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TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Middle schoolers work on problems in which they investigate conduction, convection, and radiation. They attempt to maintain the warmth in one can of soda while cooling the other as much as possible in a thirty minute period. They examine...
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Solar Cooking
High schoolers experiment with a virtual solar cooker to discover the mathematical relationship among reflection, transmission and absorption. Then they actually build and test a solar cooker of their own invention.
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What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
Learners investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
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Water Cycle
Young scientists explore Earth elements by conducting an experiment. They define water vocabulary terms such as condensation and precipitation. In addition, they conduct a water experiment in which they build a terrarium, so they can...
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How Much Land Does It Take To Produce Your Food?
Students calculate the amount of land required to produce the food eaten by an individual for one year. They compare the amount of land required to produce animal versus plant products. Students visualize the areas of land calculated.
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Identifying Materials by their Reflectivity
In this reflectivity worksheet, students read about the absorption and reflectivity of light by different materials. Students solve 4 problems and determine the composition of given materials based on the amount of light reflected. They...
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Sand or Rock? Finding Out From 1,000 km
Students observe how measurements are made with different instruments. For this remote sensing lesson students investigate the physical state of surfaces including the surfaces of the solar system.
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What a Drag
Learners learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to reduce the impact of these forces. The equation that governs common frictional forces is introduced, and during a hands-on activity, students experimentally measure a...
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Striking a Balance
Students simulate animals in a food chain. For this food chain lesson plan, students are identified as grasshoppers, frogs or hawks. Popcorn is spread across a lawn and students are given baggies (stomachs) and colored sashes to identify...
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Measuring Calories
Students burn peanuts and marshmallows to determine the calories each contains. In this calorimetry lesson, students set up an apparatus with a ring stand and water in an aluminum can. They record the temperature of the water before and...
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Sun and Earth
Young scholars explore the sun, its structure, how big it is and how far away it is. In this solar system lesson students complete a lab activity on dew point and weather.
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The Properties of Metals
For this properties of metals worksheet, students read about the history of metal use and their properties. Students read about metallic bonding and answer three questions about bonding in metals.
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Making Clouds: Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in a Beaker
Young scholars observe a teacher demo on how clouds form. In this earth science lesson plan, students discover how cloudiness affects relative humidity. They explain the scattering of light by clouds.
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Effects of the Sun on Our Planet (Grades 2-4)
Pupils observe how the sun's rays can cause evaporation and discuss its role in the weather cycle. They discover what the sun's energy brings to plants. They examine how different types of technology can enhance the amount of solar energy.
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It's in the Bag!
Eighth graders measure temperature changes and make drawings of the interactions between matter and energy. By measuring the temperature students can conclude if there are changes in levels of energy.
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Exothermic and Endothermic Changes
Pupils define and identify endothermic/exothermic reactions. Using a series of experiments, they construct and interpret potential energy diagrams for their reactions.
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What Makes you Hot?
Learners manipulate different variables in a model and make inferences about the temperature on Earth. In this heat lesson plan students calculate the blackbody radiation of an object at a certain temperature.
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Electricity and Magnetism
Fourth graders compare electricity and magnetism. In this science instructional activity, 4th graders discuss the concepts of electricity and magnetism and brainstorm examples of electrical and magnetic forces.
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Read an Electric Meter
Third graders explore electricity. For this science lesson, 3rd graders discuss how electricity is transmitted and complete a worksheet in which they practice reading an electric meter.
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All The News
Students simulate newspaper critics in the topics of heat and temperature. They write a scientific critique of evidence and claims used in a newspaper article and research using KIE software. They write notes on the letter to the editor...
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The Little Orange Rooster
Third graders brainstorm a list of heat sources they are aware of. After listening to a story, they identify the different types of machines mentioned and sort them based on whether they run on gasoline or electricity. To end the...
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What is Climate?
In this climate worksheet, high schoolers review the components that make up climate including temperature and precipitation. This worksheet has 8 true or false and 2 short answer questions.
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Boy, Is That Buoyant!
Fourth graders see that salt increases the density of water and creates a condition wherein objects are more buoyant than would be expected under normal conditions. They describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and...
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Rat Round Up
Learners build a device that captures and carries a pet rat safely back to its cage with out "harming" the rat or themselves. They build and experiment with wind-up or battery operated rat cat toys after predicting the outcome of their...