LIFE SCIENCE
Life Science Resources (links included)
Annenberg is a curriculum source that provides supplementary materials to educators. The specific life science course consists of eight sessions each with an hour-long video program discussing an area of life science relevant to elementary education. This site also includes lesson plans, interactive activity ideas, and professional development.
This site has ideas and examples of life science lessons and hands-on activities that educators can search by subject, topic, or grade. The activities provided are fascinating but easily manageable in an elementary classroom setting. The website also includes a section with ideas for games relating to science in the classroom and links to worksheets to print off for each lesson. Along with existing worksheets, the website has an area designated to designing your own worksheets, which can be extremely useful.
Better Lesson Plans is a community space for teachers to share ideas and plans to be used in the classroom. This site has many options for lesson plans and activities that can be used in any grade pre-k through college. The lesson plans, generally, come with detailed and free worksheets to download and use to enhance students' learning. The majority of lesson plans on this site include unit lessons or at the very least continuations of the lesson to help students deepen their understanding and make more meaningful connections.
How incredible would it be to show students a lesson created or inspired by Nasa?! There is an entire 4-6 grade plan developed by Nasa about life science that students can use to learn more about life science on an intergalactic scale. The lesson plans presented on the website include prep time, keywords, difficulty levels, etc. This could be a very useful resource to grab students' attention and help them to see how far life science can stretch.
National Science Teachers Association
This source includes incredible, detailed lesson plans for all grades K-12. The site is also set up so that you can choose a specific topic within the more broad topic of "life science". For example, two of the categories appropriate for K-6 students are ecosystems and biological evolution. This website cites each contributor and is vetted by NSTA curators, which increases its credibility.
From Phet Interactive Simulations - this virtual lab allows you to go through generations of bunnies and control factors that will cause specific mutations in the bunnies as they adapt to their environment. This lab would be most appropriate for upper elementary students (grades 5-6)
Growing Plants
From Gizmos - Students can investigate the growth of three common garden plants. They can change the amount of light each plant gets, the amount of water added each day, and the type of soil the seed is planted in. From observing changes in these factors, students determine what conditions produce the tallest and healthiest plants.
Comparing Climates
From Gizmos - This lab helps students compare average temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed for a variety of locations across the globe. They can observe how animals and plants are adapted to the climate and their environment.
Plants & Snails
From Gizmos - Students can study the production and use of gases by plants and animals, measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in both light and dark conditions, and learn about the interdependence of plants and animals.
Germination
From Gizmos - Students plant seeds and watch how many sprout, and examine what factors affect germination. They can vary the amount of heat, water, and light the seeds get. This simulation helps provide practice designing controlled experiments and using the scientific method.
Apps/ Virtual Labs
Lesson Plans
- "Sock Seeds" - from NSTA - Grades K-2
Students wear socks over their shoes and go for a walk in an area with a lot of plants and therefore a lot of seeds. When your class gets back to the school, you take off the socks and looks at all the seeds the socks picked up. This is a great way to teach students about how seeds spread!
- "Habitable Zones" - from NASA - Grades 4-6
Students explore some of the reasons to think extraterrestrial life is possible by varying the distance from the sun, studying organisms living under extreme conditions on Earth and investigating extreme temperature effects on metabolism.
- "Clean It Up!" - from Teach Engineering - Grades 5-6
For many students, this lesson will be their first time hearing about bioremediation, a special branch of engineering that explores the use of living organisms to aid in the clean-up of pollutant spills. They see examples of how important these engineers are and conduct their own experiment.
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- "Who Needs What?" - from NSTA - Grades K-2
Students identify the physical needs of animals. Through classroom discussion, students speculate on the needs of plants. With teacher guidance, students then design an experiment that can take place in the classroom to test whether or not plants need light and water in order to grow.
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- "Make a Desktop Desert Terrarium" - education.com - First Grade
Terrariums are a great way to grow plants that need high humidity. But what do you do if you want a cactus terrarium? Using a glass fishbowl, you and your kids can create a low-humidity, open-topped terrarium perfect for drought-tolerant succulents. Succulents make great plants for kids because they're easy to care for, only needing a quick spritz from a water bottle every so often.