial Ecosystem Response to Climate Change
An extensive investigation of the Earth's climate changes awaits your environmental science classes. This top-notch presentation begins by looking at the history of Earth's climate and then predicts the impact on each major terrestrial...
Curated OER
Top 10 Summer Science Lesson Plans
Make this summer an exciting learning experience for your students with these engaging science activities!
Curated OER
Changing Planet: Permafrost Gas Leak
Pair earth scientists up to use an amazing online arctic portal mapping tool and Google Earth to analyze permafrost changes. They compare changes to data on atmospheric concentrations of methane to see if there is a correlation. Then...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
What is Groundwater? Our Underground Water Supply
Learn about the consequences of groundwater with a lesson about the different ways California handles water conservation and pollution. After reading a passage about the water table, learners apply what they have read to six...
Curated OER
Effects of Weathering
Here's a great geology lesson for 3rd graders on weathering and erosion of soil. After a class discussion on how nature can "move a mountain," learners take a look at how a modern phenoma called acid rain can also cause weathering and...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
Curated OER
Erosion Patterns
Students explore erosion when there are multiple types of sediments. They view a soil separation demonstration jar before and after agitation to determine how and why the layers settled. In addition, they conduct experiments with a river...
California Academy of Science
Composting: A Scientific Investigation: California Academy of Sciences
Garbage, recycle, compost: Does it really matter where we put our trash once we are done? By making detailed observations over seven weeks, kids will see which materials break down naturally to become a healthy part of the soil, and...
Curated OER
WATER HERE AND THERE
Introduce the topic of water conservation with a little drama. Dressed as snowflakes, hail stones, or rain drops class members dramatize the events in a narration of the water cycle. The series of lessons that follow focus on...
Curated OER
Exploring Arizona's Biotic Communities Lesson 1: Mapping Biotic Communities
As part of a unit on Arizona's biotic communities, young ecology learners create a map. They describe how humans and animals adapt in their habitat. They take notes and create graphic organizers from articles they read. Beautiful maps,...
Curated OER
Worksheet 3: Earth's Climate System II
A diagram of a mountain range and the prevailing winds is shown at the top of the page. Meteorology pupils describe the weather conditions at different points on the diagram. They explain the El Nino effect and why evaporation and...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 6: Biomes and Landscapes
Aside from the amazing animals in Gorongosa National Park, what else is there to discover? The sixth installment in an eight-part themed series contains an interactive map where scholars can learn more about the geographic features of...
Curated OER
New Jersey Estuaries Water Filter Activity
Students examine how an estuary's plants and soil filter water before it flows into the ocean. They complete a lab report drawing and writing about what they observe after completing a water filter activity.
Curated OER
Soak It Up
Young scholars examine the various materials that make up their local soils. In groups, they record how each material is different and use cheesecloth to filter them into a bottle based on particle size. They use the soils to determine...
Curated OER
Get the Dirt
Students investigate a variety of soil samples placed in cold water jars. Layers of soil are examined for the difference between organic matter and rock fragments.
Curated OER
The Dirt We Depend On- Characteristics of Dirt Reading Comprehension Worksheet
In this reading comprehension worksheet, students read a selection about dirt and soil characteristics. They answer 10 matching questions and 5 multiple choice questions based on the information given in the non-fiction article.
Curated OER
The Earth Around Us: Air, Water & Soil
Students build an air cannon and study air mass. In this air cannon lesson, students create and shoot an air cannon and observe what happens. Students answer critical thinking questions about air mass and air cannons.
Curated OER
Tree Top Canopy Field Trip
Learners visit the Greenheart Canopy Walkway. For this environmental lesson, students experience a coastal rain forest ecosystem. Learners interact and explore the different layers of the rain forest.
Curated OER
Composting With Worms
Third graders predict what happen in two (control and experiment) containers -- one with soil and trash, the other with soil, trash, and worms.
Curated OER
Shoe Box Archaeology
Students assemble a shoe box following a layered pattern alternating between soil and artifacts. The layers of artifacts begin with the grandparents and end with the student's own personal possessions.
Curated OER
The Sweet Connection
Students use maps to find what crops are dominant in areas where honey bees are raised and discuss possible correlations. They mark the top ten honey- producing states on a US map.
Curated OER
Plant Parts
Ninth graders identify plant parts by using different classification methods. In this plant lesson students observe and draw different types of leaves then classify them according to species.
Curated OER
Listen to the Land
Pupils discover how we use land. They gain insight into the way we use the land, both for benefit and consequence. Students explore how to 'listen to the land' as they make decisions on how it should be used and the consequences of...
Curated OER
Garden in an Egg Carton
Students investigate the growth of seedlings planted in egg cartons in the classroom. Measurements are taken as the plants grow and charts created to organize the data.