Curated OER
Water and Plants...How Dry I Am
First graders observe two similar plants as one gets water and the other does not. They make predictions and chart the growth of each. They draw pictures of the plants after one week.
Curated OER
Life Cycles
Students explore the life cycle of living things through the eight lessons of this unit. The butterfly, frog, chicken, and plant are inspected and form the basis of the work done in this unit.
Curated OER
Pulse
Students determine a baseline pulse rate then chart the changes in rate with exercise. They describe the changes and develop a rationale for their observations. The task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, determine...
Curated OER
Can Fun Gus Help Plants/Trees Grow?
Students participate in an experiment in which they test the growth of different types of plants. They discover how growth rates vary using inoculum. They draw pictures and are read books about plants to end the lesson.
Curated OER
Insect Biology and Ecology: A Primer
Students explore insects and closely related organisms. They examine the growth and development of a lady beetle. Students classify insects and organize them. They investigate pest management.
Curated OER
The Effects of Solar Energy
Students examine how solar energy is absorbed and used. In this solar energy lesson students complete several activities that allow them to better understand solar energy.
Curated OER
Life cycles
Students identify and explain the parts of a flower and their role in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed dispersal, and germination. Students recap the following information: that plants need light, warmth,...
Curated OER
Generating Hypotheses & Experimental Design 2
An outline walks your scientists through the steps of the scientific process. It begins by taking a general idea and developing a hypothesis based on related factors. Each investigator then plans a method for testing the hypothesis,...
K12 Reader
Chaparral Ecosystems
Explore the impact of wildfires with a reading passage about ecosystems. Pupils read the passage and respond to five questions related to the content of the text.
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Trees
Turn your students into young tree-tectives with this fun science investigation into the life of trees. To begin, a class volunteer gets dressed up in a tree costume as the different parts of trees are introduced. Then, the class learns...
New South Wales Department of Education
Photosynthesis
Venus fly traps photosynthesize and consume insects because the soil they live in does not provide enough nutrients. Scholars analyze historical scientific experiments to learn how scientists discovered photosynthesis. From their...
California Academy of Science
A Day inthe Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...
Curated OER
Dating a Volcanic Eruption
Young scholars discover the various ways in which tree rings can give information. After a brief disucssion of concentric tree rings, they use cross section cut outs of tree rings to identify the time and type of various naturally...
Curated OER
Bottle Habitat
In groups of four, students construct aquatic habitats in pop bottles. They create charts and record data from observations over a four week period. Then they graph their data and write explanations for what they observed.
Curated OER
"Garden Springs Gardeners"
First graders ponder the question of how plants help their lives. They observe and compare properties of several different plants. Differentiate between living organisms and nonliving objects.
Curated OER
Parts of an Ecosystem
Fourth graders study the Great Salt lake and the ecosystem that encompasses it. They study the relationship between an individual of a species, a population of that species, a community that includes that population, and the...
Curated OER
Weathering Rocks
Fourth graders investigate what natural events cause rocks to break apart and differentiate between erosion and weathering. They conduct an experiment with plaster of paris to observe why some rocks are hard and others break, and...
Curated OER
Where Do Plants Get Their Food?
Young scholars think about the historical development of the scientific method. They design an experiment that replicates van Helmont's, using only specified materials. Pupils then improved upon van Helmont's procedure and also...
Curated OER
Observing Decomposition
In this science instructional activity, students focus upon the concept of decomposition and collect data in order to make interpretations or observations.
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Young scholars write from an animal's perspective. In this writing lesson students explore the landscape of San Francisco prior to the arrival of the explorers. Young scholars research animals indigenous to the area.
Curated OER
Fresh Produce North of 60
Teen-agers discuss how fresh produce is brought into areas that do not have agreeable growing conditions and read an article from Canadian Agriculture at a Glance. They write an essay about projects that may help provide food in these...
Curated OER
Will You Pick My Cotton?
Use this cross-curricular history instructional activity to work on your students' informational writing skills. After listening to songs and stories related to Sultana, they engage in a several activities to boost their understanding of...
Curriculum Corner
Coniferous and Deciduous Trees
What are the differences between coniferous and deciduous trees? Supplement your tree lessons with a set of activities that has learners describing, naming, comparing, and reading about deciduous and coniferous trees. The activities are...