Teach Engineering
The Temperature Effect
How temperature affects the efficiency of a solar panel is the focus of the third in a series of eight resources that presents how engineers are able to control the temperatures of photovoltaic panels. Class members find out how the...
Curated OER
An Environmental Puzzle: The Carbon Cycle
Middle schoolers are introducced to how respiration and photosysnthesis cycle carbon through ecosystems. They read background information that describes the role of the Sun as Earth's ultimate energy source and explains how the energy...
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Astronomy with a Stick
Students describe the movement of the Earth as it relates to the sun and
formulate a hypothesis for the movement and the changing length of the shadow. They express the relationship between the sun and the Earth and how that causes the...
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Me and My Shadow
Students apply the process of scientific inquiries or technological design to explore the explanations of the daily patterns of the Earth's rotation. They record different shadow lengths showing the apparent movement of the sun through...
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Solar S’Mores
Students use the energy of the sun to make s'mores. In this solar energy instructional activity, students gather the listed materials and follow the procedures to find out if they can make s'mores using solar energy.
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Island Survival
Young scholars participate in a simulation of life on a deserted island. They apply their critical thinking skills and knowledge of oceans and islands to "survive" and ultimately return to safety. Lesson contains adaptations for all levels.
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Weather Patterns and Severe Weather Planning
Students document weather patterns associated with the region where they live. They collect weather data about severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes, and create safety preparation charts for each.
Starry Night Education
Comets and Meteors
Comets are also known as dirty snowballs or icy mud balls. With your super scientists, create a model comet nucleus to discover how they are made and take part in a scientific discussion to learn how it behaves.
Kenan Fellows
Analyzing Speed from Different Modalities
Show us your moves. Using sensor equipment, scholars track the motion of different movements, such as jogging, skipping, or jump roping. They analyze velocity and acceleration and create graphs representing each movement.
NASA
Feel the Heat
Pupils examine how solar energy can supply power and heat on the lunar surface. As groups design and build a solar-powered water heating system, they test their system to determine the change in temperature of the water and redesign it...
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Shining the Light on Skin
Students investigate the relationships between certain environmental factors and levels of exposure to sunlight. The variables of location, time of year, and day, and the weather which affect the intensity of the sun are explored in this...
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Solar S'Mores
Students see that solar energy is the energy given off by the sun. They explain that when light energy is absorbed by objects it is changed to heat energy and that dark-colored objects absorb more light and store more heat from sunlight.
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Solar S’Mores
Students cook with the power of the sun. In this solar energy lesson, students explore solar cooking as they apply scientific principles to cook s'mores.
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Glucose Factory
Fourth graders determine, through laboratory activity, the presence or absence of glucose in a variety of plant leaves and stems. They work in groups and perform a three part laboratory which shows them how plants convert sunlighht to food.
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Do Plants Need Sunlight?
Students investigate why plants need sunlight and what happens if they do not get the light they need.
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Let's Create an Ecosystem
Seventh graders discover how an ecosystem works by creating one in class. In this Earth science lesson, 7th graders study vocabulary terms associated with ecosystem and read environment handouts. Students create an observatory...
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Do Plants Need Sunlight?
Students investigate whether plants need sunlight to survive. In this plant instructional activity, students experiment with plants to learn about chlorophyll that plants get from light sources.
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The Analemma
Students describe the relationship between the tilt of Earth's axis and its yearly orbit around the sun, by learning about analemmas. They determine what they can do to show that the sun's position doesn't change, and they find ways to...
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It's Hot
Third graders examine the effect of sunlight on the earth. Individually, they pick an article of clothing out of a bag and sort themselves based on the color of the shirt and whether it should be worn on a cold or a hot day. To end the...
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Sky and Cloud Windows
Students monitor the weather, clouds, and sky. In this weather lesson, students create a sky and cloud window to focus their sky observations. They write observations in a notebook and include the date, time, cloud cover, types of...
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What's Up?
Young scholars examine the vocabulary and objects associated with objects in the sky and weather. They observe the sky outside of their classroom and create a list of things in the sky. Students then analyze a poster, read and discuss...
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Nanoscience and Sunscreen
Learners use the topic of sunscreen to explore the "issues related to size and scale" as energy and matter interact. They compare the visible opacity of different substances to their ability to block ultraviolet radiation.
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Our Solar System and Seasons
Sixth graders investigate the relative diameters of planets and distances between them and the cause for seasons on Earth using the 5-E Learning Model. They appreciate the size and distances involved with objects in the real universe....
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The Hydrologic (Water) Cycle
Learners construct a model of the hydrologic cycle, and observe that water is an element of a cycle in the natural environment. They explain how the hydrologic cycle works and why it is important, and compare the hydrologic cycle to...