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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Thermal Energy Flow in Materials

For Teachers 6th Standards
The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth lesson in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal energy. Scholars build...
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Lesson Plan
NEED Project

Calibrating Thermometers

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Engage young scientists in the upper-elementary and middle school grades with this collection of simple experiments. Whether you're teaching about heat transfer, density, or potential energy this resource has a lab for you.
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Activity
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Investigation: Conservation of Energy

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
By rolling marbles down a six-foot length of track, physical scientists determine how much energy is lost to heat. It is recommended that you opt for the foam pipe insulation track because more friction slows the marble, allowing...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Solar Energy

For Teachers 6th Standards
The solar energy industry in the United States added more jobs in 2015 than the oil and gas extraction and pipeline industries combined. With the field growing so rapidly, it's essential to understand what solar energy is and how it...
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Lesson Plan
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Science 4 Inquiry

Introducing the Types of Energy

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young scientists explore many different types of energy including light, heat, nuclear, sound, potential, and more. They match the types of energy and identify when energy transfers from one type to another.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Absorption of Solar Energy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Two sequential parts to this lesson introduce your class to the electromagnetic spectrum, the ability to absorb radiant energy, and the pigments in leaves that are responsible for collecting sunlight to be used in the photosynthetic...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Earth's Global Energy Budget

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduce your earth science enthusiasts to the earth's energy budget. Teach them using an informative set of slides that include illuminating lecturer's notes, relevant vocabulary, embedded animations, colorful satellite maps, and a...
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Unit Plan
Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative

Save the Penguins: An Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Heat things up in your physical science class with this interactive lesson series on thermodynamics. Through a series of class demonstrations and experiments, young scientists learn how heat is transferred through conduction, convention,...
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Activity
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Investigation: Kinetic and Potential Energy

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
A well-developed lab sheet guides physical science learners through an investigation of kinetic and potential energy. In small groups, collaborators discover whether or not the ramp height or mass of an object has an effect on the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Qualitative Examples of Conservation of Mechanical Energy

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Instructions for series of six activites, a reading of scientific literature, and a choice of six assessments await you in this physics resource. Well-written plans guide you in guiding your pupils to experiment with levers, pulleys,...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Energy Transfer and Transformation

For Teachers 6th Standards
When you take a simple task and create an exceptionally difficult way to complete it, it is known as a Rube Goldberg machine. These machines are filled with many types of energy transfers and energy transformations. Here, pupils watch...
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Lesson Plan
Tech Museum of Innovation

Energy at Play

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Get the ball rolling and challenge your class to figure out how to make a ball move. The instruction segment is between two STEM activities devoted to doing just that. The first is simple and involves making a ball move from some force...
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Lesson Plan
Rochester Institute of Technology

Solar Energy

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Warm up to the idea of solar energy. A lesson plan includes three activities that challenge scholars to apply knowledge in new ways. First, they learn to run an alarm clock without a battery by using solar energy. Next, they complete an...
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Energy Changes in Chemical Reactions

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The heat of solution measures how much thermal energy a dissolving substance consumes or gives off. The experiment demonstrates both endothermic and exothermic reactions. Scholars dissolve several substances, measure the temperature...
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Activity
Serendip

How Do Biological Organisms Use Energy?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
When an organism eats, how does food become energy? Young biologists follow glucose through the process of cellular respiration to the creation of ADP using a discussion-based activity. The resource also highlights conservation of mass...
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Activity
1
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Teach Engineering

Energy Storage Derby and Proposal

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion, allowing the...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Energy from Water Wheels

For Teachers 6th Standards
Historians believe the first vertical water wheel was invented in Rome during the Augustan Age. The sixth lesson in the series of 10 has scholars experiment with designing their own water wheels. Through testing various pastas and...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Peanut Energy

For Teachers 6th Standards
How do humans get energy since they aren't mechanical and can't photosynthesize? Learners explore this question by relating potential energy in food to human energy levels. Scholars measure the change in mass and a change in temperature...
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Lesson Plan
University of California

Energy and Biomass Pyramids

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Young scientists play tag as they act out the food pyramid in the ocean ecosystem. Energy circles pass from the smaller prey to the predators and at the end of the activity, a data chart and analysis questions allow pupils to apply their...
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Energy and Winds

For Teachers 6th Standards
In the study of wind energy, scholars build a small windmill and observe how it transfers wind into mechanical energy. Learners will make connections to the previous lesson with concepts such as the creation of wind through convection.
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Activity
It's About Time

Exploring Energy Resource Concepts

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Please turn off the lights to conserve energy. Or not, after all energy is always conserved. This first lesson in an eight-part series includes three parts. Part A contains one hands-on activity and two inquiry-based experiments on heat...
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Worksheet
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Investigation: Building a Parabolic-Trough Collector

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Amateurs of alternative energy build a mini parabolic-trough solar energy collector and use it to heat water. Temperature is recorded over a three-minute period and the data is graphed and analyzed. Note that in order to paint aquarium...
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Lesson Plan
2
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American Chemical Society

Heat, Temperature, and Conduction

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How does heat move from one item to another, even when the items are in different states of matter? Pupils experiment with adding washers to hot water and adding hot washers to room temperature water to observe the heat transfer. 
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Lesson Plan
1
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Science 4 Inquiry

Investigating How Heat Flows

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...

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