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The Water Planet
Students use NASA photographs and hands-on activities to compare the amounts of land and water on our planet. They discover that the world has five oceans and that they cover seventy percent of Earth's surface. Students learn how this...
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Voyage of Discovery
Students develop a sense of the scale of our solar system by creating a one to ten billion scale model. They calculate the relative sizes and distances for the planets and asteroid belt using a guiding worksheet. To create the model they...
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Cooler in the Shadows
Students explore Earth science by creating a scale model in class. In this shadow lesson plan, students research the impact the sun has on Earth shadows and complete a space science worksheet. Students create models of the Sun and Earth...
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What's Air Got to Do with It?
Students use M&M's to create a pie graph that expresses their understanding of the composition of air. They watch and conduct several simple experiments to develop an understanding of the properties of air (it has mass, it takes up...
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Capillary Action and Adhesion
Students perform classroom experiments to observe adhesion. They perform a second experiment using sand, salt, water, and a heat lamp to observe the principle of capillary action. They also experiment with adhesion in plants.
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The Lost Hydroponics Chamber Lesson
Students understand the definition of hydroponics. In this space hydroponics less, students simulate the experiment conducted in space. Students answer questions based on their experiment.
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Soil Properties
Young scholars explore the porosity of soil. For this soil lesson, students conduct an experiment which shows the porosity of different types of soil. They use sand, silt, and clay to see how soil particles are more or less aerated and...
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Gravity Launch
Students examine how gravity affects launching rockets into space. In this physical science lesson, students review the concept of gravity and use an interactive online site, "Gravity Launch," to simulate a rocket launch.
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Planetary Diversity
Students explore the infrared radiation and the part of the spectrum that is not always visible. In this electromagnetic lesson students complete a lab activity on the different wavelengths.
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Modeling the Big Bang and the Formation of the Universe
Sixth graders conduct an experiment to understand the Big Bang Theory. In this Big Bang Theory lesson plan, 6th graders will observe a balloon with confetti popping to emulate and analyze information related tot he Big Bang theory....
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Graham's Law Of Diffusion
Students demonstrate Graham's Law by observing a gaseous diffusion. After a lecture/demo, students perform an experiment then complete a write up activity which is imbedded in this plan to reinforce what they have observed during the...
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Magnify It!
Students view objects of various sizes from several viewing distances to discover that their visual field is limited. They record what they see and compare their observations with classmates. They conduct more structured experiments.
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Climate Change Challenge
Students participate in a demonstration in which they role-play polar bears and habitat components to demonstrate the impacts of climate change on the Arctic Ocean ecosystem.
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Moon
Students discover scientific facts about the Moon and how
some American Indian Tribes used the moon to measure time.
They accomplish this by listening to stories and poetry, writing
stories, communicating with an astronaut,...
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Understanding Air Pressure
Fifth graders complete experiments with air to understand that air takes up space, has mass, and that air pressure can be changed. In this air pressure instructional activity, 5th graders test the air pressure by using balloons,...
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What Plants Need in Order to Survive and Grow: Soil
Students conduct an experiment to evaluate whether plants need soil to survive and grow. They plant two seeds, one with soil and one without, make predictions, and record and analyze the seed germination results on a worksheet.
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Seeping Stones
Students explore and experiment with oil traps in rocks. In this rocks lesson plan, students explore the porousness of different rocks and how the more porous a rock is, the more oil it can trap. Students also participate in a lab step...
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Light and shadow
Students experiment with light and shadow. For this light lesson, students look at the relationship between shadows and light. They experiment with light source, shadow size, transparent objects and reflective objects.
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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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What is a greenhouse?
Students experiment to gain understanding of how a greenhouse retains heat. In this greenhouse instructional activity, students work with soda bottles and simulate a greenhouse. Students compare data from a vented and intact...
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Photovoltaics and Solar Energy
Students experiment with photovoltaic cells and determine the energy use of their appliances. In this renewable energy lesson, students calculate the energy emitted by a photovoltaic cell through an inquiry-based lab. They keep track of...
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Rock Cycles, Crayon Cycles
Students examine the rock cycle and the path that rocks go through to rearranged in different ways. They define key vocabulary terms, then in small groups conduct a variety of experiments using crayon shavings as simulated rocks and...
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Gravity Gets You Down
Learners investigate the force of gravity and how it effects different objects that are put into acceleration when applied the experiment of free falling. They drop different objects that have a variety of masses and some that cause air...
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Flight Dreams - Flight Factors
Students investigate the physics of flight by experimenting in class. In this history of flight lesson, students define terms such as gravity, lift, and drag in order to better understand how a plane is able to stay in the air....