Curated OER
Water Displacement
Students formulate a hypothesis using critical thinking skills. They use an orange to examine the displacement of water as the orange sinks or floats.
Curated OER
Fish Tank Optics: Learning How Light Travels
Students examine light waves and see how they travel. They explain that light moves in waves, which can bounce off of or go through materials. They use a flashlight to shine on a variety of objects.
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Jungle Gym Drop
Young scholars drop a variety of objects from a jungle gym to explore how different shapes, sizes, and masses relate to forces and motion.
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Efficiency
Fourth graders work cooperatively to investigate the efficiency of various household appliances. They share their findings in three to five minute oral presentations.
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Can You See the Music?
Fourth graders examine the makeup of the electromagnetic spectrum and how the various forms of EMRs are similar and different from each other. They, in pairs, solve problems from worksheets imbedded in this lesson plan.
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Wind Tunnels
Pupils build a simple wind tunnel and test out 2 glider wing shapes at different angles of attack. They record their observations and results just as engineers do. There also is a "virtual wind tunnel" they can try to test aerodynamic...
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Just The Fax
Students discover how a fax machine works including: how a light sensor works, how light is reflected and how signals move across telephone lines. A "bingo" type game is played where students simulate the work of a fax machine to create...
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Pushy Air
Learners engage in a lesson which give them a good understanding of air and some of its properties. They perform an eye-opening experiment which demonstrates how powerful air pressure is, then answer questions on a worksheet imbedded in...
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Paper Structures
Students demonstrate that material strength varies with shape and arrangement.
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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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Old Fashioned Christmas Toy
Students create an old fashioned toy that explains stored, potential and movement energy.
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Flying With Mathematics!
Third graders fly miniature airplanes to discover characteristics related to velocity and average speed. After measuring the time and distance of their flights, 3rd graders calculate the average velocity of their planes.
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A Veritable Circus: Investigating Balance
Students experiment with balance to learn about verticle balance, horizontal balance, center of gravity, and become active problem solvers and "scientists." Student engage in manipulating and changing experimental materials.