Elementary School Lesson Plans (Page 10)

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-7th

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"Oiled Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle" © 2013 NOAA Spill it and clean it! Students will observe the effects of a simulated oil spill on land, water, and wildlife. In groups, students will then test different materials and tools used to clean up oil spills and evaluate them for their effectiveness. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

4-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
3-5ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Solar Power

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

In this activity, students learn how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings by investigating the thermal storage properties of some common materials: sand, salt, water and shredded paper. Students then evaluate the usefulness of each material as a thermal storage material to be used as the thermal mass in a passive solar building.Engineering Connection Engineers design technologies that can turn sunlight into electricity to power households and businesses. For example,… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

Solar-Powered Classroom

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-8th

Would it be possible to power everything in your classroom using clean, renewable solar power? Inspired by Global Problem Solvers: The Series, in this lesson plan, your students will research and design a solar power system for a mobile classroom that can be used after natural disasters or in remote areas without permanent schools. This lesson is one of three independent lesson plans inspired by Global Problem Solvers: The Series. You can read more about the series and the lesson plans… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Sound: Can You Feel Music?

Video Lesson Grade: 1st

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Students know that sounds can be heard, but do they know that some sounds can also be felt and seen? In this lesson, students will learn that vibration causes sound and build a fun musical instrument of their own. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

1-PS4-1. Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

Sports Equipment Engineering Challenge

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-2nd

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Give your students a chance to practice their engineering skills in this fun sports-themed activity! Your motivation: You want to play a game in which you use something to hit a ball (hockey, mini golf, whiffle ball, etc.)... but you don't have any equipment. The students will need to use recycled materials (and some creativity) to build their own! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

Sustainable Fishing

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-12th

"Boats" © 2016 Dennis Jarvis By using a model for how fishing affects marine life populations, students will construct explanations for one of the reasons why fish populations are declining. They will then work to design solutions for ways of making fisheries more sustainable for the animals and the people who depend on them. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment. http://www.nextgenscience.org/5ess3-earth-human-activity
MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. http://www.nextgenscience.org/msess3-earth-human-activity

The Math Behind Circuits

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-6th

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In this math-based lesson, students explore different types of circuits and make calculations to gain practical skills in building, visualizing, and understanding circuits. Learning Objectives Students will: Create circuits and draw circuit diagrams. Explore how voltage works in parallel and series circuits. Make calculations of voltage and milliamp hours. NGSS Alignment This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance… Read more

Two Eyes Are Better Than One

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-8th

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NGSS Performance Expectations:

4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. [Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to macroscopic structures within plant and animal systems.]
4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on systems of information transfer.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the mechanisms by which the brain stores and recalls information or the mechanisms of how sensory receptors function.]

Use Technology to Solve a Local Problem

Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-8th

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How can technology and the internet help us solve some of the world's most pressing problems? Your students might not be ready to tackle global poverty or world peace, but they can start small by identifying a social problem in their local community. In this lesson plan they will design a solution to a problem of their choice that uses technology. It could be anything from a GPS-enabled dog collar to track lost pets, to an app that notifies local food banks when people have extra fruits and… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Using Empirical Data in the Classroom: Raptor Migrations!

Lesson Plan Grade: 5th-10th

"Osprey with Gulls" © 2014 Lee Jaffe Why do birds migrate? How do seasonal changes in primary productivity influence the behaviors of higher order consumers like raptors? Visualize and explore the connectedness of organisms within and across ecosystems in this teacher-guided activity. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Elementary School Lesson Plans (106 results)

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