Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Plants take cues from the environment—change in daylight hours and temperature—to complete their seasonal life cycles. Lesson four in the series of six has classes collect phenology data on plants. After taking initial observations,...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Recent Weather Patterns
Decide whether weather is changing! A two-part activity first challenges classes to review the differences between weather and climate. Once finished, individuals then analyze historical data to determine if climate change is happening...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Understanding the Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is important, for without it, life on Earth would not exist. An activity that includes modeling the greenhouse effect and acting out the Earth's energy balance makes up the first part in a series of seven lessons....
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...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Food for Thought: Climate Change and Trophic Cascades
Learners examines the arctic food web with a short video about polar bears and an article about bears and warming temperatures. They design an arctic food web and discuss the trophic cascade that could come from climate change.
NASA
Ripening of Fruits and Vegetables
How long do fresh foods last in space at the International Space Station? Which foods perish quicker than others? How can astronauts preserve their foods to make them last longer in space? Young scientists test the rates at which some...
NASA
Supernova Chemistry
By measuring the wavelength, frequency, and intensity of electromagnetic radiation, scientists determine the temperature, density, and composition of far away items. Scholars rotate through ten lab stations using a spectroscope at each...
NASA
Here Comes the Light!
Look beyond the light! An engaging activity introduces young scholars to the application of a spectroscope. The instructional activity is the fifth in a series of six and focuses on the analysis of the elements of the sun.
NASA
Analyzing Tiny Samples Using a Search for the Beginning Mass Spectrometry
Teach the basics of mass spectrometry with a hands-on lesson. The fourth in a series of six lessons explores how mass spectrometry measures the ionic composition of an element. Learners then compare and contrast relative abundance and...
NASA
Exploration of a Problem: Making Sense of the Elements
When given too much data to simply memorize, it helps to sort it into manageable groups. The second lesson in the six-part series of Cosmic Chemistry challenges groups of pupils to take a large amount of data and figure out how to best...
NASA
Planning Time
Ever feel there's just not enough hours in the day? Young adults explore an important part of personal development using a group of activities. After comparing how they actually spend their time with how they would like to, scholars...
NASA
The Search for Critical Questions
A puzzle isn't about the individual pieces, but how they work together. Scholars assemble a puzzle and discover missing pieces. They write a description of what they expect these pieces to look like, including as many details as...
Curated OER
Exploring Magnetism
Eighth graders study magnetism. In this solar wind lesson students complete several activities on space and weather.
Curated OER
Fuel Saving
Students explore the problem of percentages. Students find a given fraction or percentage of a quantity. Students devise and use problem solving strategies on problems explored.
Curated OER
We're On A Mission!
Students examine the Mars Exploration Rover mission. In groups, they design their own mission while participating in a webquest. They write an essay using the information they gathered to propose their mission to the President. They...
Curated OER
Weightlessness Demonstration
Students investigate gravity. In this weightless lesson students complete a lab activity about how a free fall might effect how one perceives gravity.
Curated OER
When Trees Are Red, Color in Remote Sensing
Student learn about "chromatography" in a hands-on experiment. Students make a chart showing what the colors represent.
Curated OER
Aerosol Lesson: Science - Graphing SAGE II Data
Students examine and plot atmospheric data on bar graphs.
Curated OER
Lotto or Life: What Are the Chances?
Though the website does not seem to have the mentioned video, a reding and lottery style games simulate the chances of finding intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. Without the video, this lesson is short, but it can be a useful...
Curated OER
Aerosol Lesson: Volcano Types
Middle schoolers identify three types of volcano: cinder cone, composite, and shield.
Curated OER
Measuring Precipitation
A little engineering design is mixed into this lesson on precipitation measurement. Groups plan and construct a rain gauge, and use it to collect precipitation. As part of the PowerPoint presentation, learners view a satellite map of...
Curated OER
Square Roots Using a Carpenter's Square
Young scholars calculate the square root of a given number using carpenter's square measurements. In this math lesson plan, students relate this method on the Pythagorean theorem. They answer practice problems after the exploration...
Curated OER
Volcanoes in Space
Students research volcanoes on the Internet to compare/contrast the volcanoes on Earth to the ones found on Io, a moon of Jupiter. Students list the similarities and differences in science journals, and illustrate pictures of the volcanoes.