DocsTeach
Environmental Case Study: Hetch Hetchy Valley
What is more important: building a new school or preserving a nature reserve? Keeping a natural area clean or providing clean drinking water to a city of millions? Young scholars weigh these questions—almost literally—using an...
North Haven Middle School
Environmental Expert Presentation
Individuals or groups select an environmental issue, then spend time researching and creating a presentation to share in class. By allowing learners to choose the issue that matters most to them, you will motivate them to do...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Classroom Activities: What Is My Carbon Footprint?
Everyone leaves an impression on the world—some more than others. An interactive lesson has learners analyze their lifestyles and the impact they have on the environment. The analysis includes travel, food, and energy categories and ends...
Colorado State University
What Makes a Gas, a Greenhouse Gas?—The Carbon Dioxide Dance
Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
US Department of Energy
Geothermal Energy
With Earth Day quickly approaching, as well as many science fairs, why not challenge your class to investigate geothermal energy or other renewable energy resources? There are five driving questions explored in depth here, as well as...
Teach Engineering
Chromatography Lab
Groups use alcohol and chromatography paper to separate the color components of black ink. The purpose of the activity is to allow the class to become aware that mixtures exist in hidden places.
US Environmental Protection Agency
Mapping Greenhouse Gas Emissions Where You Live
After investigating the US Environmental Protection Agency's climate change website, your environmental studies learners discuss greenhouse gas emissions. They use an online interactive tool to look at data from power production...
Environmental Education in Wisconsin
Biome Travel Guide
In a perfect marriage of social studies and science, groups work together to research and create a travel guide presentation to share with the class. Not only do kids learn about the climate and geography of a biome, but also the...
DiscoverE
Water Sampling
What is the best way to test water quality? Using plastic bottles, scholars create monitoring sensors to test water quality. Creating three different sensors allows individuals to measure water quality at different water levels.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Winning Guest Village in the Saguaro National Park
Don't desert a resource on the desert! Scholars work in groups to build on their ideas from the previous lesson to design a sustainable guest village in the Saguaro National Park. Each group produces a PowerPoint presentation to share...
Teach Engineering
Linking Sources and Pollutants
Class members use an air quality monitor to measure the amount of gas-phase pollutants emitted by different sources. Groups choose three different sources and make predictions about what the monitors will detect. Teams then expose...
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Treatment of Oil Spills—Microscale Chemistry
When oil spills happen, how is the oil cleaned up? Pupils of polymer science discover an amazing substance that turns oil into a solid during a microscale experiment. Individuals observe oil or paraffin before and after addition of the...
National Geographic
Rescuing, Relocating, and Rehabilitating Wildlife
Bring up the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Display the colorful diagram of the coastal and marine organisms living in the area. Show a video about relocating the eggs of the Gulf's sea...
Teach Engineering
Get the Word Out at McDonald's!
To get the word out that the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP) contains millions of pounds of non-biodegrading plastics, individuals research the GPGP and write an article for a newsletter. Researchers present their facts in a...
NASA
Erosion and Landslides
A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving lesson. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...
Forest Foundation
Waste Not - Want Not
Recycling is the focus in the sixth of a nine-lesson series devoted to forest ecosystems. Class members read an article about the responsible use of natural resources and ways to reduce land fill.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Winogradsky Columns: Microbial Ecology in the Classroom
Winogradsky columns are ideal for observing the role of bacteria and other microorganisms in an ecosystem. This student activity guide is complete with data tables for observations and analysis questions for processing what was observed....
National Science Teachers Association
Adopt-a-Dino
Earth historians research a specific dinosaur, write a paper about the Mesozoic era that it lived in, create an artistic rendition of the environment, and give a presentation in class about what they learned. Be aware that there are...
Clean Up Australia
Why are Batteries Harmful to the Environment?
Open this lesson by reading together about primary and secondary batteries (such as nickel-cadmium cells), problems they can cause in the environment, and how humans can minimize the damage. Afterward, little ones examine a collection of...
Teach Engineering
Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Field Trip)
With a piece of plastic here and a piece of plastic there, here a piece, there a piece, everywhere a piece. Teams go on a field trip in order to document the locations and kinds of plastic trash in an area near them. The eighth...
Teach Engineering
Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)
The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Lab 1: Nanocatalysts Clean Your Car Emissions
What a big job for such a small particle. Young scientists learn about the role of nanoparticles in catalytic converters for cars. They conduct an experiment to create alginate-MnO2 catalytic spheres.
National Park Service
Who Grows There?
More than 127 non-native species live in Glacier National Park in Montana and their infestations are growing! Pupils read about and gather samples of exotic plants. Participants create a master book of pressed plants and complete a...