Curated OER
Teaching the Tragedy of the Commons: Natural Resource Depletion
You can help your students understand resource depletion with simple activities that highlight the idea of the tragedy of the commons.
Curated OER
Finding Science in An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
Students read excerpts from Annie Dillard's memoir, "An American Childhood," with the teacher. They experience opportunities to connect English, science, nature and art together from a new and unique perspective. This approach serves as...
Curated OER
The Nature of Chemical Change: Acting Out An Example
Young scholars illustrate the molecular nature of matter and show that chemical change involves alteration of molecules.
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Science Pen Pals
Students explore the scientific career of Benjamin Franklin. In this science lesson plan, students discuss Franklin's correspondence with other scientists and write letters describing Benjamin Franklin's experiments.
Curated OER
The Natural Selection of Stick-Worms
Students discuss and role-play the elements of natural selection. They use toothpicks to represent Stick-Worms and discover the mechanisms of change of traits in populations.
Curated OER
Natural Cleaners
Students explore natural cleaners. In this science lesson plan, students gain an understanding of the effects that commercial cleaners have on the environment and teach them to make their own cleaners out of less hazardous materials.
Curated OER
If I Was A...? Mother Nature
In this environment worksheet, students pretend they are Mother Nature as they answer 4 questions. They explain whether their temperature gets hotter with a fever, why the Ozone layer is leaving them, how big Mother Nature is compared to...
Curated OER
Natural Catastrophic Phenomena
Sixth graders examine the ways natural phenomena are monitored to avoid disasters. They find out about instruments used in measuring disasters and prediction of future events from data.
Curated OER
Finger Painting and Feather Painting with Nature
Students explore finger painting and painting with feathers and recreate the look of objects in nature. They read the book, 'It Looked Like Spilt Milk,' create a shaving cream print, paint with feathers, and construct a mirror image on...
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Health Science: Back to Basics
This lesson focuses on unit conversion, proportions, ratios, exponents, and the metric system. Discuss measurement with your math class and demonstrate how to solve several health-science word problems. Give learners a chance to visit an...
NASA
Determining the Nature, Size, and Age of the Universe
Prompt scholars to discover the expansion of the universe themselves. Using photographs of other galaxies, they measure and then graph the size and distance of each. Finally, they draw conclusions and prove the universe is expanding.
Curated OER
Creative Ways To Teach Evolutionary Concepts
Research how DNA, the genetic blueprint of living organisms, plays an essential role in the continuity of life. High schoolers will summarize how their influence may very well effect the destiny of the population from one generation to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Seasons of a Plant
Reading the cues from nature can be as much an art as a science. The second installment in a six-part unit on climate teaches learners that environmental and biological events have significance. They first learn the difference between...
Virginia Department of Education
Sound
Add a little music to your next physics class. Pupils discuss how frequency determines pitch and take part in several activities designed to teach them more about sound, melody, resonance, and vibrations. They use materials to construct...
Lerner Publishing
Teaching Habitats
What makes up a habitat? Use this resource to engage first graders in the exploration of desert, wetland, forest, and ocean habitats. Youngsters classify plants and animals into the four distinct habitats through drawings and cutting and...
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 4
Imagine being stranded all alone on an island for 18 years. How would you survive? Class members are challenged to makes necessities out of natural materials that would likely be found on an island.
EngageNY
Close Reading and Viewing: Minerals and Metals
How easy is it to live off the land? Scholars read Minerals and Metals in Your Life and discuss how Canada's natural resources meet the needs of the people. Pupils watch a brief video and discuss the gist of the text and video. They then...
Curated OER
Population Biology - Biology Teaching Thesis
Students explore the effects of different density-dependent and density-independent factors on population growth. They explore how the interactions of organisms can affect population growth. Students explore the pattern of population...
Curated OER
Skull Science
What can your class learn from a skull? With proper facilitation, they can learn about diet, physical adaptations, special differences, and even the environment. Pupils will examine a series of mammal skulls and pelts to help them...
Scholastic
Spring Is Sprung: Water Movement in Plants
Young scientists use food coloring and celery stalks to determine how water travels through plants.
Curated OER
Gravity Versus The Mighty Egg - Biology Teaching Thesis
Students are able to describe the principles of gravity. They name other places in the real world where we compensate for gravity. Students design a shock absorber with limited materials and explain how it works to protect an egg. They...
Curated OER
Anthropogenic Biomes
If you teach a man to fish, he will never go hungry—or he will overfish and permanently damage the ecosystem? Address the traditional biomes as well as the human-included ecosystems and contrasts the biotic and abiotic factors in each....
Colorado State University
Why Does it Get Colder on a Clear Night than a Cloudy Night?
Clouds are nature's insulator! A lab investigation asks learners to use an infrared thermometer to measure differences in infrared temperatures. They find that pointing the thermometer at a cloud has a much different result than pointing...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Exploring Biomes in Gorongosa National Park
Diversity in a biome leads to some unique characteristics vital to the natural environment. Young scholars use an interactive map to explore the vegetation and climate of the Gorongosa National Park. They collect climate data to compare...