Curated OER
Heat and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
More than a week's worth of investigation is provided in this source. Physical science stars experiment to describe specific heat, conduction, convection, and radiation. They also discover the relationship between mechanical and thermal...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Using Heat from the Sun
Students examine fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable fuels. They study investigate types of heat transfer such as convection, conduction, and radiation. They complete crossword puzzles based on the vocabulary. They design, construct and...
Curated OER
Gas Pressure, Volume, and Temperature
Physical science learners conduct a simple experiment using the heat of their hands to affect the fluid pressure. They place a balloon atop a freezing cold bottle and observe what occurs as it warms up. Both activities demonstrate how...
Curated OER
Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Students investigate the physics of heating and cooling through conduction, convection, and radiation. Working in groups, they determine the best way to cool a can of water and warm a can of water. Temperature is taken at five minute...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Students 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 how...
Messenger Education
Design Challenge: How to Keep Gelatin from Melting
The inside of the spacecraft Messenger, which explores Mercury, will experience temperatures from 32 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. In the final installment of a series of four space-related activities, groups spend time discussing and...
California Academy of Science
The Heat is On: Cause and Effect and Climate
The higher the number of letters in the final word for the National Spelling Bee, the higher the number of people killed by venomous spiders. Obviously, those two facts correlate, but no causation exists. Scholars view data based on...
Curated OER
Insulators
Students design and carry out an investigation to test which materials is the best insulator: they predict which way heat energy flows in a system and analyze the flow of energy in a system from one point to another and from one form to...
Curated OER
Ice Melting
Students design investigations to test various materials to prevent heat gain in frozen water. The task assess students' knowledge of scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection, measurement,...
University of California
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science instructional activity, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Float or Sink?
Experiment with mass and density as scholars figure out what makes things float or sink. First, they watch a podcast introducing these concepts. Be sure to use the comprehension question to test their understanding. Young scientists...
Curated OER
Invisible Rays
Students explore physical science by completing a lab assignment. In this sunlight lesson, students define a list of scientific vocabulary terms and complete fill in the blank questions. Students conduct a photographic experiment in...
Curated OER
Polystyrene Containers
Students conduct experiments to determine the effectiveness of polystyrene containers at preventing heat loss. For this polymers lesson, students design an experiment to determine how effective Styrofoam burger containers are at...
Curated OER
Greenhouse Effect: Pop Bottle Experiment
Students explore global warming by conducting a weather experiment. In this greenhouse gas lesson, students define the greenhouse effect and the impact on our ozone layer. Students utilize a soda pop bottle, floodlight bulb, thermometers...
Curated OER
Farming in the 1930's
Students research and conduct experiments with several types of simple machines. They examine levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, axles, wedges and screws and then consider the physics behind "Green Eggs and Ham".
Curated OER
A Matter of State
Middle schoolers conduct science experiments to understand that particle movement changes as a substance changes from one phase to another phase. Students record observations of experiments that involve the three states of matter:...
Curated OER
Applied Science - Physics Pos Lab (Air Pressure)
Students examine physics. In this air movement instructional activity, students conduct an experiment that shows how air moves based on the pressure it's under. They watch the teacher complete the procedure and then try it on their own...
Curated OER
Scientific Investigation- Magnets
Students conduct a scientific investigation to determine if a magnet attracts paper clips through different materials. Students write out their procedures, collect data and present it in a table or chart, and analyze their results.
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Sensing the Invisible: The Herschel Experiment
Learners of light will construct a contraption in which light is passed through a prism and shone into a box. The temperatures at different points along the path and outside of the path of light. The intent is to imitate William...
Messenger Education
My Angle on Cooling—Effect of Distance and Inclination
When exploring Mars, spacecrafts are exposed to 5-11 times more sunlight than when near Earth. Groups of pupils complete a hands-on activity to explore how distance and angle of the sun affect temperature. Through discussions, they then...
Teach Engineering
Energy Efficiency
Using the resource is probably the most efficient way to learn about efficiency. The 18th installment of a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit has pupils investigate energy efficiency through discussions and associated activities....
Curated OER
Energy At Play
If you can find Tinker Toys™, then this may be a fun assignment for your physical science class. Using the construction set and a few other toys, they examine the forces involved when it they are being played with. For each, they...
Curated OER
Sports Helmets and Impact Testing of Polymers
Students examine the importance of good quality safety gear. In this investigative lesson, students will tests various polymers, collect data, and analyze the data to determine which polymer is best for safety helmets. They will design a...
Curated OER
Can You See the Light?
Students investigate the transmission of light energy. In this light energy lesson plan, students observe bubbles using different colored filters and record their observations. They also look at a light source through various materials...