In this lesson plan students learn about the varying sizes of ocean waves, what causes the variation, and where to find giant waves. Students will learn the parts of a wave, and discuss wave height, wavelength, and wave period. They will experiment with creating waves on the National Geographic Wave Simulator and discuss how geography affects waves. Full description.

This lesson plan provides instruction to teachers for creating a glacier in the classroom to demonstrate how glaciation affects landforms. Learning objectives include student understanding that as glaciers move, they create a variety of patterns on landforms by a process called glacial scraping, that the scraping patterns left by a glacier depend on how the glacier moved over the landform, and that ... Full description.

This is a well constructed curriculum module dealing with the water cycle. In this module, students first carry out a number of activities that demonstrate the concepts of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and soil moisture and runoff. The students then construct a terrarium as a way to observe the water cycle as a whole. Immediately following this, students use the Internet to acquire real ... Full description.

Students in this lesson will be introduced to the concept of tides and tidal forces. By viewing a related applet which visualizes the relationship between the Earth, moon and tides, students will gain an understanding of why the Earth experiences tides. In the process they are asked to observe and explain how the relative positions of Earth, the moon, and the sun are responsible for the moon phases, ... Full description.

Ocean Planet's six lesson plans are adapted from several themes in the Smithsonian Institution exhibition created to share with the public what recent research has revealed about the oceans and to encourage ocean conservation. "Sea Secrets" explores ocean geography; "Sea Connections" looks at the plants and animals that live in different marine ecosystems. "Ocean Market" identifies and values many ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades 6-8. It focuses on the weather conditions on other planets. After learning more about weather patterns, students research the weather on a given planet and create a visual display of the conditions there. It includes objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, suggested readings, and vocabulary. ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades K-5. It focuses on three specific landforms: canyons, caves, and concretion. Students research one of these landforms as a team to create a visual display, illustrating how the landform formed and evolved to its present state. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, suggested ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the DiscoverySchool.com lesson plan library for grades K-5. It focuses on basic information about the weather and how different weather maps depict conditions. Included are objectives, materials, procedures, discussion questions, evaluation ideas, suggested readings, and vocabulary. There are videos available to order which complement this lesson, and links to teaching ... Full description.

This lesson plan is part of the Center for Educational Resources (CERES), a series of web-based astronomy lessons created by a team of master teachers, university faculty, and NASA researchers. The activities in this lesson are designed to give students solid experiences of observing, organizing, comparing, and describing the movement of objects they see in the sky. Students will also learn how early ... Full description.

This Classroom Connectors lesson plan discusses the factors which cause changes to the surface of the Earth. This includes identifying various types of landforms, geologic structures and movements, processes that form rocks, and understanding rock and soil cycles. The site provides goals, objectives, an outline, time required, materials, activities, and closure ideas for the lesson. The Classroom ... Full description.