Curated OER
Optional Laboratory: Comparing Soil Temperatures In Sun and Shade
Students work together to test the temperatures of different soils in shade and sun. They make their own hypothesis before beginning the experiment. They record their data and discuss as a class.
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Nitrogen Cycle
Expose your class to the steps of the nitrogen cycle with this short clip. Colorful computer imagery and animation explain how nitrogen travels from the atmosphere as a gas into plants and soil, where bacteria convert it into nitrates....
Curated OER
Mud in the Water
Students build a soil erosion model to study the importance of soil conservation. They investigate how land forms from both constructive and destructive forces.
Curated OER
Determine Soil Particle Size
Young scholars examine various soil samples in groups. Using the samples, they identify the characteristics of them and calculate percolation and infiltration rates. They use this information to discover why some species can survive in...
Biology Junction
Land Biomes
Biomes share similar climates and ecosystems, despite being separated geographically on the planet. A presentation introduces the six most common land biomes. It focuses on the commonalities in climate, plants, and animals with many...
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in...
K12 Reader
Natural Resources
What natural resources are available in your area? Your learners can consider this question after reading a brief passage about natural and renewable resources. After reading, class members respond to five questions related to the reading.
National Park Service
The Secret of Life
Dead trees provide nutrients for the soil, food for animals, protection and a home for organisms, a seed-bed for new trees, and a place for nitrogen-fixing bacteria to live. In the activity, pupils collect decaying logs, expose them to a...
Alachua County Public Schools
Food Chain
Two to four players receive seven cards each, with plants, animals, or nitrates depicted. They place what they have onto their own empty game board with the objective to complete a food chain. The game is a fun way to reinforce learning...
Disney
Where Do Brown Bears Live?
What do brown bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park need to survive? Pupils explore the unique habitats, diet, and survival needs of this animal. They predict the consequences of removing any integral part of the bear's survival,...
American Museum of Natural History
What's the Big Deal About Water?
It may seem simple, but water is one of the most unique substances on Earth. An interactive online lesson describes its properties and importance in so many different situations. Learners interact with the lesson to learn the role water...
National Park Service
The Water Cycle Game
Take young scientists on a trip through the water cycle with this interactive science activity. After setting up a series of ten stations representing the different places water can be found, children use the included printable dice...
Agriculture in the Classroom
Wad-a-Watershed
What kind of impact do humans have on watersheds? Find out in a lesson that defines, explores, and promotes ways to protect our watersheds. The ultimate goal of the lesson is for learners to discover how a watershed is impacted by...
Teach Engineering
Basically Acidic Ink
If you don't want to drink red cabbage juice, here's another use for it—a decoder! Using vinegar and ammonia-based window cleaning liquids as invisible inks, scholars create designs in the second lesson of the series. Red cabbage juice...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
American Indians and their Environment
People could take a page in ingenuity and survival from the Powhatans. Deer skins became clothes, and the members of the Native American group farmed the rich Virginia soil and hunted in its forests for food. Using images of artifacts...
K12 Reader
Ecosystems
Examine how living and non-living things work together in a reading passage about ecosystems. Class members read the text and then respond to five response questions that relate specifically to the content of the passage.
Curated OER
Land Use Issues
Students examine soil types and determine the ability of each to absorb water. Working in groups, they time how long it takes for water to seep out the bottom of the cups. They examine soil components, conservation, erosion, and tree...
Curated OER
Prairie Scavenger Hunt
Here is a simple lesson for young learners on the plants, animals, and flowers found in the prairie environment. There are worksheets embedded in the plan that pupils use once a teacher-led discussion and demonstration has taken place....
Curated OER
Who Eats Who?
Students recognize that some animals eat plants, some eat meat and some both. In this who eats who lesson, students chart animals in a food chain. Students research information from reading articles. Students chart what...
Curated OER
Water-Holding Capacity
Students design and conduct an experiment to compare the water-holding capacity of sand, soil, and moss. They measure the change in weight for each material after adding the same amount of water to each material.
Curated OER
My Forest or the Rainforest?
Students explore the flora and fauna of temperate forests and rainforests. They examine the environmental conditions that allow certain plants and animals to live in the rainforest.
Curated OER
Writing in Note Form
Taking notes is the topic today. Kids learn why notes are taken, when they are useful, and how to pick out the most important information to make their notes functional. Several interesting examples of various note forms are shown, along...
Curated OER
The Nitrogen Cycle
Students design and create a compost pile in order to study the Nitrogen Cycle. They then use the scientific method to determine if plants grow better when they add organic matter from their compost pile to the plant's soil.
Curated OER
Dirt Life
Young scholars select and collect soil samples from a variety of locations (schoolyard, home, etc.). They do this lab after an interest-generating discussion about "dirt" and microbes. Students make a dilution in sterile water, plate...