Curated OER
Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map activity to...
Curated OER
Environmental Concerns (1) Analysis of Lead in Paint (2) Analysis of Water
A scenario and background information are provided for two different open-ended experiments that experienced chemistry classes can perform toward the end of the school year. In the first, they design a method for testing flakes of paint...
Curated OER
Contaminated Drinking Water
Learners see if they can tell if our water is safe to drink by looking at it and tasting it. They perform an experiment using salt and vinegar to see when they can tell water has been contaminated.
Kenan Fellows
Terrarium in a Bottle: Modeling the Atmosphere, Greenhouse Effect, and Water Cycle
You've heard of farm to table ... but what about farm in classroom? Junior agriculturalists embark upon a two-week journey into the science of growing things. Based upon the classic terrarium in a two-liter experiment, the lesson plan...
Curated OER
"Croak" Science Mystery
Solve the mystery of a declining frog population! Lead your junior ecologists on an investigation that simulates actual events concerning pollution, predation, poaching, and more. Investigators read a story online, then analyze survey...
Curated OER
Water Pollution and Food Chains
High schoolers investigate the two key concepts covered in this instructional activity: first, how pollution can affect plants, and, second, how polluted plants affect the rest of the food cycle. In sum, this instructional activity...
Curated OER
Water Monitoring and Pollution
Pupils explore the effects of pollution on water supply and how to identify safe drinking water. They test different samples of water over regular intervals and analyze the results to see if they are cyclical or represent a growing problem.
Curated OER
Is It Safe To Go In? Water Quality of Bathing Areas in the EU
Students complete an experiment on water to study water quality. In this water quality instructional activity, students complete a taste test experiment about chemicals in water. Students then study their local water environments and...
Curated OER
Aquatic Habitat Water Quality Experiment
Fifth graders discuss the importance of water quality for humans and fish and make predictions about what happens to water that is polluted. In small groups, they conduct experiments to compare and contrast water that is unpolluted and...
Curated OER
Pollution in Our Watershed
Students conduct an experiment. In this pollution instructional activity, students review the vocabulary words watershed, pollution and pesticide. Students create watersheds, spray pesticides on them, create precipitation and observe...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Make a Difference!
We are very dependent upon other life forms around us to survive. Here, scholars explore relationships in the ecosystem with the help of Auntie Litter and the pollution patrol. They imagine a world without grass, making connections to...
Curated OER
Using Environmental Models to Determine the Effect of Acid Rain on an Ecosystem
Demonstrate to your middle school science learners how chalk breaks down in a weak acid. Discuss what affects acidic rain might have on ecosystems. Lab groups then choose one of two questions: "How does acid precipitation affect an...
Curated OER
Water Pollution Lesson Plan: Don't Trust Your Eyes
Young scholars develop a list of actions they could perform that would protect our water resources from pollution. They formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments and draw conclusions about actual pollutants found in our water supply.
Curated OER
How to Clean Up an Oil Slick
Students explore how an oil spill is contained and cleaned up. They investigate an oil absorbing polymer that is hydrophobic, absorbs up to 19 times its own weight in nonpolar liquids, floats on water, and can be reused or disposed of by...
Curated OER
Erosion
Young scientists identify erosion, explain the causes of erosion, and name some techniques that can slow the process of erosion. Learners are divided up into groups of four and perform a simulation of soil erosion in class. The...
Curated OER
Contaminated Drinking Water
Students predict, experiment, and draw conclusions about the safety of drinking water. In this ecology lesson, students participate in an experiment to determine if they can taste or see contamination in drinking water. Data is collected...
US Department of Energy
Solar Distiller
Explore the sun's ability to distill contaminated water with this simple set of classroom experiments. After filling two glass bowls, one with muddy water and the other with salt water, they are covered with plastic wrap and placed in...
Curated OER
Cleaning Water: How Filters Work
Students construct their own water filter to obtain clean water. In this filtration instructional activity, students produce tainted water in order to properly filter it with filtration devices made in class.
Curated OER
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Discuss the availability of clean, plentiful water and the causes of water pollution. In groups, sixth graders discuss problem-solving methods for keeping water clean. They explore the function of water treatment plants and perform...
Curated OER
Water Filtering
Students investigate how polluted water is filtered so people can use this recycled resource. They conduct an experiment in which they put "polluted" water through a filtering system. They investigate what happens at a water treatment...
Virginia Department of Education
Changes in Ecosystems
How does water pollution affect the environment? Provide your class with the resources to answer this question as they learn about eutrophication and ecosystem changes. Over two weeks, they simulate the effects of pollution on the...
US Environmental Protection Agency
A Mock Town Meeting on a Proposed Tank Farm
Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With the...
Sargent Art
Protect Our Marine Life
Encourage water conservation and boost art skills with a hands-on activity that challenges young painters to create a scene highlighting marine life. Using oil pastels, scholars draw an underwater scene and write a tip for viewers to...
Curated OER
How Pollution Disrupts Our Natural Environment
Students conduct experiments to illustrate global warming. In this air pollution instructional activity, students first examine how a layer of greenhouse gasses might impact the earth's atmospheric temperature, then evaluate how the...