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Swinging on a String
Young scholars explore how pendulums work and why they are useful in everyday applications. In a hands-on activity, they experiment with string length, pendulum weight and angle of release.
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Classifying Candy III
Students create a classification tree based on grouping candy with eight different properties. This allows students to understand how living things are classified.
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Circuit Boards
Students explore circuit boards. They determine that a complete circuit is needed to light the bulbs, experiment with the boards to develop strategies for finding where the hidden connections are, and develop strategies that can be used...
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Mystery Boxes
Students make observations about Mystery Boxes that their teacher has made up and describes the motion of the object inside the box and hypothesizes it's shape based on their observations.
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Run For Your Life
Students draw a picture of animal tracks a scientist might find after they read a story about a fox chasing a rabbit. They make up a key to represent the foxes' tracks and the rabbit's tracks.
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People Interacting with the Environment
Students explore an arctic, temperate, and tropical environment and then decide what people need in each environment to help them live comfortably and what their lives would be like.
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Insects and Spiders
Students make either and insect or a spider using materials their teacher provides. They then draw of picture of their organism and defend why it is either a spider or an insect.
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Electrical Circuits And Switches
Students design and draw circuits with batteries, small light bulbs and common household conductors. They build and test the circuit then modify it so someone who couldn't use their hands could turn the circuit on and off.
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Fishkill
Students analyze data to determine the effect of thermal pollution on a certain species of fish. They graph temperature and dissolved oxygen and make inferences on the impact a change in temperature could have on the fish. As a class...
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Weather Where We Are
Students investigate the reports of local weather. They identify types of weather data and correlate it to the conditions. Using the data students draw a picture of the current weather. They conduct the same investigation for all four...
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Collecting My School Family Data
Young scholars are tasked with collecting data on their school. In groups, they collect data on various aspects of school life along with social and economic backgrounds and charactertics of their hair and eye color. They draw two...
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World's Most Dynamic Force
Students explore the Earth's forces. They review an assessment task and its accompanying rubric. They classify ten items as long-term or short-term interactions of the Earth's components and rank the destructive impact of the forces. ...
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Weather Whys- Cloud Watching Journal
Students examine how natural processes change the earth by identifying their local water cycle. Individual students complete a cloud journal over a specific period of time. They observe clouds daily and take photographs of the clouds...
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Making New Electricity
Students investigate the concepts of energy conversion and conservation. They research the history of energy conversions into electrical energy. They design experiments in order to replicate a conversion of energy into electricity.
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Illinois' Habitats Happening
Young scholars use the scientific inquiry method to examine the ecosystems and biomes in Illinois. Using the characteristics of a local habitat, they identify the best conditions for an ecosystem to survive and how a slight change can...
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Beaks To Survive
Students discuss and identify the types of adaptations that are made by different organisms in order for them to survive. In groups, they describe the features of beaks and discuss how it affects their chances for survival. They share...
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Stellar Spectral Fingerprints
Students listen as the teacher introduces Newton's early discovery of the diffraction of light. They use multiple sources of light (fluorescent, incandescent, sunlight, etc) to bend the light. They first use a prism then a diffraction...
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Who Turned the Lights Out?
Students discover the life cycle of butterfly by observing its growth from egg to caterpillar and the formation of its chrysalis. Students conduct an experiment in which they design housing for the chrysalises which are either in full...
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Discovering a Law of Space Physics
Students use data collected by an astronomer to determine the relationship between the time it takes the planet to orbit the sun and the average radius of the planet's orbit around the sun. Students use trial and error to find the...
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Groundwater Realities
Students review the components of the scientific inquiry method. In groups, they use the internet to research the sustainability of water resources in their community. They examine an environmental impact study, answer questions and...
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Social Studies: Contributors to the Common Good
Young scholars research historical figures whose contributions had a positive impact on humanity. Their charts include major events, contributions, and changes and are enhanced with drawings of monuments representing the person's life.
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Ex Parte Milligan
Pupils reserach the case of Ex Parte Milligan. They explore the influence of the Supreme Court and the court decisions on the rights and responsibilities of citizens. They read Milligan's letter to Stanton and generate questions about...
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Denying Civil Rights
Students continue their examination of the United States Constitution. Individually, they identify events in which the government has limited our civil rights and write an essay. In groups, they debate the issue and answer...
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FDR-Hitler: Conflicting Political Systems
Pupils compare and contrast the governments of the United States and Germany during World War II. Using different media, they identify the actions of both countries during the war and their major mistakes. They write a short summary...