Biology Junction
Water Properties and More
Did you know many insects use cohesion or surface tension to walk on water? Using a presentation, scholars learn the more important properties of water. It extends into the concepts of solutions, suspensions, pH, and more.
Curated OER
Looking at the Water Cycle
In this Looking at the Water Cycle worksheet, read an explanation of the water cycle and fill in missing words. Students also create a poster about the water cycle, deliver a weather forecast, and research further questions.
Glynn County School System
The Earth as a Planet
What does our planet have in common with other planets? What makes it unique? Find out in a PowerPoint presentation highlighting many earthly facts! The lesson describes Earth's atmosphere in detail and adds many other important facts...
NOAA
Tracking a Drifter
Be shore to use this drifter resource. The third installment of a five-part series has learners using the NOAA's Adopt-a-Drifter website to track to movement of a drifter (buoy) in the ocean. Graphing the collected data on a map allows...
It's About Time
Photosynthesis, Respiration, and the Carbon Cycle
Provide your class with the opportunity to view our carbon cycle close up. Young scientists research the cycle of oxygen as it completes the tasks of photosynthesis and respiration. They explore the importance of carbon in an ecosystem...
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Molecules to the Max!—Teacher's Discovery Guide
Molecules to the Max! refers to a movie released in 2009 about the world of atoms and molecules. A helpful discovery guide provides five posters on science topics typically covered at the middle school level. It also explains the...
Carnegie Mellon University
Bathtub Model
Using a colorful infographic handout and a guide sheet, hold a class discussion about how a bathtub can serve as a model for the greenhouse effect created by Earth's atmosphere. Participants will understand that as energy or matter is...
Curated OER
Go To The Head of the Cloud
Young scholars pretend they are water droplets traveling through the water cycle. Using their text, they discover the steps in the cycle and the different paths water can take. They write a report about their journey through the water...
Curated OER
The Day After Tomorrow: How is the Density of Water Related to Climate Change and Global Warming?
Science learners simulate what happens when ice breaks up and floats on water and how increased pressure on ice causes it to melt faster. They view a clip from the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, and relate their lab activities to what...
Curated OER
Air and Water in the Environment
Young scholars demonstrate an awareness of air as a substance that surrounds us and takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind. They predict and describe how local weather conditions affect living things, including themselves.
Curated OER
Cherishing the Water of Life
Students work in small groups to brainstorm a list of all creatures, plants, natural, and artificial processes that use or depend on fresh water. The class views an aquarium filled with water representing all the water in the world. The...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Natural and Human Causes
What impact do humans have on greenhouse gas emissions? What are the natural causes of these gasses? Thanks to the carbon cycle, carbon dioxide eats away at the earth's atmosphere with the intensified help of humans. Young scientists...
Colorado State University
What Is a "Model"?
Model the transfer of energy during a typical 24-hour period. Young scholars use a game-like approach to learning the patterns of heat transfer through the day and night. Groups of four exchange different tokens as the energy...
Florida International University
Pipeline to the Coral Reefs
Discover firsthand the effects of internal waves on coral reefs. Through a series of experiments, learners simulate internal waves and upwelling events as they make observations on the movement of water and other debris. They then...
PHET
Fluid Pressure and Flow
This simulation begins with an exploration of water pressure and atmospheric pressure. In the flow portion, scholars reshape a pipe and see fluid dynamics at work. The water tower portion encourages pupils to determine how water...
Curated OER
How High Does the Atmosphere Go?
Students explain how relatively thin the atmosphere is, compared to the size of the planet, and determine the relative extent of the four major atmospheric layers.
National Wildlife Federation
The Tide is High, but I’m Holding On… Using ICESat Data to Investigate Sea Level Rise
Based on the rate of melting observed from 2003-2007 in Greenland, it would take less than 10 minutes to fill the Dallas Cowboys' Stadium. The 17th lesson in a series of 21 has scholars use the ICESat data to understand the ice mass...
Curated OER
The Tropopause
For this tropopause worksheet, students 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...
Curated OER
Science: Microcosms in the Biosphere
In a series of lessons, examine the impact on humans by microcosms in the biosphere. Among the plans structured for students with different abilities and learning styles, are activities describing the symbiotic relationship, drawing the...
Curated OER
In the Rain Shadow
Learners, while utilizing a large wall map, experiment recording the annual precipitation for cities on the east and west sides of the Cascade Mountains. They discover that volcanic mountains do not have to erupt to affect the atmosphere.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Natural and Human Causes
Part three in the series of seven has pupils discussing the different greenhouses gases, learning about the carbon cycle, and then watching a short video about the carbon cycle. Based on their knowledge, individuals complete a greenhouse...
Curated OER
Where's the Water? Stream Side Science
After a whole-class discussion of water reservoirs, ten liters of water are given to each lab group to represent Earth's total amount of water. They divide the water into smaller containers, each representing one of those reservoirs. The...
Maine Math & Science Alliance
Earth as a System
Ecosystem, human body system, weather system. We hear the word system a lot, but what does it really mean? In the activity, pairs or groups of learners discuss how a bicycle is a system and then analyze objects in their classroom and...
Curated OER
What is Water?
Students examine water's properties. They participate in hands-on activities to show the properties of water.