Earth Science Lesson Plans
Last Update: April 8, 2002
Acid Rain - Grades 4-12 - This Canadian site offers information on the origins and mitigation of acid rain, including a section specifically for students. Other sections of the site may also be useful to teachers and some students.
Acid Rain - Grades 4-12 - This EPA page offers information on the science behind acid rain, as well as specific information for students. It also includes examples of mitigation activities, a glossary, and related resources.
Air Quality Lesson Plans - Grades K-12 - This collection of several dozen lesson plans from the Texas Natural Resoure Conservation Commission includes content for primary through high school students. Most lessons are straightforward, requiring limited use of outside resources.
Antarctica - Topics & Lessons - Grades 5-8 - This NASA site provides resources and lessons describing the Antarctic climate and showing how the creatures there have adapted to this harsh environment. Sections range from an animation of how satellites track ice drift to a practical demonstration of how blubber provides insulation.
Blizzard Attack - Grades 5-9- This simulation lesson casts students in the role of a city administrator facing an oncoming winter storm. Participants must figure out how to fight the storm, maintain city services, and ensure public safety, all while learning about how these storms form and spread. Lots of interesting "what if" discussion possibilities.
Chesapeake Bay Lesson Unit - Grade 4- This is a complete Chesapeake Bay study unit created by the Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Va. It includes sections on the history of the bay, native peoples, and early settlement. Much of the site is devoted to lessons and information dealing with the marine environment in the bay. There's also a section on shipbuilding and commerce. This site could easily form the basis for an interdisciplinary study of an American coastal community or ecosystem.
Chesapeake Bay Lessons - Grades K-12 - This is a collection of lesson ideas based on the history and ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay. They intertwine cultural and scientific information to show the interactions between humans and their environment. The lessons correlate to state and federal instructional standards.
Classroom
Activities for Mineral Education - Grades 4-12
- These activities from the Colorado-based Women in Mining offer interesting
simulations that let students learn about minerals and how they are mined.
None of these appears to require sophisticated equipment, and they illustrate
some of the basic principles of minerals and mining. Parents could also
try some of these activities at home.
The Delaware River Estuary - Grade 4 - This site, developed as part of a cooperative program with Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, explores the ecology of the Delaware River estuary, focusing specifically on the oysters that live in that environment. There are text, images, and a variety of java-based teaching tools. This site is a nice complement to the Chesapeake Bay lessons listed above.
The Earth and Me: Forever Friends by Kathleen Ware, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Science: Grades K-3 - Elementary students learn about land forms, soil, the Hydrologic Cycle, Vegetation, Climate, and how all these features are interdependent.
Earth Day Groceries Project - Grades K-8 - Arbor Heights School District, Seattle Washington - Join schools all over the United States (even the world) in this simple project to celebrate reuse of grocery bags for Earth Day. The web site gives you everything you will need, from parent letters to student handouts, and of course plenty of handy advice. This award-winning project is a great way to pull school and community together for no cost.
TeachersFirst Earth Day Resources - Grades K-12 - This page is a collection of resources dealing with our relationship with the earth and its resources. While it is particularly appropriate for Earth Day, the resources listed - some of which also appear on this page, are appropriate for any study of the relationship between humans and the environment.
EELink - Grades 4-8 - from the University of Michigan - This site focuses on environmental education using the Internet. Scroll down to "Activities" listed under "Classroom Resources." Also visit http://eelink.net/teachers/html/classroom.html for the new teacher web site.
The Environment Around Me by Eddie Rose, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Earth Science and Environmental Science, Grades 4-12 - Students examine resource materials about the environment and work to write a persuasive paper supporting their position on a significant environmental issue.
Environmental Activities and Experiments - Grades 2-8 - Environmental Science - This page provides links to a variety of environmental activities dealing with air, water, and waste. A comprehensive collection of resources designed to supplement classroom instruction, this site offers everything from interactive games, puzzles, and scavenger hunts, to self-correcting quizzes, crafts, simulation activities, and mini-lesson plans
Environmental Health Hazards and Children by Susan Norwood, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Environmental Science: Grades 4-5 - This is a "resource-based curriculum unit designed to teach children the effects that humans have on the environment and how various changes to the environment can affect our health."
Especially Elementary Covis Weather Unit - Grades 2-5 includes classroom activities to enhance the study of weather. Topics include math, science, reading, and writing activities. Each lesson plan includes clear instructions on how the activity is to be conducted.
Exploring the Environment - Grades 6 –12 - This site was developed by Wheeling Jesuit Univ./NASA Classroom of the Future. The site contains 14 environmental earth science modules. Each module contains background information for the teacher and learner, and multi-disciplinary, problem-based collaborative activities. These modules include use of NASA’s remote sensing information, available through the Internet.
Global Change: US Geological Survey: The Learning Web - Grade level: 1-12 - Special features: Teacher guide, activities, and lesson plans for 1-12. This site offers teaching resources for those in earth science (social studies may use it as well). Easy to follow format/info on global change. Unit plans are detailed and complete, with background information, materials, activities, and ideas/activities to take the concept one more step. It also provides links to additional learning webs. Overall, an organized and easy to navigate site with excellent information.
Lead Contamination In Our Environment by Carolyn Kinder, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Environmental Science, Grades 5-8 - Help students to understand the threat of lead in our environment and use hands-on activities to enhance critical thinking.
Lessons from Space Day - Grades 4-12 -
This is a collection of ready-to-go lessons on space and the history of
space exploration developed for Space Day, May 21, 1998. The lessons are
downloadable Adobe Acrobat files which can be printed using the Acrobat
Reader. (You can get the reader from the TeachersFirst
Toolbox.) Each lesson includes printed handouts and guides to additional
resources.
New Haven: Your Coastal Community by Maureen Taylor-French, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Earth Science, Ecology, and Life Science, Grades 6-9 - Explore ecological and public policy concepts, provide hands-on activities for student exploration, and use cooperative research techniques to teach about Long Island Sound, or adapt this unit to your own choice of coastal environment.
Oceanography Lesson Unit - Grades 3-6 - The US Navy Occeanography command has compiled an interesting collection of lessons for science, social studies, PE, math, and writing - all dealing with oceans and oceanography. Teachers can use the series "as is" or create their own sequence depending on their class. There are also links to other related resources, as well as pages for elementary students. Interesting resource and approach.
Oceanography Web Resources - Grades 4-8 contains a list of links on topics related to the study of oceanography. Both data sets and lesson plans are included.
Rain Forest Lesson Materials - Grades 4-6 - Created at the University of South Carolina, this page is more a collection of rain forest resources than a lesson unit. There are print, media, web, and other resources and teaching ideas. But you'll need to put it all together in a way that will work for your class. Worth a look, though.
Rain Forests of the World - Grades 5-7 - This collection of lesson plans was compiled by the Florida Geographic Society. The plans range from single class activities to projects that span three or four class periods. Each is presented in significant detail, with objectives, outcomes, and evaluation strategies. There is an especially broad range of subject ideas.
Recycling Lesson Plans
Prepared by Carl Hursh of the Bureau of Land Recycling and Waste Management, this collection of mini-lessons is designed to teach a variety of recycling concepts. Most would work nicely to supplement an environmental science course or an Earth Day unit of study in grades two through eight. However, these are definitely not appropriate for a high school level class. While valuable for teaching the desired outcomes, the lessons are very brief, and very basic. They can be used separately, but would be most effective if taught consecutively.
Waste - Where Does It Come From? Where Does It Go?- Grades 2-8 - Students examine and classify the types of waste produced by the school community, analyze how it is collected, where it ends up, and how it is eventually "processed."
Litter Detectives - Grades 2-8 - Develop solutions to limit refuse found in specific school or community areas. Working in teams, students collect litter from a variety of different, identify the most common items, record those areas having the most trash, discover who is responsible, what penalties exist, and how litter in each area can be reduced.
Classroom Paper Recycling - Grades 5-8 - Students examine the amount of paper trash produced by the school community in one year, determine the cost of disposal, and investigate the potential savings, both monetary and environmental, if a recycling plan is put into effect.
Recycling Survey - Grades 2-8 - After conducting a survey among students, teachers, neighbors, and family members, students compile and analyze current attitudes toward recycling. The recycling process within their own community is explored.
Disposal and Recycling Costs - Grades 5-8 - How the cost of waste disposal can be offset by recycling is the focus of this lesson that asks students to calculate the amount of waste generated by their community and the possible monetary benefits of recycling a percentage of that waste.
Composting Project - Grades 4-8 - Students create and maintain a compost pile to discover how natural materials can be effectively recycled. Using waste materials produced by the school community, students maintain a record of the compost process and soil temperatures. The resulting composted material may be used by the school’s maintenance department, or sold as part of a fundraising to benefit an environmental organization.
Motor Oil Recycling - Grades 5-8 - Students realize the need to recycle used motor oil by discovering the amount of crude oil saved, the monetary value of that oil, and the environmental benefits.
Unwrapping Packaging - Grades 5-8 - After examining a variety of common products, students analyze packaging to determine how much is excessive, necessary, or recyclable. Students also brainstorm methods to reduce the amount of waste from product packaging.
The Risk-Benefit Factor Challenging Our Environment by Sheila Martin-Corbin, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Science/Health: Grade 7 - In this three-week study of environmental hazards, "risk-benefit factors are analyzed with each controversial issue and students will have the opportunity to discuss their perceptions and make informed decisions."
Rocks
for Kids for Teachers - Grades 4-12 - The
teachers' section of this site suggests activities and resources which teachers
can use to enhance a unit on minerals, geology, or earth science. The quality
of the links varies, but the good breadth of topics makes this one worth
a look if you're headed into a unit on these topics.
Waste Management Lesson Plans - Grades K-12 - This collection of several dozen lesson plans from the Texas Natural Resoure Conservation Commission includes content for primary through high school students. Most lessons are straightforward, requiring limited use of outside resources.
Watershed Instructional Resources - Teachers, AP high school - Originally created by the EPA for field orientation, this is a nice collection of instructional modules which appear to have originally been powerpoint presentations. The content includes several different areas of watershed ecology, management, and preservations. Many of the topics could serve as background information for lesson development on these topics. In addition, advanced high school students may find some topics useful in their science studies.
Where are Environmental Hazards? by Holly S. Anthony, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Earth Science and Chemistry: Grades7-12 - Students will learn about specific environmental pollutants, causes, effects, and possible solutions.
Zoo Creation Webquest - Grades: 7-9 - As "curators" of a new zoo, students work in teams to research climate, world locations, plants and animals of six different biomes in this webquest. Each team member will research one particular aspect of the team's assigned biome, then the entire team will compile its information with the other teams to create a zoo layout complete with "informational plaques" summarizing each biome's characteristics.
Elementary
Earth Science Web Resources
Middle & High School Earth Science Web Resources
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