Curated OER
The Web of Life
Students explore the interconnectedness of living things in an ecosystem. They use pictures and arrows to develop a food web, and participate in constructing a class food web with students representing various parts of the web.
Out-of-School Time Resource Center
Nutrition and Physical Activity
Emerging nutritionists explore what it means to be healthy. In the beginning of the unit, your class will examine the five food groups and learn how food gets from the farm to our plates. This leads into the investigation of the...
Montana State University
Everest Extremes: Biodiversity
How many animals can live in a climate as cold as Mount Everest's? Find out with a science instructional activity all about biodiversity. Activities include research, presentations, group work, coloring maps, and a simulation of a food web.
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Curated OER
Biodegradable Plastics
Sixth graders explore the many uses of corn as a renewable source. In this biodegradable resource lesson, 6th graders investigate how corn is used in manufacturing and as a fuel. Students construct a piece of homemade plastic using...
University of Waikato
Growing Soil Microbes
View how microbes grow in soil. Class members first create a Winogradsky column to grow bacteria. They then set up the column of mud in a plastic bottle and include a food source for the microbes and observe the column of mud over the...
TED-Ed
How to Speak Monkey: The Language of Cotton-Top Tamarins
Tamarin monkey language can be categorized by stem upsweep, duration, peak frequency, and frequency change. Although other complex terminology is used to describe the 38 calls of this species, the video is easy to follow and a...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Students research rainforest animals and use that information to make a flow chart to show the order in which energy is transferred through several organisms. They label the producers, consumers, and decomposers in their chart.
Curated OER
How Much Land Does It Take To Produce Your Food?
Students calculate the amount of land required to produce the food eaten by an individual for one year and compare the amount of land required to produce animal versus plant products. They use calorie counting resources to compile the...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Fourth graders discover how organisms depend upon each other in an ecosystem. In this ecosystems lesson plan, 4th graders use food webs to discuss the interdependence between organisms in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Bacteria's Role in Food
Young scholars grow bacteria cultures on agar in petri dishes and do a plate count. They participate in a yogurt making lab to see how bacteria produce lactic acid. They prepare a recipe and identify fungi, fermentation and the role of...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle and Sources of Pollution
Students make an island that has a construction site on it. They spill siulated pollution and trash on top of the island and then water it to simulate rain. They will observe how the rain washes dirt, sand, and pollution off the island...
Curated OER
Hot Food
Learners compare and contrast photosynthesis and chemosynthesis as processes that provide energy to biological communities. They investigate the energy content of hydrocarbons used in coral communities.
Curated OER
The Living Environment
In this living environment worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given 34 clues about the various species in the environment that produce, consume and decompose. Topics also include photosynthesis, respiration, glucose, organic...
Science Matters
Energy from Water Wheels
Historians believe the first vertical water wheel was invented in Rome during the Augustan Age. The sixth lesson plan in the series of 10 has scholars experiment with designing their own water wheels. Through testing various pastas and...
University of Southern California
What's the Catch?
There must be a catch! A comprehensive lesson looks at ocean fishing concerns through a set of five hands-on activities. Learners become aware of the risks of seafood contamination and factors that have affected the ocean environment.
Curated OER
Glacier Bay Seabirds
A gorgeous collection of photographs take viewers on a virtual tour or Glacier Bay National Park with a focus on the seabirds living in the area. Adaptations to the polar climate are highlighted, different species of birds are displayed,...
American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture
Welcome to My American Farm!
Take a step into the virtual farm world and explore the impact farming has on our everyday eating habits. Future farmers discover the meaning of agriculture and the hard work that goes into providing food for us to enjoy. A computer game...
US Geological Survey
Water Cycle Poster
How many parts make up the water cycle? How many things on Earth rely on water as a system? Learn more about the water cycle in an informative and colorful poster. Print and hang, or project the graphic in the classroom for optimal use.
Curated OER
The Tropical Supermarket
Third graders explore the sources of the various foods they eat. They examine how everyone is intricately connected to the ecosystems in which natural resources are produced. Students observe how the lives of people living in those...
Curated OER
The Circulatory System - Part II
First graders recognize that the heart muscle requires food. Students observe a Venn Diagram to identify foods that are good for them. Students provide one ingredient to make healthy heart soup.
Curated OER
Flour Beetle
Students observe the life cycle of the common flour beetle and make observations of its life stages. They also design and implement an investigation on food preference for the beetle and record data over a period of several months....
Curated OER
Leach Out and Touch Someone
Students discuss how groundwater becomes polluted. In groups, they design and create models of groundwater pollution sources. They demonstrate to the class how the water may become contaminated from local and nonlocal pollution sources.
Curated OER
Agriculture in Your Life
Students examine the agricultural sources of everyday products and identify food products outside traditional farming circles. They discuss the background information, and complete activity sheets, locating various commodity locations on...