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Science: Motion Commotion
Learners examine Newton's three laws of motion to discover what causes it and how it changes. They conduct motion experiments by building catapults and constructing balloon rockets. Finally, they conduct peer studies correlating...
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Riding the Radio Waves
Learners examine the basic concepts of radio waves and magnetic fields. They study how the AM radios are built and demonstrate the concepts of amplitude and frequency.
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Tornado!
Young scholars examine the characteristics and types of tornadoes. They discuss how they are formed, conduct an experiment with two liter bottles, analyze data and determine mean and median, and design a house to withstand tornado-force...
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Good News - We're on the Rise!
Students build and observe a simple aneroid barometer to discover changes in barometric pressure and weather forecasting. They graph changes in barometric pressure for two weeks and make weather predictions.
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Making Decisions: Packaging and the Environment
Learners work in small groups to redesign the packaging of several common items. They attempt to reach the goal of 25% reduction in packaging materials currently used and explore the impact of various materials and designs in landfills...
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Ohm's Law I
Students work to increase the intensity of a light bulb by testing batteries in series and parallel circuits. They analyze Ohm's Law, power, parallel and series circuits, and ways to measure voltage and current.
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Skateboard Disaster
Learners conduct a hands-on experiment with collisions between two skateboards of different masses. They are introduced to the concept of conservation of momentum in collisions and consider how their observations might help engineers...
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Sliders - Static and Kinetic Friction
Students work in groups to conduct experiments the demonstrate the differences between static and kinetic friction. They consider how friction affects us in our everyday lives, determine the effects of weight on friction and complete a...
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Where Does All the Water Go?
Students view a demonstration of how groundwater flows and define several related vocabulary terms. They complete a worksheet, participate in discussion and make a poster.
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TE Lesson: I've Got Issues!
Young scholars study environmental issues from different perspectives. They look at the issues from the view of both preservationists and conservationists as they identify themselves with one group or the other. They determine how...
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TE Lesson: I've Gotta Get Some Air
Students investigate types and sources of indoor air pollutions both at home and in school. They decide on how to prevent poor indoor air quality. They debate smoking in order to determine how language usage can be an influence in...
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Let's Heat Things Up!
Students build and evaluate simple models to understand the greenhouse effect. They explore the role of increased greenhouse gas concentration in global warming, and the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves...
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Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Learners apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
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Solid Waste Takes Over
Students explore solid waste and its effects on the environment. They explain some of the major problems caused by waste disposal and the use of landfills. They suggest ways to reduce the amount of solid waste going into a landfill.
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Splish, Splash, I was Takin' a Bath!
Students explore the causes of water pollution and its effects on the environment through the use of models and scientific investigation. In the accompanying activities, they investigate filtration and aeration processes as they are used...
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Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
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TE Lesson: What's Dominant?
Students study the number of chromosomes in the body cells, sperm cells, and egg cells of humans. They define allele, and examine the difference between dominant and recessive alleles. They complete an activity with jelly beans that...
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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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Engineering Pop-Ups
Learners explore the art of paper engineering and pop-up-books. They listen to a teacher-led lecture on pop-up books, discuss the process of paper engineering, and plan, design and construct an original pop-up book.
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Energy Detectives at Work
Students are "Energy Detectives" working for an engineering firm that does energy evaluations at schools. In teams, they locate energy sources around the school, and record their findings on an Energy Detective Worksheet.
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Energetic Musical Instruments
Students apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. After the accomplishment of the design, students must...
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TE Activity: Environmental Interactions
Students design a web that shows the interactions between the living and non-living parts of the environment. They determine what an environment is and how engineers work together to solve problems. They complete a tally chart that they...
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Floating and Falling Flows
Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...
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TE Activity: Hot or Not
Students examine how the human immune system responds to germs and explain what a fever is. They design a thermometer in order to further explore temperature before completing a temperature conversion worksheet. They detail the work of...