LABScI
Botany: The Plant Dissection Lab
Study everything about plants! The 12-part series of lessons continues with an examination of many aspects of plants. Components of the laboratory activity address the growth and structure of plants by evaluating familiar plants. The...
NOAA
Endangered Species Origami
Make sea turtle or whale origami in a hands-on activity that provides instructions for folding and facts for learning about each.
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...
Carnegie Mellon University
Introduction to Climate
Begin a full instructional activity on climate change by demonstrating how carbon dioxide gas contributes to increased temperatures. Be aware that pressure inside the antacid-containing bottle in Activity 2 may cause the lid to fly off;...
World Wildlife Fund
Bar Charts & Pie Charts
Learn about life in the Arctic while practicing how to graph and interpret data with this interdisciplinary lesson plan. Starting with a whole group data-gathering exercise, students are then given a worksheet on which they analyze and...
Berkshire Museum
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Sorting Through Personal Choices
Raise children's awareness about the importance of conservation with this hands-on science lesson plan. Start by breaking the class into groups and having them collect trash from around the school or local park. Students then use the...
Science Matters
Energy Flow
Budding scientists work collaboratively to reenact energy flow in a food chain. Scholars take on roles such as producer and consumer and perform tasks that symbolize energy flow in order to provide evidence of how much energy passes...
Purdue University
Invasive Plants: Impact on Environment and People
It's the attack of the invasive species! Young scientists simulate the behavior of an invasive species with a game-like activity. They assume the roles of native plants, invasive plants, and resources and watch the invasive plant takes...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Seasons of a Plant
Reading the cues from nature can be as much an art as a science. The second installment in a six-part unit on climate teaches learners that environmental and biological events have significance. They first learn the difference between...
Curated OER
Toward a Sustainable Agriculture
Your class considers a case study of a sustainable agro-ecosystem and view a PowerPoint presentation about a sustainable farm. They complete a case study worksheet. Extension activities are included.
Curated OER
Fiction Stories
Students complete writing activities for fiction. In this fiction writing lesson, students complete four sets of activities in a writer's workshop format to practice reading and writing in a fiction style. Students develop plot outlines,...
Curated OER
Soil Porosity, Moisture Content, pH, and Density
This lab activity does not have to be done with AP environmental scientists. It can also be done with middle to high school earth scientists. The procedures aren't complex. Learners determine the density of dry and wet sand in order to...
Curated OER
Organisms and Their Environment
Students explore Earth's biosphere. In this biosphere lesson plan, students participate in group activities regarding biotic and abiotic factors, population density, and species' habitats.
Curated OER
Threatened, Endangered & Extinct Lesson Plan
Pupils examine the basic needs of living organisms. In this science lesson, students study ecosystems and discover that organisms have basic needs that must be met.
Curated OER
Fisheries
High schoolers research and report on the ocean's problems of disappearing or diminishing species around the world. students examine ecosystems and food chains and present their findings to a mock panel of science experts.
Curated OER
Butterflies in the Garden
Students estimate the population of a butterfly ecosystem and create a chart and graph based on information they find.
Curated OER
Endangered Ecosystems Grades 4-5
Students read about research at the field sites. They read field reports from team members at the site. Students conduct their own research on ecosystems in their lives. They explore and build an interactive food web. Students create...
Curated OER
De-composers - Terrarium
Students explore the environment by building a mock ecosystem. In this rainforest analysis lesson, students define many environmental and rainforest related vocabulary terms and discuss the current status of our planet's rainforests....
Curated OER
Pond Safari
Students investigate organisms and animals by examining a nearby pond. In this ecosystem lesson, students participate in a field trip to a local pond where they utilize a net to gather animals, plants and pollution items, Students...
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 4: Metabolism of Urban Ecosystems
Cities are compared to living, breathing, metabolizing organisms. Fourth in a five-part series of lessons, this one focuses on the flow of materials through a city. Links to interesting websites and images make your delivery of...
Science Matters
Island Fox Outreach
Off the coast of California lives a wild animal called the Island Fox. Experts discuss the importance of the Island Fox to the Channel Islands and the balance the fox creates within its ecosystem. The lesson concludes with a reading of...
Curated OER
Business Responsibility to Wetlands
Eighth graders discuss the responsibilities of businesses to protect local wetlands. In groups, they participate in numerous activities and create a model of a wetland to discover how it functions. They are given a quiz to end the lesson.
Curated OER
Snapshot Day Definitions and Activities
Here is a document full of teaching notes on water quality and bodies of water that you can use in your ecology curriculum. It has information specific to the Hudson River area, but can easily be adapted to any local body of water....
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Chemists with No Backbones
Marine invertebrates offer us many new options for developing pharmaceutical drugs, such as w-conotoxin MVIIA, which is extracted from the cone snail and is a potent painkiller. The lesson encourages scholars to research various types of...