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Toting the Log and Lifting the Babe
Students use simple machines that demonstrate force, friction, work and power. They investigate and explain simple machines.
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Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...
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Light Your Way
Young scholars investigate how a simple series circuit functions. They design and construct a working portable flashlight, develop a written plan for the flashlight, test their flashlight for functionality and reliability, and draw the...
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TE Activity: Super Spinners!
Students make spinners to investigate rotational inertia, rotational speed, angular momentum, and velocity. They make two sets of spinners that have different mass distributions and shapes. They complete a worksheet while experimenting...
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TE Lesson: Using Heat from the Sun
Young scholars examine fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable fuels. They study investigate types of heat transfer such as convection, conduction, and radiation. They complete crossword puzzles based on the vocabulary. They design,...
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String Telephones and Musical Straws
Fourth graders investigate pitches of sound. In this physical science lesson, 4th graders participate in two activities that help them explore pitch--one activity has them working with string telephones and the amount of tension...
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Nutritional Needs
Students complete work at six stations as they investigate children's nutritional needs, kitchen safety, and snacks. First, they listen to Dr. Seuss', "Green Eggs and Ham" before discussing nutrition and the station activities. At each...
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Life Means Water Environment
Learners investigate pH levels in bodies of water and experiment with acid/base reactions. In this water and pH lesson, students observe changes in pH levels of a sample solution and observe a Bronsted-Lowry reaction. Learners...
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Percussion Instruments and Pitch
Students play string instruments to discover how the pitch changes on various string instruments. In this pitch lesson plan, students listen to video clips and play an online music game. Students become familiar with music...
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Sun and Earth
Students explore the sun, its structure, how big it is and how far away it is. In this solar system lesson students complete a lab activity on dew point and weather.
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Building a Roller Coaster
Students describe the law of conservation of energy. They identify the conversion between potential and kinetic energy. They investigate and describe the application of Newton's Laws of Motion.
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Earthquakes Rock!
Young scholars study the main methods to measure earthquakes; the Richter Scale and Mercalli Scale. They make a model of a seismograph and investigate which structural designs are most likely to survive an earthquake.
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Tornado Damage!
Young scholars explore tornadoes, the damage they cause, and how to rate tornadoes. They will investigate the Fujita Damage Scale of tornado intensity, and use it to complete a mock engineering analysis of damage caused by a tornado....
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Dangerous Air
Students investigate how pollution is a global issue. They locate the countries affected by radiation from Chernobyl, sequence the progress of radiation transport from Chernobyl and plot the pollution points on a world map, and read and...
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Stations of Light
Student groups rotate through four stations to examine light energy behavior: refraction, magnification, prisms and polarization. They see how a beam of light is refracted (bent) through various transparent mediums. Young scholars...
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Turning the Air Upside Down
Learners analyze how engineers study temperature inversions and convection currents to understand why pollution levels may be higher in some areas than others. They participate in an experiment that allows them to build simple models to...
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Water Power
Students observe a model of a waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work. They work as engineers to create a model for a new waterwheel while considering resources,...
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The Bending and Bouncing of Light
Students investigate refraction and reflection of light. In this light activity, students perform 3 activities to observe light interacting with matter by using a flashlight. They explore refraction using a glass of water and reflection...
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Making Bouncing Balls
Students investigate the movement of balls and use different materials to make balls. In this bouncing balls lesson, students explore the movement of balls, they investigate the inside of balls and they design and make their own balls...
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Making a Rainstick
Young scholars construct a rainstick. In this music lesson, students investigate the history of the rainstick by reading the book Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. Young scholars express their feelings about the...
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The Open Ocean, What is it and How Does it Change?
Students investigate the ocean environment. In this ocean lesson, students discover the physical properties of the ocean. Over two days, students work in small groups investigating ocean maps and creating water currents.
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Legislation: Passing a Bill in the Senate
Students debate a bill. In this Senate lesson plan, students investigate the steps of the House of Representatives when amending a bill that has passed. Students role-play law-making.
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The Motions of the Oceans
Students examine the topics of ocean waves, currents, and tides. They locate and label ocean currents on a world map, conduct experiments, analyze key vocabulary, view demonstrations and record the data, and complete handouts.
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Outdoor Observations
Fifth graders attain data using their senses. They record information. They develop observation skills and explore how to investigate. They gain appreciation for nature through their observations.