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 (
PDF, 145 KB, 8 pgs.)
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 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 provides access to 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)
- Earth (NASA)
- Earth Hour
- Earth Day Network
Games & Activities
Top 10 Earth Day Activities
10 activities for grades K-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: February 25, 2020
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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.
