Baylor College
What Is the Water Cycle?
Small groups place sand and ice in a covered box, place the box in the sunlight, then observe as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation occur. These models serve as miniature water cycles and demonstrations of the three phases of...
Curated OER
GROWING PLANTS UNIT
Students predict outcomes of scientific experiment,.conduct a scientific experiment with control groups, and plant seeds to observe, measure, and compare growth across groups. They gather, record, analyze, and share data with other...
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Earth's Energy Budget - Seasonal Cycles in Net Radiative Flux
Students attempt to understand seasonal variation by viewing images of the energy received by the earth. In this weather lesson, students view images from NASA of the influx of energy from the sun and make predictions about resulting...
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Protecting Treasures
Students explore electricity by creating an alarm. In this circuitry lesson, students analyze a diagram of a circuit based alarm which detects sunlight. Students utilize electrical equipment to recreate the circuit and practice using its...
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Let's Make a Solar Car
Students transform a car that they have built out of K'NEX into a solar car. Students add one or two solar cells to the car to power a DC motor then connect the motor to the car and come up with a method to drive the car. This is the...
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How do plant & animal cells make and use energy?
Students show the relationship between the need for plants to undergo photosynthesis in order to generate oxygen. They see the flaws associated with this thinking because of the lack of CO2 and H2O and lack of sufficient gravity in order...
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A Leap of Space
Students explore how smaller systems exist within larger systems as they build a collage of their place in space! Invite the students to display their posters and talk about their systems and systems of systems.
NASA
Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars Balloons
Very specific diameters are given for blowing up three different balloons to represent, in scale, the moon, Earth, and Mars. In groups of three, amateur astronomers explore scale measurements and distance in space.
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As the Sun Burns
Young scholars test commercial sunscreens or sunglasses for accuracy of their Sun Protection Factor. They devise a method for testing UV beads with a visual clues which they publish as research. They investigate occupations such as...
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The Earth's Energy Budget
Students study the Earth's energy budget. In this investigative lesson students observe a lab that shows all aspects of heat transfer and light processes.
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Powering a Green Earth
Students compare and contrast renewable and nonrenewable energy. In this environmental science lesson, students discuss the importance of going green. They identify the different components in a power grid system.
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Land Use
Students examine ecosystems that covered Illinois 200 years ago, investigate some living and non-living components of ecosystems, identify components of prairie system, create food webs, and observe human effects on environment. Lessons...
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The Communications Lab
Students build and test a type of communication system called a parabolic-dish receiver. This type of system is exactly like radio telescopes, which are discussed in our song. They explain how signals are transmitted and captured with...
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Planting
Students form groups to conduct an experiment. They plant seedlings to test the effects of sunlight, water and soil, on the growth of seedlings.
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Suited for Space
A fantastic lesson on survival in outer space should excite your learners! Pupils explore the challenges that living, working, and surviving in space elicit. They focus on the spacesuit itself; how it protects astronauts, and enables...
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Understanding the Water Cycle
Investigate the water cycle and how water moves from the land to the air and back to the land. Create a terrarium and observe the water cycle at work. Define weather terms including evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Messenger Education
Dangers of Radiation Exposure
Gamma radiation, which is harmful, is useful in treating cancers. In the second lesson plan in a series of four, young scientists take surveys and calculate their yearly exposure to ionizing radiation. Then they read about how harmful...
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The Life Cycle of a Star
Students investigate the life cycle of a star through research. Once research is complete, students prepare posters and present findings to class. Flash animation is included to help students visualize life cycle of star researching.
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Space and Science Fiction
Use the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe" to have students research ideas for a science fiction story. After completing their research, writers will compose science fiction stories that incorporate...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Impact of the Sun and Moon on Tides
In 150 BC, Seleucus of Seleucia theorized that the moon causes the tides. Scholars learn about what causes tides by studying the interactions of gravity between the sun, moon, and Earth. They use technology to formalize otherwise...
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The Sun's Energy
Sixth graders examine how the sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths. They discuss the characteristics of light, examine the color of light using a spectroscope, and conduct an experiment using water and thermometers....
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Comets And Meteor Showers
Young scholars fill in a diagram of a comet. They listen to a short lecture, view flash animation descriptions of comets and meteors and then use the presented information to complete a worksheet.
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Your Weight on Other Planets
Students explore their weight on other planets. In this science activity, students view a presentation about the other planets and complete a worksheet in which they make predictions about their weight on the moon and other planets.
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The Difference Between Comets, Meteors And Asteroids
Pupils use Venn diagrams to highlight the similarities and differences between comets, meteors, and asteroids.