Earth Day Curriculum Resources, Grades 9-12
Earth Day is April 22
Explore new and review familiar ways to live responsibly with these lessons, projects, activities, and games for grades 9-12.
Lesson Plans
Build a Pizza Box Solar Oven
Students in grades K-12 make a simple solar oven using a pizza box that gets hot enough to warm up cookies and other treats, like s'mores.
Building the Basic PVC Wind Turbine
Students in grades 5-12 make a rugged and inexpensive classroom wind turbine that can be used for lab bench-based blade design experiments. A few specialized parts are needed (a hub and DC motor), but most of the components can be found at hardware stores.
Reduce, Reuse, and Create Art!
Students in grades 9-12 create their own art project out of recycled materials.
Life, Death, Dirt and Walt Whitman
Students in grades 9-12 use Walt Whitman’s poem “This Compost” as a literary lens to discuss the rebirth of organic materials through composting.
An Exploration of Wind Energy & Wind Turbines
In this unit, students in grades 9-12 work in teams to design, test, and analyze components of a wind turbine: blade length, blade shape, height of turbine, etc. Student worksheets are included to facilitate the design and analysis process. The unit includes a pre and posttest on wind power.
Endangered Ecosystems K-12 students study studies animals that live in endangered ecosystems in the tropical forests of Mexico and Costa Rica and the wetlands of Brazil.
Lesson Units.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Lessons for PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 cover marine life, ocean environments, and plastic pollution.
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides and Online Resources for Educators
An array of environmental and science based lesson plans, activities and ideas for K-12.
Websites & Portals
Resources for Students and Educators
Science Education
ScienceEducation.gov (beta version) is the unification of federal science agencies’ science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education content, supporting cyber-learning and open participation.
- An Educator's Guide to Green Lessons & Activities
- EIA Energy Kids (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
- Green Curricula and Environmental Learning Activities (The Green Spotlight)
- Earth Day (Environmental Protection Agency)
- NASA Earth Month 2013 (NASA)
- Earth Hour
- Earth Day Network
Games & Activities
Top 10 Earth Day Activities
10 activities for grades K-12.
Environmental Education: Activities & Games 6-12
Printables
Infographics
- Truth About Plastic
- Infographic: Plastic Pollution
- Plastics in the Marine Environment
- Infographic: How You Can Help Reduce Plastic Pollution
Video
Earth Day History
For grades K-12 there are13 brief Earth Day related videos, charting the green movement since the first Earth Day in 1970.
last updated: April 30, 2018
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Advice & Support
Best of Works4Me: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Before you throw it away, read how your fellow educators across the country are keeping it green, saving money and setting great green examples for students.
