Learn more about how clouds form and the important role they play in determining the climate. Create clouds and use lasers to study a cloud in your classroom with Investigating Clouds, a hands-on activity from the Explore Science: Earth and Space toolkit. An accompanying Content Training Video and Activity Training Video will help you teach… Read more »
Soil is more than dirt under our feet. Students ages 7-9 can use this Starting with Soil app to learn about the organic materials that make up soil, and how plants and animals work together to make the soil that we depend on to grow food. With this app, developed by the Center for Ecoliteracy,… Read more »
For honey bees to produce honey, they consume pollen and nectar from a variety of flowers. Honey bees are attracted to gardens and fields that offer a variety of flowering vegetation. In addition, they need water. Kim Flottum, editor of the Bee Culture magazine, writes in his book The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to… Read more »
Composting is easy, especially if you are already working with your students on a school garden. A Guide to Setting up a Simple Backyard Compost System explains where to place it, what you can and can’t put in it, and the necessary steps you need to take to be successful to create “black gold.”
Designed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Kids’ Crossing engages students in grades 5-9 in learning about atmospheric and Earth science content with activities, games, and factsheets. For example, students can make a cloud, make a tornado in a bottle, dissect hailstones, and create homemade lightning using this Atmospheric Science… Read more »
In this Encyclopedia of Life podcast called Starlings, most appropriate for grades 8-12, students will learn how humans have inadvertently put out the welcome mat for this alien species, the common starling. It’s a non-native species that is omnivorous, gregarious, adaptable, and highly successful in its adopted land. This podcast is just one in a series… Read more »
This activity from Scientific American called Can Plants Help Slow Soil Erosion? helps students learn how soil erosion causes ecological problems, pollutes waterways, and increases the risk of natural disasters. Students complete an experiment to test the impact of methods to prevent soil erosion.
For a twist on PLT’s PreK-8 Guide Activity 27—Every Tree for Itself, check out Every Bee for Itself. Developed by a Texas PLT educator, Allen Smith, this activity focuses on the things bees need to survive: pollen, nectar, and shelter. Students learn about how bees communicate with each other and even make up their own bee… Read more »
A National PLT Outstanding Educator from Minnesota, Karen Christenson, created a student page for PLT’s PreK-8 Guide: Activity 3—Peppermint Beetle for use with students in grades K-3. In this activity, students explore their sense of smell and discover why smell is important to animals, including themselves. In the student worksheet, Inquiry is Observing, students are reminded… Read more »
Go on an adventure to learn more about innovations being made to protect and manage clean water! Produced by EarthEcho International, the video Water By Design: Water from Afar investigates reservoirs of water and the technology employed to measure and maintain it. One example examines how NASA uses innovative technology to measure snow and represent… Read more »