Colorado State University
Do Cities Affect the Weather? (Making a Cloud in a Bottle)
The dynamics of a city can have a drastic effect on the weather. A hands-on lesson asks learners to build a model to illustrate how city pollution provides a nucleus for condensation. The greater the pollution, the greater chance for...
Curated OER
Who Turned on the Lights?
Seventh graders discuss how energy is transformed from one form to another. In this physics lesson, 7th graders design and build their own hydro generator. They identify the factors that affect its energy production.
Colorado State University
What Makes a Gas, a Greenhouse Gas?—The Carbon Dioxide Dance
Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...
Curated OER
Endothermic or Exothermic That Is the Question
Students conduct an experiment to determine what happens to heat energy during a chemical reaction. They examine an endothermic reaction by observing a chemical reactions.
Curated OER
Survival
Students determine the best material from which to make a jacket to keep the body warm in a cold, dry, windy climate. This task assesses the student's ability to perform an entire investigation. In this question the independent...
Curated OER
Heat Pollution and Communities
Students examine thermal pollution by collecting temperature data on the school's photovoltaic panel. Students collect data for four consecutive days and retrieve information from other classes that meet at different times of the day. ...
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Latent Heat of Fusion
Students conduct a series of investigation on latent heat of fusion. In this chemistry lesson, students explain how thermal storage systems work. They draw and interpret graphs.
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Remote Sensing and the Electromagnetitc Spectrum
Fifth graders conclude that each color of the spectrum has a different amount of thermal energy by measuring temperature with a thermometer. They infer that there is an invisible band of the spectrum by measuring temperature beyond the...
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Greenhouse Gas Lab
Students compare the ability of a sample of carbon dioxide gas to
absorb thermal energy compared to a sample of air. They build a visual representation of the greenhouse effect to illustrate the heat-absorption of
atmospheric carbon...
Curated OER
Elementary Concepts in Heat
Third graders read a thermometer with accuracy, record observations and data, and infer conceptual meaning. They integrate mathematical charting and graphing skills to organize their data. They explore what happens when they touch or use...
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Rising Water!
Students observe water change from a liquid to a gas state when heated and then return to its liquid stage when cooled. They learn that gas molecules move faster than liquid molecules. They discover physical properties that describe how...
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
Properties of Matter
Students describe four states of matter and their characteristics, explain thermal expansion of matter, interpret state changes in terms of kinetic theory of matter, explain relationship between temperature and volume of a gas, state...
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"Heat Transfer and Ice Cream!"
Students analyze earth science by creating a frozen treat in class. In this heat transfer lesson, students discuss how matter is transformed from solid to liquid and liquid to gas when energy is removed from the equation. Students...
Cornell University
Glued into Science—Classifying Polymers
Explore the unique characteristics of polymers. A complete activity begins with a presentation introducing polymers. Following the presentation, young scientists develop a laboratory plan for creating substances using polymers. They test...
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A Comparison of Land and Water Temperature
Students examine NASA satellite observations of surface temperature and investigate the seasonal changes of land and water temperature.
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Discovering How a Car Works
Students explain the four stroke process in internal combustion engines. In this physics lesson, students role play this process and present their reenactment in class. They draw and label the diagram of an internal combustion engine.
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Evaporation and Condensation
Pupils explore how temperature affects the processes of evaporation and condensation.
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Evaporation and Condensation
Students explore how temperature effects the processes of evaporation and condensation and how the air may be polluted by the evaporation of certain compounds. In this temperature lesson students complete a lab and a worksheet.
Curated OER
A Comparison of Land and Water Temperature
Young scholars use the NASA website's Live Access Server to create a graph of surface temperature at two locations on earth. They analyze the data and then answer specific questions provided in this instructional activity. They also...
Curated OER
Weather, Migrations, and Plants
Pupils research the effects of day-to-day weather on animal migrations, plant growth and other seasonal events. They consult maps, observe and record local conditions, keep journals and use their collected data check hypotheses.
Curated OER
Food Intake and Physical Activity
Fourth graders graph their estimations of caloric intake and caloric expenditures.
Curated OER
Biodiesel Combustion and Its Influences in NOx Emissions
Tenth graders evaluate the physical mechanisms that cause a change in NOx emissions. In this combustion lesson plan, 10th graders participate in a research project. Students create a presentation of their findings.