Curated OER
Tree Cookies
Young scholars identify heartwood, sapwood, and a tree's annual rings, infer from a tree's rings what damage or stress might have occurred in its life, and make a time-line of human history that coincides with a tree's rings.
Curated OER
Exploring Caves
Students explain why many caves have become National Parks. They determine that caves provide shelter from enemies, and from bad weather in the summer or the winter, and provide certain mineral resources. They discover that ancient art...
Curated OER
To Dam or Not to Dam
Young ecologists explore the Aswan Dam in Egypt via the internet. Each collaborative group is assigned a specific article about the ecological impact of the dam. Then they prepare a presentation to share with the rest of the class. Some...
Curated OER
Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers
Learners explore audio engineering. In this career education and "sound" science lesson, students define related vocabulary and make connections between the music they listen to and the job an audio engineer does after listening to...
Curated OER
Forest Sustainability
High schoolers study major forests and their history. They see what sustainable forestry and silviculture is and discuss the topics on the attached worksheet.
Curated OER
Life is Weird
Separate your science class into small groups and assign each a specific deep-sea organism to research. The class will learn about all of the organisms as each group presents their assigned animal. Following their presentations, you can...
Curated OER
This Life Stinks
Chemosynthetic communities of cold seep areas are considered in this lesson. Working in collaborative groups, marine biology or oceanography learners research and prepare a report about oxidation-reduction reactions involved with...
Curated OER
The Landscape of France
Students create a nature journal for an imaginary trip around France. They Identify animals and plants that live in France and describe its landscape. In addition they research a period in France's history and prepare a brief summary of...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
Curated OER
Earth Day: a Look Into the World Around Us
Pupils develop an artwork made entirely out of recycled materials to exhibit during an Earth Day celebration. They participate in a lecture discussion on the history of Earth Day and environmental issues, do internet research on a...
Curated OER
Periodic Webquest
Sixth graders explore the periodic table of elements. Using given websites, 6th graders explore the history of the periodic table and its design. Students role play, writing a journal entry, as if they were the author of the periodic table.
Curated OER
Making Field Journals
Young scholars follow a bookmaking format to create a book and use it as a garden journal. In this science journal lesson, students follow book making directions to create a garden and science journal.
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Deadly Passion
Depending on the level of maturity of your class, the case study presented here could be fascinating. It focuses on the mating behavior and post-mating rituals of the Australian redback spider, which involves the female eating the male...
Curated OER
"Logs of Straw: Dendrochronology"
Young scholars act as dendrochonologists working to reconstruct a 50 year climatic history. They make a personal timeline.
Curated OER
Building Bodies
Students identify key anatomical similarities and differences between great apes and humans. They infer likely anatomical features in ancient human ancestors and list principal anatomical changes in primates necessary for adaptation to...
Curated OER
Theobroma - Food of the Gods
Students discuss the history of cacao and its use in the production of chocolate. They analyze actual cacao pods and record their observations. Finally they create a five minute contour drawing of the cacao pod and seeds.
Curated OER
Celebrating Our Connections Through Water
Students examine the role of water in ceremonies around the world. For this world history lesson, students explore how other cultures celebrate water. They create a Water Day for younger students to participate in.
Curated OER
Where's My Mummy: Preservation Techniques
To observe preservation techniques firsthand, learners dry a flower in sand and compare cucumber slices soaked in salt water for a week with slices left out to dry in the open air. Video resources (not attached) include one about mummies...
Curated OER
Cosmic Mobiles: Recycled Art
If you have a little left over tinsel and aluminum foil, your class can create these fun moon and star mobiles. Poster board or recycled cardboard become your moon and stars; the tinsel gives them sparkle. This would be a great activity...
Curated OER
Natural Beauty: Looking Sharp
Students create covers for their "nature journals" using watercolor techniques and the artistic ideas of color, depth, and focal point. This lesson can be used in the Science or Art classroom and meets national standards for both.
Carnegie Mellon University
Hydroelectricity
Use a simple PowerPoint presentation to introduce you environmental studies class to hydropower. Hold a debate about the pros and cons of developing this form of alternative energy. Power up your class with this simple lesson on a topic...
Curated OER
Chinese Inventions A Selected History of Science and Invention in China
Students study the history of Chinese technology by identifying when and where items were invented or discovered.
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
STEM: Lou-Vee Air Car
A comprehensive lesson plan on acceleration awaits your physicists and engineers! Two YouTube videos pique their interest, then sample F=ma problems are worked and graphed. The highlight of the lesson plan is the building of a Lou-Vee...
Curated OER
Medicine: Then and Now
Students read ancient Greek texts to explore ancient healing practices and compare them to modern-day medicine. They conduct research into modern first-aid practices, using a standard medical reference.