Curated OER
Peace Corps Challenge Game- Water Quality
Students advocate for clean water. In this water pollution lesson, students play the Peace Corps Challenge Game, discuss the effects of polluted water and write a letter to the mayor of Wanzuzu highlighting the situation of the fish's...
California Academy of Science
Climate Change Impacts
Getting kids thinking about climate change now, will hopefully push them into action when they become adults. Young environmentalists discuss the evidence and causes of climate change seen in the state of California. They brainstorm ways...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
Curated OER
Bug's Eye View
Investigate the life of bugs and how they interact with the environment in this integrated science and language arts lesson plan. Young scientists construct mini environments in cages in order to make observations. This data forms the...
Curated OER
Our Earth
In this Earth's environment worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given 35 clues about a variety of topics related to our Earth. Topics include ecosystems, precipitation, biomes, energy transfer, soil, weathering and rocks.
Center Science Education
The Nitrogen Cycle Game
Earth science experts learn about the roles of nitrogen by taking a virtual journey through the nitrogen cycle. Completing a passport worksheet along the way, they move from place to place around the classroom by the toss of dice. Each...
Wild BC
Maple Trees and Marmots
Kinesthetic activities simulate animal activity as the seasons progress in a lesson that introduces climate change to primary pupils. The kids role-play maple trees collecting what they need to survive, but as each year comes around, the...
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Schoolyard Biodiversity Investigation Educator Guide
In 1980, in the tropical rainforests of Panama, scientists discovered 1,200 species of beetles living in and around just 19 trees, with most of the species new to science—that's biodiversity! In the activity, learners work in teams to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Calculating Your Ecological Footprint
You can lower your ecological footprint by recycling! Lesson four in this series of five has individuals, through the use of a computer, calculate their ecological footprints. Through discussions and analysis they determine how many...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Nature Walk and Ecosystem Introduction
A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Zebrafish and Skin Color
You may not know if that zebrafish in your fish tank is a model citizen—but it is definitely a model organism! What can we learn about ourselves from a tiny zebrafish? Discover more about the polygenic trait of skin color through a...
Serendip
Changing Biological Communities – Disturbance and Succession
After cutting down a forest to make a farm, how long would it take the environment to turn an abandoned farm back into a forest? Scholars study this exact scenario while they interpret many charts and graphs of the changing ecosystems as...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Biodegradable Plastic Stuff
Students identify the four basic natural resources. They distinguish bettween renewable and non-renewable resources. Pupils recognize that all natural resources are needed by living plants and animals. Students list consequences for...
Curated OER
My Habitat
Students explore the environment they live in. In this habitats lesson plan, students define habitat and create a web in kidspiration. Students take a walk outside and record what they see and hear and may take pictures as well. Students...
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...
NOAA
Tides
Low tides, high tides, spring tides, neap tides, diurnal tides, semidiurnal tides, mixed tides ... just how many types of tides are there? The 10th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO)...
National Wildlife Federation
An Inconvenient Truth in the Classroom
Global warming — what a hot topic! A thorough unit challenges learners to research, read, explore, and write about carbon, its role and increasing nature in our atmosphere, and how global warming is affecting lives and environments...
Curated OER
Weathering and Erosion
Fourth graders take a look at the effects of weathering and other geologic activities found in the environments in which they live. Along with a guided geologic walk outside of campus, there is also an effective in-class demonstration of...
Curated OER
Tropical Rainforests
Students create their own rainforest environment. This tropical rainforest lesson, introduces where rainforests are located, their real world connections, and their structural make up. It includes further resources online.
Curated OER
Food Web in the Bay
Sixth graders study the food web in a bay. For this food web lesson, 6th graders investigate the SAV- submerged aquatic vegetation of a bay including their predators, and how the organisms eat, have proper living space and water. They...
Curated OER
Sensational Seaweed
Students compare kelp and land plants. In this sea plant lesson, students look at the role of algae in aquatic environments. They research the properties of kelp and explore seaweed.
Polar Trec
What Is My Footprint?
How do one's habits and lifestyle choices affect the environment? Through a short online survey, learners will calculate their own carbon footprints then determine how to reduce their impact on the environment through simple steps, such...
NOAA
Currents
Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...
American Museum of Natural History
Rising CO2! What Can We Do?
It is colorless and scentless, but it makes a large impact on the environment. Learners explore carbon dioxide emissions and what they mean for the environment using an interactive graph. They review changes over time and how they impact...