Natural Inquirer Lesson Plans

Documents can be downloaded by clicking the file name (underlined).  All files are PDFs and will open in a separate window.  You will need Adobe© Acrobat© Reader.

Generic Lesson Plans

These lesson plans can be used with any article in the Natural Inquirer journals.

Generic Lesson Plan 1

Generic Lesson Plan 2

Generic Lesson Plan 3

Generic Lesson Plan 4

Generic Lesson Plan 5

Article Lesson Plans

Invasive Species Lesson Plans

• And Then There Were Nun
• Moving Spore-adically
• Knocked Out By Trout
• Graphic Organizer for Knocked Out by Trout
• Hurry Up and Wait
• Four Article Lesson Plan
• Student Note-Taking Guide for Writing a Natural Inquirer Article

Issue Specific Lesson Plans

In addition to the lesson plans on this page, many of our Issues of specific lesson plans that go along with that publication.  Please follow the links to the Issues to download more lesson plans.

• Student Scientist Edition Lesson Plan- Vol. 10, No. 1
• Climate Change Education Collection Lesson Plan
• Bioenergy Edition Lesson Plan- Vol. 9, No. 1 (Using question strips)
• Bioenergy Edition Lesson Plan- Vol. 9, No. 1
• Worming Their Way In Monograph- Vol. 1, No. 2
• World's Forests- Vol. 11No. 1- Inquiry 1 Lesson Plan
• World's Forests- Vol. 11 No. 1- Inquiry 2 Lesson Plan
• World's Forests- Vol. 11 No. 1- Inquiry 3 Lesson Plan
• World's Forests- Vol. 11 No. 1- Inquiry 4 Lesson Plan
• FACELook Monograph- Vol. 1 No. 1
• Invasive Species Edition - Vol. 8 No. 1
• Wilderness Benefits Edition- Vol. 7 No.1
• Urban Forest Edition - Vol. 6 No. 1
• Facts to the Future - Vol. 5 No. 1
• Olympic Winter Games Edition - Vol. 2 No. 2

United Nations Special Report

•  Natural Inquirer Lesson Plan - week long lesson plan for studying boreal and temperate forests

FACTivities for the Outdoor Classroom

• Outdoor Education Lesson Plan - ideas to encourage outdoor education

Year Long Lesson Plans

• Table of Contents for Scientific Process Year Long Lesson Plans. This page provides a list of the components and topics in the scientific process lesson plan packet. 
• Welcome to the Natural Inquirer Year Long Lesson Plan Packet. This page provides a brief overview of all the lessons and a rationale for using them in the classroom. 
• Natural Inquirer Staff Contact Information. This page provides a list of Natural Inquirer staff and their contact information. 
• National Science Education Standards Addressed by Lesson Plans. This page shows how the Natural Inquirer Scientific Process lesson plans help support some of the National Science Education Standards. 
• What is the Scientific Process?  This section provides you with an introduction to the scientific process and how the scientific process relates to the Natural Inquirer journal. 
• Unit One: Lesson 1- Who Is A Scientist?  This lesson provides students with an opportunity to identify and discuss their perceptions of scientists and describe what different scientists do in the USDA Forest Service. 
• Unit One: Lesson 2- What it Means To Be A Scientist And What Is The Scientific Process?  After completing this lesson, students will be able to describe the scientific process and what it means to be a scientist. 
• Unit One: Lesson 2- Student Sheet. This page is the student note sheet that complements Unit One: Lesson 2. 
• Unit One: Lesson 3- The BIG Idea - Thinking About Science and the Environment. This lesson introduces students to the "Thinking about Science" and "Thinking about Environment" sections in the Natural Inquirer journal. 
• Unit One: Lesson 3- Student Sheet. This sheet is to help students identify important concepts in the "Thinking about Science" and "Thinking about Environment" sections of the Natural Inquirer. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 1- Searching the Literature and Defining the Problem, Part 1. Students will be able to identify a problem and explain how research helps to identify a problem. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 1- Student Sheet. This page is a student sheet that complements Unit Two: Lesson 1. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 2- Searching the Literature and Defining the Problem, Part 2. In this lesson students will learn to identify and research a science problem. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 3- Designing the Experiment and Answering the Question. In this lesson students will learn how to read and explain information from a scientific article and they will design ways to solve scientific problems. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 3- Student Sheet. This page is a reading guide for students to use with Unit Two: Lesson 3. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 4- Discussing the Findings and Implications. In this lesson, students will learn to read, analyze, and communicate the important findings in a scientific article. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 4- Student Sheet. This page is a student reading guide that complements Unit Two: Lesson 4. 
• Unit Two: Lesson 5- Tables, Charts, and Graphs. In this lesson, students will learn how to read and create graphs for a scientific article. 
• Unit Three: Lesson 1- Reviewing the Scientific Process. This lesson provides a review of all the previous lessons on the scientific process. 
• Unit Three: Lesson 2- Culminating Project- A Research Project and Article for the Natural Inquirer. This lesson is the culminating project for the scientific process unit. In this lesson, students research a science problem and then create their own Natural Inquirer article describing their research. 
• Natural Inquirer Student Notes Page. A page for students to take notes.