Curated OER
Polishing the Petoskey
Pupils polish a Petoskey stone to show how to make an attractive rock display. For this polishing rocks lesson plan, students use sand paper and polishing materials to polish a rock and remove the rock dust. This is to display a nice...
Curated OER
Warm Me Up!
Third graders explore and identify heat sources. They conduct an experiment involving thermometers and articles of clothing, and record and discuss the results.
Curated OER
Air Expansion and Contraction
Students observe that air exerts pressure, that heated air expands and that cooled air contracts. After the demonstration, students engage in a question and answer session about what they saw.
Curated OER
Seasons' Journey : Putting it All Together
Third graders complete a diagram of the revolution of the earth around the sun and write a one paragraph explanation of the factors that cause seasons.
Curated OER
Planet X
Young scholars select a wide variety of presentation methods to compare Planet X and Earth. Students share these with their classmates. Young scholars select other methods to present their ideas about a livable planet for human life...
Curated OER
Hazard Mitigation: Bioterrorism
Students discuss different ways to spread infectious diseases. In this bioterrorism lesson, students model the rate of smoke emission using CalRoad software. They analyze the effects of airborne release of biological...
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology
Ciese Real Time Data Projects: Weather in Our Own Backyard
This activity is divided up into three activities, two of which take place outside. By the end of the activity young scholars will be able to describe weather conditions on a given day and some of the factors that contribute to them....
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Climate Change
This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed. [5:48]
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building a Barometer
Students investigate the weather from a systems approach, learning how individual parts of a system work together to create a final product. Students learn how a barometer works to measure the Earth's air pressure by building a model out...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Sedimentary Rock Deposition and Weathering
Middle schoolers will hike to the Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves along the frozen shoreline of Lake Superior in order to investigate the sedimentary rock deposition and weathering of the sandstone cliffs. Students will measure take measurements,...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: The Heat Is On: Understanding Local Climate Change
A activity unit where students analyze long-term weather data for Phoenix to look for changes that have occurred over time. They look at factors that would cause climate warming, including greenhouse gases and other phenomena. They then...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Weather Basics
Students are introduced to the basics of the Earth's weather. Concepts include fundamental causes of common weather phenomena such as temperature changes, wind, clouds, rain and snow. The different factors that affect the weather and the...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Recording Local Weather
Second graders will measure, record, graph and report changes in local weather utilizing Navajo, Ute, and Spanish words.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: How Do We Measure Air Temperature?
Find out how scientists measure the air temperature to accurately report the weather.
Dan Satterfield
Dan's Wild Weather Page: Winds
Find out about wind and jet streams and the tools that measure them.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Study Jams! Science: Weather & Climate: Air Pressure and Wind
A video and a short multiple-choice quiz on the topic of air pressure and wind. It explains what makes air pressure change, how we measure it, how wind is created, and types of winds.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Introduction to Climate
A detailed overview of the Earth's climate, with explanations about the difference between weather and climate, dendrochronology, palynology, and how Earth's climate has changed over time. All information is reinforced through pictures,...
Other
Arm Program's Education Center: Global Warming
An all purpose site with something for everyone. Learn about global warming and climate change, ask a scientist, take a quiz, or get a lesson plan!
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Extension: Ww2010: Atmospheric Pressure
This site from the University of Illinois describes what air pressure is and how it is measured. Explains high and low pressure areas, isobars, and how pressure changes with height.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Natural Disasters
Students are introduced to our planet's structure and its dynamic system of natural forces through an examination of the natural hazards of earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis, floods and tornados, as well as avalanches, fires,...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Why Are There Seasons? A Study of Phenology
This is an ongoing activity where students take monthly temperature measurements, and make observations of the weather and changes in the environment, at the same location in the schoolyard each time. They will make and use an astrolabe,...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Where Do Rainy Days Come From?
Find out more about rainy days when you check out this resource, which features hands-on interactive activities, experiments, fun facts, and more.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: California Climate and the Atmosphere
In this 3-part instructional activity, students explore California climate and factors that are leading to changes within this climate system. Students begin by exploring California's climate and the state's topography. Next, they...
National Geographic
National Geographic: Build a Magnetometer
Hands-on project where the learner constructs a magnetometer to monitor and measure changes in earth's magnetic field. These changes can then be used to track solar storms.