Resource Library

This teacher page, produced by the Energy Information Administration, provides activities for using Energy Kids as a resource to teach students about energy in a fun and interactive way. The website includes lesson plans, field trips, a career corner, and a teacher guide. The guide provides Language Arts, Math, Performing Arts, Science and Social Studies extension activities by age levels.

Learn about our nation's fossils at home or in the classroom with these activities developed by education specialists in the National Park Service, fossil sites, and various museums. Some of these activities have a site-specific element that can be adapted for use at home or in the classroom. Virtual site visits are also available within the following resources.

The Center for Microbial Oceanography has created an ocean acidification lesson plan kit containing two lessons addressing the causes and consequences of ocean acidification. The first lesson contains readings, worksheets, power points and a hands-on experiment. The second lesson contains a more in-depth experiment using electronic probes to simulate the process of ocean acidification.

In this very hands-on lesson, students will learn about dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their region.

The Fix a Leak Week learning resources are a set of activities designed for students in grades 3 through 5 to help them learn about water supplies and the importance of saving water.

Ocean Planet is an exhibition created by the Smithsonian Institution to share recent ocean research with the public. The exhibit provides an online booklet that includes six lesson plans exploring different aspects of the oceans. The lesson plans may be used to meet content standards science and social studies.

These lab activities, developed by the US Forest Service, are supplemental activities for grades K-12 that can be used in any science or interdisciplinary class. The guide includes hands-on, data gathering laboratory exercises, as well as games, quizzes and a glossary of additional resources.  The activities may be adapted to meet content standards in math and science.

Magnificent Groundwater Connection is a series of lesson plans surrounding groundwater from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lesson plans are appropriate for students in grades 7-12 and can be adapted to meet science and math standards.

This curriculum guide from Data in the Classroom contains five activities for grades 6-8 that incorporate real data from NOAA. Students learn how to access and interpret sea surface height and tide data.

In this lesson, students will learn about the various parts of a tree trunk. Students will then build a tree trunk with all of its parts and make an art project covered with pseudo veneer. This lesson is best suited for grades 5-8 and adheres to Pennsylvania State Science Standards.