This activity introduces students to the tools of scientific inquiry. They will observe their world, inside and outside of the classroom, looking for changes, perspectives, and patterns. They will begin to use measuring tools as simple as their feet and fists and move on to more complex devices such as microscopes and scales. This is the first step in the journey to build learning from direct experiences. ... Full description.

This online glossary, from the book, Earth: Inside and Out, contains nearly 300 definitions for terms pertaining to a variety of Earth Science topics. Full description.

LodeStar enables teachers to add slideshows, puzzles, games, timelines, webquests and other interactive content to their eLearning courses in Microsoft Class Server, Desire2Learn, WebCt, Blackboard content and more. With lodeStar, teachers can customize Star Interactions so that their lessons are fun and engaging for students. Star Interactions are interactions developed by instructional designers. ... Full description.

This lesson explains how dinosaurs, as well as living organisms, are named. Background information points out that the names are usually Latin or Greek and they describe some characteristic of the creature, where it was found, or the person who found it. It includes an exercise in which the students use lists of prefixes and suffixes to decipher the meaning of some dinosaur names. A downloadable, ... Full description.

This lesson shows students that living things can be sorted into groups in many ways using various features to decide which things belong to which group and that classification schemes will vary with purpose. It is the first of a two-part series on classification. At this grade level, students should have the opportunity to learn about an increasing variety of living organisms, both the familiar and ... Full description.

This lesson shows students that living things can be sorted into groups in many ways using various features to decide which things belong to which group and that classification schemes will vary with purpose. This lesson is the second of a two-part series on classification. It exposes students to the idea that a variety of plants and animals (organisms) can be classified into one or more groups based ... Full description.

In this activity, younger students will examine the passage of time by watching the world change outside of their classroom. They will learn about the Sun as our light and heat source and about our world as having a regular time pattern, which can be observed from the simple motion of the Sun. The purpose for this age group is to emphasize the joys of wondering about our world and learning to look ... Full description.

This activity introduces students to the tools of scientific inquiry as they observe their world, inside and outside of the classroom, looking for changes, perspectives, and patterns. They will begin to use measuring tools as simple as their feet and fists and move on to more complex devices such as microscopes and scales. Students will go outside, observe their environment, gather objects, and return ... Full description.

This lesson will help students to distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy, investigate a variety of renewable energy resources and compare the benefits and drawbacks of each. Students will use internet resources to investigate and compare alternative sources of energy. It is presumed that students have some basic prior understanding of the concept of energy. Full description.

This game will teach concepts and terms relating to air quality and air pollution. Students in teams will play the game by using one of the thirty three terms and its definition to draw or find in magazines a picture that represents the term. The game is over when all of the terms have been used. Full description.