Curated OER
Oyster Gardens - No Soil Required!
Explore the practice of oyster gardening. Because oysters play a vital role in marine ecosystems and their populations have declined, biologists are transplanting oyster seed to repopulate reefs. After learning about this practice,...
Concordia University Chicago
Tahitian Landscape by Paul Gauguin
Get ready to explore the piece Tahitian Landscape with your seventh graders. They discuss the primitive style, bright colors, and impressionism found in the work, as well as biographical information regarding Gauguin's life. There are...
Curated OER
Little Auk Survival Challenge
A bird's life is one of danger and intrigue as it struggles for survival in sometimes harsh environments. To understand how difficult surviving in the wild can be, children play a simulation game where they act as little auks, birds from...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Understanding the Food Web
Building on prior knowledge of the pervious lesson in the series, pupils explain the previous lesson to each other. Then they write a simple guide for a young child to read on the same topic.
Curated OER
A Model of Three Faults
Students observe fault movements on model of the Earth's surface, find fault movements associated with different types of plate boundaries, research examples of non-plate boundary faults, and research and report on the types of faults...
Curated OER
The Tibetan Plateau
Students discuss the characteristics of the biosphere, with a focus on the Tibetan Plateau. They participate in a question and answer period discussing biomes and climate patterns. They compare and contrast different ecosystems.
Curated OER
Analyzing Tree Rings to Determine Climate Change
Students examine how to locate and access data sets. In this climate change instructional activity students import data into Excel and graph it.
Curated OER
Visual Vocabulary
Students interpret and name the vocabulary termed acted out by the mime. In this science/language arts/physical education lesson, students are given a set of vocabulary terms to discuss within their group. Next, students place all...
Georgia Aquarium
The Ocean's Nursery
Linear perspective, estuaries, and water ways converge in a science-inspired art project. The class uses what they've learned about eco-systems, estuaries, and the food chain to create scale models of a local marsh. While the lesson is...
California Academy of Science
Academy Seafood Market and Fishery
What fishing method is the most sustainable? Find out through a fun, but meaningful game in which your little fishermen use different techniques to see what they catch. After the fishing activity is over, there are several discussion...
Curated OER
Summer Intern
Your young apprentices build a function describing the percent concentration of salt in a brine. The rational function is then related to the parent function, y= 1/x, and graphed. Finally, the apprentices predict the amount of fresh...
EngageNY
Modeling an Invasive Species Population
Context makes everything better! Groups use real data to create models and make predictions. Classmates compare an exponential model to a linear model, then consider the real-life implications.
National Wildlife Federation
The Amazing Adventures of Carbon: How Carbon Cycles through the Earth
Here's a stat for your pupils: 18 percent of the human body is carbon! Part 10 in the series of 12 takes pairs on an adventure through the carbon cycle. After a class reading about carbon, pairs read and choose their own adventure...
Teach Engineering
Extinction Prevention via Engineering
It's time to save endangered species through engineering. The third instructional activity in a nine-part Life Science unit has young environmentalists study species extinction. An engaging discussion leads to some ideas on how to use...
Curated OER
It's a Gas! Or is it?
Oceanography enthusiasts are given a series of thought experiments to consider in order to relate the solubility of gases and solids to underwater volcanoes. It is not particularly engaging to perform these thought experiments. Choose...
Curated OER
Beans and Baleen
Predict whale populations using different beans as whales! Learners observe different types of beans in a dish knowing that each bean represents a different kind of whale. They then predict how many "whales" there are in a certain area....
Curated OER
Columbus: Hero or Villain?
Students explore Christopher Columbus's motives. In this character education lesson plan, students research Internet and print sources regarding the life and actions of Christopher Columbus in order to write essays that his actions as...
Curated OER
Discovering the Deep
Students explore the world's oceans. They research questions about the oceans and write a research report about an ocean animal. Students identify at least four different writing genres they experienced while reading about the ocean.
Curated OER
Jelly Critters
Students compare and contrast three different organisms that are considered gelatinous zooplankton. They describe how they fit into marine food webs.
Curated OER
Ocean Microstructure
Students assess the ocean's microstructure by analyzing graphs created during tne Ronald H.Brown research cruise. they discuss at what depths various sea animals live and write paragraphs on data analysis from the graphs.
Curated OER
Life of An Island
Students identify the steps in the life cycle of an island. They label islands in the correct stage of their life cycle and illustrate the process themselves. They also review the concept of plate tectonics.
Curated OER
Salmon and Steelhead Life Stories Web Search
Learners conduct an Internet investigation to discover the natural history of local salmon and/or steelhead. They then write a story that describes the life of a salmon or steelhead from the local creek, including a description of each...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Action at Plate Boundaries
Students diagram the spreading of the ocean floor. In this earth science lesson plan, students read an article on plate boundaries of the ocean. Students are expected to diagram the oceanic convergent boundary, and give a written...
Curated OER
Ocean in a Bottle
Learners create an enclosed ocean in a bottle and add different pollutants to explore the effects of pollution on the environment.