Curated OER
Making A Compass
This interesting science instructional activity is about the compass. Students make a compass out of a magnet, sewing needle, cork, and a glass dish. The instructional activity includes both a pre and post-test for the students to take,...
Curated OER
Taking a Stand: Pros and Cons of Forest Fires
Students explore the pros and cons of forest fires. In this science instructional activity, students research the ecological implications of forest fires. Students record their findings in journals and compose a persuasive e-mail to...
Curated OER
Habitat Collage
Students explore habitats. In this science lesson, students discuss habitats and the insects that are found within each habitat. Students create a habitat collage.
Messenger Education
Mission: Possible—How Can We Plan an Exploration of Another World?
An astronaut's spacesuit weighs 280 pounds and takes 45 minutes to put on — that's a serious suit! The second activity of a three-part series allows pupils to see all that goes into space exploration. Through simulations, groups analyze...
Messenger Education
Exploring Exploring
The reason people first began trading was because of their desires for objects other societies possessed. In the activity, classes discuss why exploration has been a common thread in all societies and where these desires have taken...
Curated OER
TE Activity: A Tornado in My State?
Students study data about tornadoes in the United States while completing a worksheet. They develop a bar graph showing the number of tornadoes for the top ten states in the US. They find the median and mode of the data set.
NOAA
Waves
Is it possible to outrun a tsunami? After watching a presentation that explains how waves and tsunamis occur, class members investigate the speed of tsunamis triggered by an earthquake.
Teach Engineering
Design Inspired by Nature
Let nature guide your engineering designs. By taking apart a flower, pupils learn about reverse engineering. They use the results to brainstorm designs for new products or ideas. This is the seventh installment of a nine-part Life...
California Academy of Science
Tropical Belt
Where in the world is the equator? Explore a world map with your class, coloring in oceans, continents, and rainforests while locating the three major lines of latitude: the equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn. Discuss how...
NASA
Discovering the Milky Way
What do you call a tiny collection of galaxies? A puny-verse! Young scholars graph data gathered by scientists studying Cepheids. They attempt to identify a relationship between the variables through standard and logarithmical graphing....
Wild BC
Greenhouse Gas Guzzlers
Teams of six to eight players imagine that they are driving in a vehicle and collect balls that represent carbon dioxide emissions based on their different activities. "Greenhouse Gas Guzzler" cards tell teams how many balls to collect...
Curated OER
Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources: Mining in B.C.
Students explore energy by categorizing rocks. In this British Columbia geology lesson, students define many different vocabulary terms associated with mining such as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Students utilize sample rock...
Curated OER
What's the Earth Worth?
Students are able to identify natural resources from a shared reading by highlighting, scoring at least a 3 on a 4 point rubic. They describe in journal entries, after reading the book Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping or Curious Geogre Goes...
Curated OER
What happens to water before we use it?
Students examine how water is treated prior to becoming available for human consumption. In this water treatment lesson, students conduct an experiment in which they filter water. Students formulate a hypothesis, test, analyze data, and...
Curated OER
Water Quality: Water Filtration
Young scholars build a water filtration system. For this water quality lesson, students work in groups to construct water filtration units that can purify contaminated water. This lesson is part of a larger unit on water quality.
Curated OER
Water filtration with Plants
Sixth graders explain how soil and plants effect contaminated water in nature. In this filtration lesson, 6th graders work in groups to test biofiltration units. Students determine which biofiltration units work best and how they can...
Curated OER
Linking Kwanzaa to Technology and History
Seventh graders use the Internet to research the holiday of Kwanzaa. Using the information, they create a brochure to promote the holiday to others. They email the information to a friend to end the lesson.
University of Southern California
Wave Erosion Lab
Using a stream table, erosion enthusiasts examine how the density of sediment and how the slope of land contribute to the amount moved by waves. You will not be able to use this entire resource as is; there are teachers' names and...
Curated OER
Scale Model of the Earth
Students work together to create a model of the Earth. They label and identify each layer and describing its properties. They discover how engineers use models to test different concepts.
Curated OER
Wow, Saturn Is Much Bigger Than Earth!
Learners compare and contrast the sizes of Earth and Saturn. They create scale illustrations of each planet and label them. They share their models with the class.
US Environmental Protection Agency
Carbon Through the Seasons
Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over time....
Curated OER
Birthstone Project With a Multimedia Twist
Students research and discover their birthstones, studying the stones within the context of earth science. They examine the mineral industry, their own birthstones, and create multimedia presentations.
Curated OER
Name that Wind
Students study wind and the direction terms related to wind. In this meteorology lesson, students learn about the wind directions by completing a wind direction activity where kids locate cones marked with the specific wind directions....