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Looking into Eratosthenes' Radius of the Earth
High schoolers, in small groups, research Eratosthenes and his calculations of the Earth's radius. They write a summary of the person, the experiments and his calculations to determine how accurate Eratosthenes was in his estimations of...
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Aircraft Motion
Learners, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate an understanding of the text by applying it to the calculations involving the motion of an airplane.
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Mathematical Models with Applications: The Sounds of Music
Students use an electronic data-collection device to model the sound produced by a guitar string. They identify the graph of a periodic situation and use the graph to determine the period and frequency of sound waves.
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Vectors
Students are introduced to the bridge building challenge. They perform two labs and work in small groups to finish the vector worksheet. Students review vector additions. They then move onto the Forces on an Inclined Plane Lab. ...
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Activity One Teacher Page: Vehicles In Motion
Students identify variables that affect the system, and specify which variables are independent and which are dependent.
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Go Car, Go!
Young scholars design and build their own car. In this physics lesson plan, students collect data to determine the speed of the car. They plot the data on the graph analyze the relationship between variables.
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The Seasons
Discover the change of the seasons by modeling the Earth-Sun system. Learners model the orbit of the Earth around the sun and explore how and why the patterns of winter and summer occur.
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Skateboard Science
Learners investigate how skaters can turn in midair. In this physics instructional activity, students relate Newton's Laws to skateboarding. They carry out the maneuver with the help of their classmate.
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How Clean is the Water?
Students read about and discuss water and how it is used as a resource and how engineers use technology to preserve it. In this water lesson plan, students look at a picture of water treatment and tell what is wrong with the picture.
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Slam On the Brakes!
Fifth graders study the concept of momentum and its application by Newton in his studies. They view a demonstration and complete an experiment with toy cars on a racetrack that shows them the properties of momentum and how velocity and...
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Electricity and Magnets
In this physics review activity, students compare average and instantaneous speed, review Newton's laws, electricity, and magnets. This activity has 12 fill in the blank, 8 short answer questions, and 6 problems to solve.
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Rocket Me into Space
Fourth graders study the concept of thrust and how it propels rockets into space. They discover why airplanes cannot travel into space while considering the engineering techniques use in designing rockets. They look at how space...
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Vectors
Students describe motion by the use of adding vectors. They identify the difference between the x and y components of vector quantities. Students are given the Paper Bridge Building handout and the instructions as to where to perform...
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Newtonian Mechanics
Young scholars familiarize themselves, through teacher demonstration, with Gavendish's apparatus first used for experimentally determining the value of the Universal Gravitational Constant G, and calculate theoretical value of Earth's...
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Antacid Tablet Race
Students complete experiments to determine how rocket fuel is affected by surface area and temperature. They compare the reaction rates of antacid tablets. They discuss their results to complete the instructional activity.
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FORCES, MOTION, AND ENERGY
Eighth graders engage in a variety of activities in order to investigate the basic concepts of physics. They read and answer questions in a written text. This is only one type of activity that is part of many others.
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Impulse and Momentum
Students are introduced to the concepts of impulse and momentum and problem solving strategies for these types of problems. In groups, they discover the law of conservation of momentum and share their answers with the class.
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Rocketry in Motion
Students investigate why a balloon flies in one direction as air escapes in the opposite direction, which helps them understand the nature of rockets and fireworks. Individually and in teams, students conduct research to create a...
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#22 Frames of Reference: The Basics
Students explore the concept of frames of reference in physics.
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Frames of Reference: The Basics
Students learn the concept of frames of reference in physics. They examine how two frames of reference, each moving with respect to the other with a constant velocity v (constant speed, constant direction).
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Learn to Build a Rocket in 5 Days
Students explore physics by participating in an engineering activity. In this rocket instructional activity, students define a list of scientific vocabulary terms such as "re-engineering" and "trade-off." Students identify the rocket...
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Balsa Wood Airplane Flight and Speed Correlation
Ninth graders calculate the average speed of their balsa wood airplane. For this physics lesson, 9th graders build their own airplane and make necessary modifications to to make it fly straight. They interpret distance and time graph...
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"Girls Only" Science Workshop
Students design sleds. For this engineering lesson, students collaborate to engineer and build a real working sleds from the materials provided. This lesson was originally designed to be taught to a group of female students.
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Rover Landing Design Challenge
Students examine the concepts of forces and motion. They work together to design protective devices for their egg rovers as they are dropped from a specific height. They record their observations and discuss.