Baylor College
The Variety and Roles of Microbes
Mini microbiologists play a card game in which they group microorganisms by groups: virus, fungus, protist, or bacteria. Then they identify the roles different microbes play in the natural world and explore how humans effectively use...
University of Minnesota
Altered Reality
Fascinate young life scientists by showing them how their brain learns. By using prism goggles while attempting to toss bean bags at a target, lab partners change their outlook on the world around them, producing amusing results....
SRI International
The Water Crisis
Water, water, everywhere, right? Wrong. Learners assess their own knowledge of water availability on Earth. Then, through a reading, a teacher-led presentation, and an activity, pupils learn about the importance of available clean...
BBC
Light and Shadows
Light is such an amazing thing! Elementary schoolers explore the wonderful world of light and shadow. The lesson is meant to be carried out on a whiteboard. Objects are placed in front of a light source, and learners must predict what...
National Park Service
Aspect, Treeline, and Climate
Head to the treeline and beyond to examine how this feature of the landscape affects weather and climate, which gives scientists clues about its health. Class members' observations of photographs provide the data...
Discovery Education
Our Brain and Body on Opioids
Use a presentation that explores the world of prescription opioids. Learners look at the way the brain responds to the drugs and the long terms effects opioids have on the brain and body. At the end of the lesson plan, groups create a...
Curated OER
Reading Food Labels
Young nutritionists plan nutritional meals by using the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid. Before constructing their meal plans, they take a close look a food labels and learn how to decipher them. In today's world of obese and unfit children,...
NASA
Climate Change Online Lab
What are the key indicators that show scientists that our planet is in the fastest warming trend ever? Learners go on a WebQuest to examine the evidence for themselves. Following several links to NASA sites, kids see how the global...
Population Connection
The Peopling of Our Planet
How many people live on the planet, anyway? The first resource in a six-part series covers the topic of the world population. Scholars work in groups to conduct research and make population posters after learning about the global...
Baylor College
Food: The Math Link
Enrich your study of food science with with these math worksheets. They offer a variety of food-related word problems that are great practice for multiplying, identifying fractions, estimating length, and performing calculations...
Global Oneness Project
Deconstructing Consumerism
A short, engaging video provides a critique of the hyper-consumerist mentality that many think have taken over the Western world. After watching the video, pupils reflect on their own habits and use evidence...
Pulitzer Center
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity, whether as a result of food scarcity or a lack of nutritious food, is a growing and serious problem in the world today. After discussing the concept of food insecurity, learners listen to an NPR radio broadcast on the...
Curated OER
The Impact of Fishing
Learners explore the concept of fishing as it relates to oceans and how some fishing practices can damage the health of the marine ecosystems. In this lesson on the impact of fishing, students research the many places in the world where...
NOAA
Investigating Coral Bleaching Using Data in the Classroom
Approximately 93 percent of the individual reefs in the Great Barrier Reef suffer from coral bleaching. Scholars learn how scientists monitor coral bleaching around the world as part of a larger series. They use actual data to answer...
Baylor College
Heart and Lungs
With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...
National Wildlife Federation
Ghost Town
Around 93 percent of the reefs on Australia's Great Barrier Reef have been bleached, and almost one quarter of them are now dead. Scholars research the sea temperatures, especially around the areas with coral reefs, to make connections...
Baylor College
Using Heat from the Sun
Let's heat things up! This simple experiment demonstrates for students the important role the sun plays in providing the earth with energy. Place one cup of water in direct sunlight and one in shade, then take measurements in order to...
Baylor College
What Is the Water Cycle?
Small groups place sand and ice in a covered box, place the box in the sunlight, then observe as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation occur. These models serve as miniature water cycles and demonstrations of the three phases of...
Baylor College
What Makes Water Special?
Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...
Baylor College
Can Nutrients in Water Cause Harm?
Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...
Discovery Education
Ahead of the Game
According to the movie Wildcats, "It's the sport of kings, better than diamond rings, football!" It is also, however, the sport of severe concussions and ongoing blows to the head. In order to keep our Seahawks soaring and Broncos...
Baylor College
Modeling Earth's Atmosphere
Life on Earth is made possible by the unique composition of its atmosphere. Working collaboratively, a scale model is created as young scientists learn about the different layers of gas that surround the planet. Cards are included that...
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
PBS
Ebola Outbreak
As of April, 2016, more than 28,000 suspected cases of Ebola were recorded in Western Africa with over 11,000 human deaths. Classes discuss the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 and then groups develop an action plan based on...