Lesson Plans (Page 12)

How Stable is Your Food Web?

Lesson Plan Grade: 5th-9th

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"Giant Kelp Forest" © 2010 Tom Thai Could you describe the kelp forest food web as a system? Your students will design and use a simple model to test cause and effect relationships or interactions concerning the functioning of a marine food web, ranking their hypothetical ecosystems according to their stability when faced with a natural or man-made disturbance. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
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.
HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

Investigate Alien Genetics

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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In this lesson, students will model how traits are passed on from parents to their offspring by creating baby aliens based on their parents' traits. As students compare the physical features of their alien families, they will be able to make the connection between an organism's genotype and phenotype. Students will also learn the difference between dominant and recessive traits. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-LS3-2. Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation.

Is Coral a Plant or Animal?

Lesson Plan Grade: 2nd-6th

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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.

Kinesthetic Astronomy: Earth's Rotation

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-8th

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"Blue Marble" © 2002 NASA Earth Observatory Many of the misconceptions about our solar system are rooted in the fact that it is large and hard to comprehend. This kinesthetic activity will demonstrate concepts like rotation and orbit, clarify movement and direction, and help students understand why earthlings see different things in the sky. Read more

Line-Following Robot

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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Have your students read about autonomous (also called self-driving or driverless) cars in the news? How can you build a car or a robot that will stay on the road without a human driver? In this project, your students will find out by building a robot that can automatically follow a line around a homemade race course, while learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and electronic circuits. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-PS4-2. Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

Make a Hygrometer to Measure Humidity

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd

What do a crazy hair day, a wooden door stuck in its frame, and the weather have in common? Humidity! In this fun hands-on weather lesson students explore surprising information about human hair, the air around them, and the weather by building a hygrometer from a strand of hair, a straw, a wooden panel, and two nails. A great way to make humidity visible! Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Make a Rain Gauge to Study Precipitation

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd

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Rainstorms can be powerful! Can you guess how much water poured down during the last rainstorm you experienced? Do you know if a brief downpour yields more or less water compared to a daylong drizzle? In this hands-on weather lesson, students design, build and use their own rain gauge to get answers to all of these questions. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Make Mushroom Packaging to Explore Long-Term Ecological Impact

Lesson Plan Grade: 9th-12th

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Are your students passionate about the environment? Do they like to explore new ideas for more eco-friendly products? This lesson will give your students a chance to grow a product out of mycelium composite, a material that recently gained traction as an eco-friendly alternative for many plastics and foams. Students will analyze the impact of this product on the environment at every step of its life cycle, from raw material to the end of its life, and compare it to a plastic or cardboard… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.

Mapping Landforms

Lesson Plan Grade: 2nd

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In this lesson, students will build three-dimensional play dough models from pictures that show various landforms and bodies of water. As they analyze and compare their different models, students will realize that there are many different types of landforms and bodies of water on Earth. Based on their play dough models, students will discuss how various landforms and bodies of water can be represented on a map. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

2-ESS2-2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Lesson Plan Grade: 1st

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We see ourselves in a mirror because mirrors reflect light. Light interacts with materials in different ways; for instance, shiny surfaces like mirrors are able to change the direction of light. In this lesson plan, students will demonstrate how light bounces off a reflective surface by redirecting a light beam from a flashlight to different locations within the classroom. Students will then be challenged to use their knowledge about mirrors to find a way to guide a light beam to a specific… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

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