Curated OER
Earth System Science
Students explore the Earth and its ability to support life. They discuss the geosphere and the water cycle and complete the Water Wonders activity. After completing the activity, they respond in their journals and reflect upon the...
Curated OER
Climate Shifts
Eight slides of information related to shifts in the climate make up this presentation. The vocabulary and concepts displayed are geared toward high school meteorology learners. Content is not cohesive from slide to slide, but the...
Curated OER
Great Rivers 2: The Ups and Downs of River Flooding
Second in a three-part lesson on rivers, this lesson focuses on the flooding that occurs in riparian locations. First, learners take a look at facts about the Amazon River. They read online materials and fill in a worksheet as they...
Curated OER
What Is In The Water?
Students investigate the biotic and abiotic factors that are found in an aquatic ecosystem. The emphasis is upon the investigation of present an projections of future water quality. Then students visit a local body of water to gather...
Curated OER
Parachute - Land and Weather
Students use different parachute activities to study weather and land patterns and formations. Tornados and hurricanes can be discussed as students make large waves (move from very high to very low) that mimmick these two weather...
Curated OER
Weather Patterns
Students use yearly averages over a five-year period to understand weather trends for a specific area.
Curated OER
Temperature and the Density of Air
Here is a hands-on activity in which junior scientists put air into a balloon to create a closed system. They measure its circumference, warm it in hot water, and then remeasure its circumference to discover how temperature affects the...
Curated OER
Landforms in a Tub
Fifth graders use common household items to build landforms and simulate weathering and erosion.
Curated OER
Blame It On El Nino
Learners understand what the weather phenomenon El Nino is and what causes it. Students recognize how remote sensing technology can detect and predict El Nino. Learners discover how El Nino effects weather conditions throughout the globe...
Curated OER
Clear Day, Cloudy Day; Weather, Cloud Types and Formations
Students explore the formation of clouds and different cloud types. Students simulate a cloud formation within a bottle.
Curated OER
Transportation
Engage in an 8-day study of different modes of transportation. Your students explore the concept of location and define the physical characteristics of places, such as, land forms, bodies of water, natural resources, and weather.
Curated OER
Conditions at Sea Introductory Activity, Making Waves
Students explore waves and wind. In this physical and earth science wave instructional activity, students participate in a wave making activity with an aquarium and a hair dryer. Students complete a data chart recording wave height and...
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics from making...
Curated OER
"101 Amazing Earth Facts" Game
Students read for comprehension, work cooperatively to learn "101 Amazing Earth Facts," and compete as teams in a Jeopardy-like game.
Curated OER
Get to know H2O!
Students investigate scientific concepts and inquire about physical states of matter. The transition of water is considered and is easy to facilitate because of its abundance and often observed physical changes.
Curated OER
Planetary Weather
Pupils are asked what do they recall about weather. They reasearch weather on the other planets of the solar system. Students work in groups and each group is assigned two planets. They create a display showing the weather on each of...
Curated OER
Using SWMP Data
Students are introduced to the SWMP system which tracks short-and long-term changes in water. Using this data, they plot and interpret the data on a graph to determine how human activities are lowering the water quality. They also...
Colorado State University
How Far Away Is Space?
Outer space may be a lot closer than you think! Science scholars model the layers of the atmosphere using transparencies to gain insight into the scale of space. The resource includes ideas to tailor the activity to the skill level of...
Curated OER
Regolith Formation
Students explain the difference between regolith formation on Earth and the Moon. For this space science lesson, students model the different factors affecting regolith formation on Earth. They identify the different types of weathering.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Eyes on Dissolved Oxygen
Learn about the factors that affect the way oxygen dissolves in salt water with a chemistry lab. After studying the molecular structure of water, young scientists figure out how aeration, temperature, and organic waste affect dissolved...
Curated OER
Observation and Inference
Assess your young scientists' understanding of the difference between observation and inference with this 20-question multiple choice quiz. It reviews a variety of physics and astronomy concepts, such as solar eclipses and sunspots, the...
Curated OER
Weather Mobile
Young scholars color the lightning part of the thunder cloud and then cut out the pattern. They then cut out the cloud pattern and put cotton onto it with glue. They then fold a piece of paper several times to create a snowflake to which...
Curated OER
Interpreting Your Data
In this water quality sampling learning exercise, students organize and analyze their data from samples they have collected. After analyzing based on 9 guide questions, they complete 18 short answer questions about fish, benthic, and...
Curated OER
Sky and Cloud Windows
Learners monitor the weather, clouds, and sky. For this weather lesson, students create a sky and cloud window to focus their sky observations. They write observations in a notebook and include the date, time, cloud cover, types of...