Students will keep a science journal during each of the four seasons to observe and compare changes in their environment.
Students will conduct simple investigations to observe plant responses to light.
Using a color chart, students will make observations outside during each of the four seasons.
Students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in order to study what plants need to live. Students will record the growth of radish plants as well as the observations of the water cycle in the terrariums.
Students will investigate variations in the soils around their school to discover that soil properties like moisture, temperature, color, and texture exhibit considerable variability across a single landscape.
Students sift soil to remove organic materials and pebbles and then re-sift the soil to separate clay and sand.
The activities in this guide will help students understand variations in environmental parameters by examining connections among different phenomena measured on local, regional, and global scales.
Students will ask questions and make observations about soil to learn about properties of different types of soil and soil horizons. Students collect soil samples, use their senses to observe the samples, and mix them with water to observe how the soils settle. Three reproducible student recording sheets are included with this lesson.
Students will use GLOBE visualizations to display student data on mpas and to learn about seasonal changes in regional and global temperature patterns.
In this activity, students measure temperature change in soil, water, and air as they are exposed to the heating action of the sun. Students will understand that differential heating and cooling of land and water influences the heating of the air above them.
Students will correlate graphs of vegetation vigor with those of temperature and precipitation data for four diverse ecosystems to determine which climatic factor is limiting growth.
Students will construct a sundial and use it to observe the movement of the sun through the sky over the course of a day by marking changes in the position of a shadow once each hour. Students determine the approximate time of solar noon at their school as indicated by the time of the shortest shadow. Students revisit the site on a subsequent day to estimate the time of day using their sundial.
Students will use “bottle†experiments to observe changes in the decomposition of vegetable scraps. Students vary temperature, moisture, and light conditions to determine the conditions that best facilitate the decomposition of organic material in soil.
Students will explore soil and soil properties. Students collect soil samples from their homes to identify properties that characterize their soils. They will compare and contrast their samples to those of their classmates. As a class, students describe relationships between the properties of their soils and how and where they were sampled.
Students will complete several activities to better understand the importance of soil science, comprehend the relative amounts of usable soil that exists on Earth, and learn the function of soil as it pertains to animals, plants, and humans.
Students will generate a list of why soils are important; describe the five factors that form a unique soil profile and explore these concepts. Students will also be shown a demonstration of how much soil there is on Earth that is available for human use.
The pH game will engage students in the measurement of the pH of water samples, soil samples, plants and other natural materials from different places. Students will create mixtures of materials in order to collect different pH measurements.