Curated OER
The Eyes Have It!
Reading essays about deep-sea expeditions open this instructional activity on crustacean vision. Marine biology explorers study the compound eye and then complete a worksheet in response to all they have discovered. Although the...
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Penguin Parents are Cool
Fourth graders explore the lives of penguins and the relationship between them and their parents. They compare and contrast penguin populations in various areas of the world as well as their nesting sites. After constructing a penguin...
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Maintaining Body Heat
Students observe and compare heat loss in different objects with surface-to-volume ratios. They transfer this comparison to the physical characteristics of animals in their environment. They focus on how whales maintain their body heat.
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Is That a Bird in Your Hat?
Second graders imagine they find an injured bird. They create a clay bird and nest to stimulate creative writing. The lesson includes an integrated week-long art, science, and writing activity.
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Making Tracks
Fifth graders examine the fossil footprints of two and four legged dinosaurs. Using this information, they try to determine how the dinosaurs lived their lives. They use their own walking pattern to compare it to the dinosaurs and...
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Going Buggy!
Students study bugs over a four week period. In this insect collection of activities, students observe insects covering basic science concepts and skills, such as classification, observation, and responses to habitat. Students develop...
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Seeing Cells
Sixth graders study living cells and their functioning units. In this cell lesson students color cell diagrams, answer questions and discuss the differences between plant and animal cells.
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Children's Health: Children Aren't Little Adults
This instructional activity is a compilation of interdisciplinary, technology-infused activities that focus on the often complicated and sometimes controversial issues related to toxic chemicals in children's environment. Special...
K12 Reader
Taking Care of Earth
Provide a brief introduction to ecology and conservation with a reading passage. Learners can read the text, answer the five related questions that are included on the page, and discuss the reading.
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Inventions: The Impact
Students recognize that inventions are developed to fill a need.In this inventions instructional activity, students become familiar with the inventing process and create simple inventions. Students complete a worksheet about their...
Michigan State University
Interviewing
Do you have pests at your school? Find out through a series of interviews with school personnel. Scholars visit a variety of knowledgable individuals to ask them questions, record their answers, and present their findings to their peers.
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I Wonder...
Pupils review information they have gathered from previous lessons. They create their own experiments and carry them out. They reflect on the project as a whole.
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Scientific Method Unit: Bacteria
Young scholars discover how to apply the steps of the inquiry process through the study of bacteria. Working in groups of four, they cooperatively read an article about bacteria and complete a graphic organizer. Group members share with...
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Insects A-Z!
Students use the Internet and other resources to find insect common names that begin with each letter of the alphabet. They write a brief description of each insect, focusing on what the insect eats and where the insect lives.
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Outdoor Explorations: Mystery Plot Vacant Lot
Students utilize observations skills as they work together in groups to solve a mystery. They discuss and perform strategies to solve mysteries that occurred on a vacant lot. Students use a field guide to identify plants and animals...
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Unplugged!
Pupils consider several things: the importance of electricity and energy in their lives, the costs of that energy, and the importance of conserving energy.
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Amazing Grazing
Students discuss their experiences on a ranch. As a class, they tell the best part of their experiences or one thing they gathered from being on the ranch. They listen to the story and identify five items to focus on in the reading and...
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Oh Say, What Can You See?
Pupils take a walk outside and use their sense of sight to discover things in their world. They record their observations and compare their observations with those of their classmates.
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Investigating Soil
Fourth graders swap local soil samples with another school and examine the differences. They research soil properties, identify organisms that live in soil, create and maintain a biome of soil decomposition and design a poster to present...
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We Are All Responsible
Students conduct research about the issue of conservation and the environment. They focus upon the interdependence of man and nature. They write and discuss the issue of environmental preservation. Students appreciate the importance of...
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Web of Life - Ecosystem
Third graders play the roles of various organisms in an ecosystem (focusing on insects) and pass yarn or string around to other organisms from largest animals to the smallest. The end product is a web which shows how all of these animals...
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Ecology
In this ecology learning exercise, students read information about ecology and the nine ecology subdivisions and answer comprehension questions. Students answer ten questions in this matching and fill in the blank learning exercise.
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Understanding How Potatoes Grow
Second graders make a KWL chart and brainstorm what they need for the project of growing potatoes. They choose one potato and plant it in water or peat moss cups and choose a location in which meets the needs of the plants and make their...
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Earth Book
After viewing a teacher-led demonstration on a variety of landforms of the Earth, 1st graders create an Earth book. This nicely-done hands-on lesson has students produce books that describe, in pictures and words, different aspects of...