Curated OER
Rock Sorting
First graders observe rocks, record their observations about the rocks and classify them according to their observations. As a class, 1st graders create a list of observable characteristics of rocks. They sort a group of rocks...
Curated OER
Sun and Shade
Students explore the ways that plants adapt to their environments. They examine plants that thrive in the shade, versus plants that thrive in direct sunlight. Special attention is devoted to the shape of leaves on respective sun and...
Curated OER
Water Careers
Students explore a variety of water-related careers. They compare specific jobs and the the education required, the training needed, salary, and job descriptions. Students research a chosen water-related career and interview a person in...
Curated OER
Flood Control Project
Learners examine the reasons why dams were built in Nebraska. They identify factors that need to be considered when building a dam. They create a dam of their own.
Curated OER
The Human Skeletal System: Inside and Out
Students study bone size, structure and shape. They use various geometrical shapes to make a skeleton and produce a poster depicting the skeletal system and its functions. They arrange the pictures into the five sections, glue on...
Curated OER
How the Brain Learns
Students identify the basic function of the lobes in the brain. In this memory lesson students complete a lab activity on how fast they can react.
Curated OER
Boston Harbor Cruise: A Shoreline Survey
The students take a harbor cruise, photograph, and draw shore line features attending to evidence of human impact/consequences, and its cost on marine/land animal habitats vegetation, weather patterns, signs of erosion, and the water...
Curated OER
Sunflower Sundance
First graders study sunflower plants and identify its parts. They plant sunflower seeds and watch them grow and make sunflowers out of paper plates and colored paper. They watch videos and visit websites about sunflowers.
Curated OER
Hatching Chickens
Students observe and care for eggs and chickens. In this life cycles lesson, students recall facts about chickens and how they hatch. Students read the article Hatching Eggs in the Classroom and observe the life cycle of the chicken in a...
Nemours KidsHealth
Asthma: Grades K-2
Students explore asthma. In this respiratory system and asthma lesson, students identify the body parts related to the respiratory system and explain each part's function. Students construct a 3-D replica of the respiratory system using...
Curated OER
Electricity and Energy
Students demonstrate that electricity can flow in a circuit. They demonstrate safe practices during lab investigations.
Curated OER
Prairie Restoration and Prairie Ecology
Students collect data as they identify and classify native prairie plants and insects. They create their own population study using a variety of sampling techniques to determine the population density of various species. Students...
Curated OER
The Physics of the Planets: How 16th and 17th Century Physicist Helped Us Understand Our Solar System
Eighth graders draw the paths of the planets in the solar system. For this astronomy lesson, 8th graders calculate speed of objects using distance and time information. They research about the work of scientists in the 16th and 17th...
Curated OER
Deaf and Diverse
Students examine deaf culture and the role that American Sign Language plays in forging a sense of community.
Curated OER
Tobacco and Organisms
Students work in teams to design and carry out experiments which show the effects of tobacco / nicotine on organisms. They write reports which are submitted to "The Company" and prepare oral reports which are presented to the class.
Curated OER
Crystals in the World around Us
Young scholars grow a number of crystals, ask questions and experiment. They have a display showing their crystals in various stages of development. Additionally, they have models of crystals to take home. They study the forces that...
Curated OER
The Aquatic Environment
Fifth graders focus on the various types of fish living in different water environments. In groups, they research the different methods used to fish and participate in experiments to determine the effects of mercury on fish, the...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Guess What Benjamin Franklin Did!
Students research Ben Franklin's inventions. In this invention lesson, students see the relationship between a need and an invention. Students will engage in a class discussion, read a handout, and play a match the invention to its...
Curated OER
Not Just a Bag of Beans
Learners determine the types of natural selection and variation that exists in a population, using beans.
Curated OER
Three Little Pigs and Heat Transfer
Students use the Internet to research the ancient practices of building structures and to help them recognize what building materials serve as good conductors and insulators of heat. They build a structure using straw bale walls.
Curated OER
Phil's Garden of Good
Students read "The Rainbow Fish" and discuss how the fish benefited by giving others. For this sharing lesson, students prepare plants and letters for senior citizens. Students present their letters and plants at a visit to a senior...
Curated OER
The Dinosaur Diner
Students explore the food chain. In this dinoaur lesson, students identify charactersitics of an omnivore, carnivore, and herbivore. Students sort dinosaur picture/word cards into groups by their eating characteristics. Students also...
Curated OER
Using High School Students to Teach Biology to Deaf Elementary Students
Students teach Biology concepts to elementary students, in particular deaf students, by traveling once a month to the elementary classroom with activities / lessons that have been selected and prepared by the older students.
Curated OER
Grasshopper Mark and Recapture (GMR)
Learners estimate the density of a population of insects (grasshoppers) at a given life cycle stage in a given type of habitat.