Students observe the decomposition of a pumpkin under controlled circumstances. These observations are used to take notes and develop questions.
This activity has students use an Earth Systems perspective to identify the various causes associated with changes to Earth's forests as they review Landsat imagery of site locations from around the world.
This is a college-level adaptation of a chapter from the Earth Exploration Toolbook. The students download global quake data over a time range and use GIS to interpret the tectonic context.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This activity is a field investigation in which students identify organisms and their energy sources. Students collect data and create a food web that explains how the organisms in their ecosystem are related.
Learners modify elements of a tsunami wave tank to investigate the affect that near-coast bathymetry (submarine topography) and coastal landforms have on how far a tsunami can travel inland. Damaging tsunami are most commonly produced by subduction zone earthquakes, such as those that occur in Alaska.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This activity is a presentation of honeybee anatomy and behavior.
This activity is a field investigation where students collect insects to analyze, observe, and classify
Short Description: This activity is a classroom investigation of human joints. Students will identify joints and use their science notebooks to record their findings using drawings and words.
This assignment sequence seeks to stimulate students' thinking and writing about food production in the western Washington bioregion through a series of activities combining readings, class discussion, fieldwork, and writing assignments. Collaborative work in and outside of class culminates in students' interviewing local farmers and vendors at farmers markets and writing a surprising informative essay.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This field and classroom activity involves identification of similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages in survival, method of locomotion, food acquisition, and reproduction in three fresh-water microbes.
This is an investigative lab to provide students with an opportunity to practice observation skills and develop cooperative group proceedures.
This activity is a classroom lab where the students gather data on the affect water has on gummy bear candies and develops an experiment based on a new question regarding a not plain water solution. Students will perform calculations and graph their results.
This first grade field and classroom activity leads students to discover their natural world through observation and measurement.
Students design and conduct simple experiments using elodea (aquatic plant sold in pet stores) and Bromthymol blue to determine whether plants consume or release carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. Students will record their data which will be used to conclude whether carbon dioxide was consumed or released by the elodea. Through class discussion of student data, students will learn that carbon dioxide was consumed during photosynthesis.
Students examine data sets of topography, bathymetry, volcano location, earthquake location and size, and ocean floor age in Google Earth to determine the location and attributes of different types of plate tectonic boundaries. It helps them build their understanding of plate tectonics from data rather then from lecture.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
Exercise to recognize regional groundwater flow in the Cretaceous aquifers of the North Carolina and Virginia Coastal Plain and their changes through time. Includes interpreting flow before and after human withdrawals, so students can discover impacts on the groundwater system, especially for depletion and saltwater intrusion.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
Students work in pairs to compare five aspects of an organism that reproduces sexually, asexually, or both sexually and asexually. The activity comes with a chart for the students to fill out and with information sheets on twelve organisms. As a class, students share their comparisons and generate a list of general characteristics for each mode of reproduction and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. Included in the discussion are reproductive mechanisms and genetic variation.
Average inquiry level: Structured
This lab activity provides an introduction to rock classification. Classification is useful because it allows scientists to identify patterns and organize information. In this lab, students investigate rocks by developing their own classification schemes. They then learn how scientists classify rocks, and make connections to rock formation processes. This lab is designed for face-to-face instruction.
Learning objectives for this lab activity:
Identifying types of observations that are useful in identifying rocks
Categorize rocks based on observable physical characteristics, and explain why classification is an important aspect of science
Classify rocks as sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic, and justify why each rock is included in its classification group
Reflect on how their classification schemes compared to the one used by geologists
Key words:rock classification, observation, identification, inquiry, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, jig-saw activity
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This guided inquiry is a laboratory investigation on soil textures where students gather and analyze data, compare findings and develop new experimental questions.
In this Physical Geology lab activity, students investigate the relationship between stream energy and gradient by changing the gradient of a small stream table and observing changes in stream erosion.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)