American Museum of Natural History
Mesozoic Museum
Mini museum curators create an exhibit that showcases the Mesozoic era. Pupils use their knowledge of dinosaurs to make informative posters, drawings, and dioramas. Following three steps to complete the hands-on activity, scholars read...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Do You See What I See?
Can art play tricks on your eyes, and can a still painting really appear to vibrate? The second lesson in a four-part series discusses the way our beautiful brains translate visual images. It highlights the style of optical art and...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final lesson in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside. Reflections...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third lesson in a series of four...
Curated OER
Animals in Art
Second graders demonstrate visual awareness by listing seven to nine types of animals shown in the artwork on the tour. They draw three types of textured lines or patterns shown in the tour artwork and model an imaginary animal using clay.
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
Curated OER
Earth's Heavenly Treasures: Hummingbirds
Young ornithologists watch an informative video and use the Internet to gather data about the life, size, habitat, and migration of hummingbirds. The interdisciplinary lesson includes activities that target art, science, math, and...
California Academy of Science
Poetic Reflections
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
Curated OER
Fanning The Spark: Fostering Your Students' Creativity
Here is a packet of lessons which are designed to help you to foster your pupils' creativity. The lessons are designed to develop their fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration on ideas. The are built around field trips to a...
Curated OER
Digital Field Trip Report
Students create a series of guided tours through a museum, creating a virtual museum for others to acess using audio, images, and an iPod. Their reflections serve as a way to allow other students that are unable to attend the field trip...
Field Museum
The Case of Darwin's Finches
One of the most striking pieces of evidence for Darwin's Evolution of Species was his observations of finches and how their beaks differed from island to island, depending on their primary food sources. So what would happen to the theory...
Berkshire Museum
Adopt a Schoolyard Tree
Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson plan. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it...
Curated OER
Beautiful Butterfly Tiles
Third graders create a butterfly drawing that includes the elements of art and principles of design. They create artwork that can be made into ceramic tiles to be installed around the classroom doorways in our new addition.
Curated OER
Exploring Marine Ecosystems in the Caribbean and Maine
Students compare the marine habitats of Maine and the Caribbean using temperature, tides, ocean currents, latitude and longitude. In this marine ecosystems instructional activity, students analyze maps to complete graphic organizers that...
Curated OER
Growth and Changes in Plants
Young scholars investigate the growth and changes in plants. They view a video and discuss the changes in plants. They work in small groups to demonstrate vocabulary words to the class. They visit a green house and take pictures of...
Curated OER
Geography: I Spy Environments
Fourth graders examine nature paintings from a Utah museum for their physical characteristics. In small groups, they observe museum postcards and discuss the season, precipitation, temperature, and geometric shapes pictured. Focusing...
Curated OER
A Dinosaur Scavenger Hunt
Students explain what a fossil is, learn six dinosaurs and tell one characteristic about each, then describe verbally what a dinosaur might have looked like.
Curated OER
Northwest Coast Indians: Spring and Summer Salmon
Here is a fabulous lesson plan about the cultures of the Northwest Indians. Through an exploration of a story about the Salmon People, learners study the practice of harvesting salmon and the cultural importance of salmon to the...
Curated OER
Space and Science Fiction
Use the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe" to have students research ideas for a science fiction story. After completing their research, writers will compose science fiction stories that incorporate...
Curated OER
Classroom Archaeology
Students, in groups, receive a box of artifacts. They record their findings and discuss what the items would have been used for. They come together at the end of the lesson to share their findings.
Curated OER
AIDS, HIV and other Microbe Matters
This series of lessons contains sensitive material. Please review to ensure that the content is suitable for your class. It begins by discussing what microbes are. Scholars are then asked to review a few online resources and answer...
Curated OER
Teaching with Collections
Students examine collections. In these real-world collections lessons, students examine and describe buttons and shells. Students will then sort, classify, and graph items according to various indicated descriptors.
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Ceramics
Learners compare the characteristics of a fired porcelain sculpture to the clay used to create it. They discuss the physical and chemical changes that occur in the clay as it is heated and then create their own clay sculpture. This...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Ceramics
Students make ceramic sculptures to understand how clay works. In this sculpture lesson, students learn about porcelain sculptures to understand how heat can turn clay into a hard ceramic surface. They then experiment with clay to make...