Exploring Polar Science - 4-H Project Book part of Teaching Activities
Jason Cervenec, Ohio State University-Main Campus
This 4-H project book includes a series of eight activities, focused on polar science, that youth can complete with an parent or mentor. Each activity includes a hands-on component and options for communication. ...

Investigating simple plants part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Claire Torrey
Students will observe simple plants, develop an investigable question, and form an investigation. They will document their investigation in their science notebooks.

Investigation a food web: producers, consumers, and decomposers part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Sandra Ahlberg Prairie Elementary Worthington, Minnesota
This activity is a field investigation where students list plants and animals they observe. Students will organize their data as producers, consumers, or decomposers and create a food web showing how they affect each other. They will predict what will happen if the food web becomes imbalanced by extinction or over population.

Save an Animal Board Game - Impact of Human Activity or Natural Disasters part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Ginger Baldwin Bert Raney Elementary Granite Falls, MN Based on an activity from: Bosak, Susan V. (1991). Science Is... (2nd ed.). Ontario, Canada: Scholastic Canada LTD & The Communication Project.
This student activity engages the students' thinking by listening to a story, brainstorming ideas in small groups about how human activity or natural disasters could possibly impact an animal's environment, and then reinforcing that thinking using a board game called Save an Animal.

Plant Identification part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Kristy Nelson
This activity is a field investigation where students identify native MN plants and record the common name, scientific name, and important information about each.

Classroom Phenology: Using the Environment as a Source of Data and Observations part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Carrie Otis Minnesota Internship Center English Language Academy Minneapolis, Minnesota
This activity is a classroom and schoolyard investigation where students collect daily temperature and precipitation readings, weather observations, and weekly phenology reports in a phenology binder and in nature journals. Students then analyze this data and compare to recorded values in the Weatherguide calendar.

Food Chains: Nature's Restaurant part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Jane Schaffran
In these life science activities, students will participate in field observations of living things & do research of animals they observe to create a food chain & present it to the class. Students will participate in a food web simulation game.

Investigating Trees: Using a dichotomous key to identify local tree types part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Suzanne Bot
This activity is a field investigation where students explore different types of trees and identify them using leaves and classification tools.

Tree Leaf Identification and Leaf Display Activity part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Rebecca Hansing
This activity is a tree leaf collection, identification, and display of dried and pressed leaves. It teaches students about distinguishing leaf characteristics as well as a way to display and label their collection.

Inquiry: How herbs change based on growing conditions part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
colette kastner
Students will create and investigate testable questions about how basil changes based on growing conditions.