Exploratorium
Seeing Your Retina
Using a dimmed flashlight, life science learners can see the network of blood vessels that line the back of their eye. Darken the room and let them try this activity as part of your unit on the eyeball. Also consider some of the other...
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #11 - Power Maximum: An Electrical Determination
Collaborative groups connect resistors and solar panels in series and measure electrical resistance, voltage, and current. The objective is to order 16 solar panels from strongest to weakest. They graph current-voltage and power curves...
National Park Service
The Secret of Life
Dead trees provide nutrients for the soil, food for animals, protection and a home for organisms, a seed-bed for new trees, and a place for nitrogen-fixing bacteria to live. In the activity, pupils collect decaying logs, expose them to a...
University of California
Heating and Cooling of the Earth's Surface
Scholars collect data from heating sand and water before forming testable hypotheses about why sand heats up faster. Afterward, they develop and run experiments to test their hypotheses.
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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Learners consider how to cut their energy use. In this physical science lesson plan, students investigate the connections between energy use and climate changes. Learners compute the actual electrical energy consumption of 2 bulbs and...
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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
High schoolers compare two products that provide the same function but require different amounts of energy. In this energy efficiency lesson students research and demonstrate energy efficiency in action and how it applies to different...
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Not So Snappy 5
In this order of operations (i.e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) worksheet, students solve 5 word problems demonstrating their understanding of the concept.
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Electricity Generation
Students study the history of electricity and the different ways we generate electricity. In this electricity lesson students complete several experiments on generating power.
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Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson plan mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map...
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The Eiffel Tower is the Symbol of Paris
Fashioned in a simple format, the subject of this presentation is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and could be a model for future projects. Even if your class does not do a unit on famous sites in European cities, this could be used a a way...
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Is Your Blue Really Blue? [Metamerism]
Students examine color perception and how it relates to metamerism. In this color lesson students complete a lab activity that shows them the three basic components of color perception.
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Truth or Consequences
In this energy conservation activity, students answer questions about energy sources and energy use. The activity includes both true/false and multiple choice questions. There are 22 questions with answers.
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Do It Yourself: Energy Transfer Lesson Plan
Fifth graders discuss the different types of energy and experiment with tesla coil to show the three types of energy transfer. They write conclusions in their science journal.
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Parts of a Solar Panel-Part I
Students examine electrical contacts, solar cells, and rechargeable batteries and compare and contrast the characteristics of a solar cell to a rechargeable battery in a hands-on activity. Students complete a worksheet as they...
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Polyphase Power Systems
In this polyphase power systems worksheet, students answer 14 questions about three-phase power systems and single-phase power systems and how they work.
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How Good Is Green?
Students explore the amount of electricity used and wasted in homes and at school using kilowatt meters. In this environmental energy lesson, students compute power usage by appliances over time and identify ways in which electricity is...
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Separating Soil from Dirt
You can use these lesson ideas to teach students about the importance and ecology of soil.
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New Year's Resolution
Students brainstorm ways they can reduce their energy consumption and then create New Year's Resolutions with their families to put these conservation plans into action.
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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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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Students research and compare two products that provide the same function but require different amounts of energy to do the job. They examine and demonstrate energy efficiency and discover how it applies to different technologies and...
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Plants Help Keep a House Cool!
Students experiment with tree shading and house colors to see how to reduce the temperature of a home.
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Not So Snappy 5 Word Problems
In this math worksheet, 5th graders analyze 5 word problems in which the numbers are written in a mix of digits and words. Students read and solve the problems.
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Solar Kit Lesson #11 Power Maximum: An Electrical Determination
Students identify and implement methods to standardize testing stations that measure solar panel output power. After collecting electrical ouptut data from several solar panels, they plot the current-voltage and power curves. Students...
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Electric Circuits
Students explore energy by completing an electricity worksheet. In this conductors lesson, students define the energy related vocabulary terms circuit, electronics, conductor and semi-conductor before examining computer chips in class....