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What is the Anatomy of the Visual System?
Students research the structures and functions of the eye. In small groups they dissect a model of the human eye, identify structures of the eye, and describe the functions of the photoreceptors.
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Water and Ice
Students explore water. In this water lesson, students explore the physical properties and states of water. They observe how water changes states and document what they see.
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How Do We Know...?
Students identify and explain how various inventions and astronomers have improved our appreciation of the universe. Students identify at least two constellations in the sky and discuss how they were used in ancient times to tell time...
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What Color is Chlorophyll?
Students observe the interactions of chlorophyll and light. They develop and form their own testable hypotheses. Students predict the color of chlorophyll in various types of plants.
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Identifying Clouds
Students work in groups to research and prepare a report on cloud types. They present their findings to the class and take a group quiz competing for points. Students go outside and determine which type of clouds are visible on that day.
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A Look At Sunspots
Students research how the development of new technology has increased our knowledge of how the sun works. This lesson is part of a three-part series aimed at showing students how our knowledge of the universe must be inferred through the...
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Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Students tour Chandra's top galactic X-ray images. For this Chandra X-Ray Observatory lesson, students play games and complete puzzles based on the Chandra Mission and X-Ray Astronomy. Students listen to pod casts, question an...
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Sensing the Invisible
Students study visible light and explain why we want to use infrared radiation to study Mercury. In this sunlight lesson plan students construct a device to measure the presence of infrared radiation in sunlight.
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Physical Principles in Living Systems
Seventh graders experiment with white light, plane mirrors, and curved mirrors in order to demonstrate the physical principles of living systems. In this physical principles lesson plan, 7th graders take 3 days to discover what happens...
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Twisted Vision
Students investigate the vision adaptations in marine animals in their environments. In this life science lesson, students use polarized filters and make observations. Students explain how the adaptation of polarized vision is an...
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Luminous Efficacy (Efficiency)
Students examine the basics of luminous efficacy and why it is used. In this light source lesson students test energy efficiency and the luminous efficiency for babies.
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An Overview of Solar Radiation
Students examine the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. Students compute basic radiative "constants" of the sun-Earth-atomosphere system. They examine the wavelength of maximum radiation emission.
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Climate And the Greenhouse Effect
Students demonstrate the greenhouse effect. They recognize that relatively small changes to our environment can stimulate significant climate changes. They determine that the "scientific method" is a process of testing hypotheses and...
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You, Me and UV
Students explore the validity of claims of UV protection. Students research UV rays and the cancer danger presented by these rays. Working in groups, they perform tests on sunglass and sunscreen products to determine if their claim of UV...
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Day and Night
Students using experiments try to demonstrate how observations can be affected by the cycles of night and day.
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Wavelength and Energy
Students using a rope and other materials explore wavelengths and frequency. If time permits, more experiments can be tried.
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It's All In The Surface: The Effects Of Color & Texture On The Ability Of A Surface To Absorb Solar Energy
Ninth graders examine how dark surfaces absorb more light than light surfaces. They perform an experiment that compares various surfaces abilities to absorb heat, then record and analyze the results.
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Twisted Vision
Students explain polarization vision and why some animals have it while others do not. They examine the reasons why it would be helpful for marine organisms to have polarized light.
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Good Vibrations
Students demonstrate sound waves and make changes in the waves
resulting in changes in pitch. Students associate changes in pitch in various "musical instruments"with size and shape and the sound waves they produce.
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Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight
Students estimate the energy output of the sun. They estimate how much power sunlight the sunlight provides to the earth. They build a simple device to measure the amount of solar radiation the earth receives from the sun.
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Naturally Magnetic Elements
Students explore naturally magnetic elements. In this magnets activity, students examine the periodic table of elements. Students discover the parts of an atom and determine which three elements are magnetic.
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Popcorn Science
Students identify and apply the scientific method through an experiment with popcorn. Then they identify what independent, dependent, and control variables are and create a list of different variables that affect popcorn popping....
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Lenses
Students explore vision by experimenting with lenses in equipment. For this optics lesson, students define the different technology that enhances vision such as microscopes, telescopes and cameras. Students experiment with these devices...