What do physicists and musicians have in common? A lot more than you might think. After first viewing a slide show presentation and completing a series of skills practice worksheets on the physics of light, sound, and...

Kindle knowledge of how light travels by using this activity in your physical science curriculum. By setting up a candle flame or flashlight bulb and viewing it through a slit, observers of light see evidence of its wave characteristic....

If you are up for constructing a wooden frame, you can do this demonstration of the interference patterns when light reflects off of layers of soapy film. Both constructive and destructive interference can be seen as evidenced by the...

Toys are great for learning about physics. Scholars use Slinky® toys to study Newton's laws of motion and types of energy. After a little play, they then model longitudinal and transverse waves with the Slinky® toys.

It's an ocean rescue mission! Groups must find a pilot downed off the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. Rescuers must determine the distance needed to travel as well as the heading to get to the pilot's last known position. Taking...

Physical or earth scientists construct this clever contraption to demonstrate how size effects frequency. Several paper rings of various sizes are taped onto a board and shaken to create vibrations. The resonant frequencies are easily...

An informative physics lesson includes two teacher demonstrations, one on AC currents and the other on DC currents, allowing pupils to take notes while watching. The resource includes questions to assign as homework or...

Boat ramps move with waves and changes in water level. Scholars decide on the proper length for a ramp so the angle connecting both sides is appropriate. They visualize the situation and use a simulation to view the results with their...

Grab a partner and shed some light on light. A remote learning resource has scholars play a board game to answer trivia questions about light. They also read about how Einstein contributed to the understanding of light as both a wave and...

Make sound visible with an activity that provides directions for how to build a vocal visualizer meant to create light patterns. Making noise into the visualizer causes a mirror to vibrate, reflecting a laser beam, and creating...

Make music. Class members construct a simple record player using a paper cone and a pin. The resource provides a description of what is happening and why listeners can hear the sounds through the cone. 

Reflected waves of light move within a plane, and because of this, polarizing materials can reduce the glare our eyes see. This resource explains how to set up a demonstration of this effect. Consider it for use in your physical science...

Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...

How can you recognize bullying? How is verbal bullying different from physical or social bullying, and when has a joke gone too far? Learners use their own experiences and ideas to inform the discussion.

Using flexible mirror-like paper, physical scientists experiment with images produced by curving it and looking into its reflective surface. They find that concave mirrors cause reflected light waves to cross and actually flip the image...

If you set up a triad of mirrors into a corner figuration, they act as a kaleidoscope, bouncing light waves back and forth indefinitely, changing the light that your eyes perceive. Although the materials required are very specific and...

Not only does a concave mirror focus light waves, it can also concentrate infrared radiation into a hot spot. If you have a small electric heater and such a mirror, demonstrate this for your physical science class.

Create jumbo bubbles and use them to teach about surface tension or interference, perfect for a physical science lesson on light or molecular attraction.

Introduce teams to quantum dot solutions with an activity that has them expose solutions to a blacklight, observe the colors, and take measurements. Groups graph the data and analyze the dependence between particle size and...

If you chew or make a "raspberry" while viewing an LED light source, the light will appear to wiggle or flicker. It is not because of the light itself, but because of the vibration of your skull! Have your physics class give this a try...

Explore the powers of ten while examining a Blue Morpho butterfly wing. Learners discover there is a lot more than meets the eye when one looks close enough.

What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...

The lesson is real—even if the computer code isn't. Scholars learn about pseudocode, which simulates computer code using everyday language. They write pseudocode for simple actions, then have classmates guess the action from the written...

This physics tutorial features text and animations explaining the particle motion of a medium through which transverse, longitudinal, or surface waves move.