National Park Service
Caves, Canyons, Cactus, and Critters
Mother Nature's Gravel Company is open for business! The unit includes four lessons covering weathering and erosion. Experiments are simple to complete and young geologists compare notes to see who makes the biggest ice wedge, moves...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 9: Modeling Data
How many different ways can you model data? Scholars learn several in the final module in a series of nine. Learners model data with dot plots, box plots, histograms, and scatter plots. They also analyze the data based on the data...
Curated OER
Water Erosion and the Effects of Earthquakes
Students participate in an activity in which they simulate geological events such as earthquakes and erosion. For a fifteen to twenty minute time period, they shake a jar with 100 grams of marble chips and water. They measure the mass of...
Curated OER
Investigating Earth's Materials
First graders compare and contrast water from different sources. After collecting water from various sources, 1st graders create a list of observable properties of the water. Students then pour the water into a filter and observe the...
Curated OER
Moon Watch
Third graders read books about the moon and discuss its perceived changes as it moves across the sky. They observe the moon over the course of a month and chart their observations. They discuss their observations and conduct further...
Curated OER
Determining the Age of Fossils
Students examine the concept of radioactive dating. In this radioactive dating lesson plan, students investigate how to determine the ages of fossils and rocks as they learn about half-life radioactive decay.
Curated OER
Changes in Nature
Fifth graders explore changes in nature. They identify chemical and physical changes in the water cycle, carbon cycle, and weathering. Students explore a chemical or physical change based on a chemical formula. They examine the effects...
Curated OER
Nothing New? A Physical Change
Fifth graders discuss the differences between chemical and physical changes. In groups, they complete experiments and discover how a physical chnage can be reversed. To end the lesson, they review the steps of the water cycle and...
Curated OER
Chemistry: Changing Materials
Students examine physical change with different temperature and solvents. In this elements and compounds lesson, students conduct experiments to discover what happens to the mass of a substance when is undergoes a physical change.
Curated OER
Earth: The Water Planet
Students elicit data on the water cycle, ocean topography, and island formation in this six lesson unit. The ocean floor and the properties of water are examined through a variety of discussions and hands-on experiments.
Curated OER
Latent Heat and Clouds
Learners explore latent heat and how it relates to clouds in the atmosphere. In this earth science lesson students investigate how clouds are formed. Learners examine clouds and the water cycle.
Curated OER
Weather Tools
Learners explore Earth science by participating in a weather identification activity. In this scientific instrument lesson, students identify several weather related tools such as the weather vane, thermometer and rain gauge. Learners...
Curated OER
Gases Around Us
Young scholars investigate gases and liquids. In this states of matter online activity, students examine how evaporation plays a part in the transition of liquids into gases as they watch a kettle of water boil and then work in small...
Curated OER
Keeping Warm
Learners participate in an online activity to determine how objects heat and cool. They determine what objects best serve as thermal insulators.
Curated OER
Interdependence and Adaptation
Students construct a food web to identify producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore and predator. They complete an online activity collecting plants and animals and arranging them in the web. They describe the interdependence between...
Curated OER
Friction
Students are introduced to the concept of friction. Using that information, they discover ways in which friction can be useful. They participate in different activities to see fricition in action. They complete a grid worksheet and...
Curated OER
Forces and Movement
Students investigate the forces of pushing and pulling by participating in a whole group activity involving a toy car. Students then participate in a small group experiment involving a toy car, small weights and various materials....
Curated OER
Changing Circuits
Students observe an on-line activity to review the basics of electrical circuitry, then research answers to related questions on-line.In this lesson on changing components in a series circuit, students discover how different components...
Curated OER
Solids and Liquids
Learners investigate what happens to solids and liquids when they change from one form to another. In this states of matter activity, students work in groups on a virtual experiment that requires them to collect data regarding the...
Curated OER
Moving and Growing
Young scholars learn to understand the role of both skeletons and exoskeletons. In this lesson on exoskeletons, students locate and label bones on diagram of a human skeleton, and observe and discuss bones of chicken and fish. Young...
Curated OER
Keeping Warm
Learners investigate how different types of objects act as thermal insulators. In this online lesson plan, students hypothesize how particular objects act as insulators and then complete the online activity to determine which materials...
Curated OER
Changing Sounds
Students identify how the pitch and the loudness of an instrument can be altered. In this online science of sound instructional activity, students employ the use of an interactive whiteboard to examine the loudness and pitch of a guitar,...
Curated OER
Changing State
Students investigate the cooling and heating of water. In this online science experiment lesson, students work in groups to make predictions regarding freezing and boiling points and then test those predictions as they complete the...