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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Reason for the Seasons

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Young scholars compare graphs of their data that was generated on a NASA website.  In this seasons lesson students complete a lab activity. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dangers of Radiation Exposure

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners calculate their yearly exposure rate to harmful high-energy radiation and cumulative effects over time. They use the information to evaluate the various sources of radiation that are of greatest concern for them.
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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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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sun, Spectra, and Stars

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Get ready to spark interest in electromagnetic radiation! This resource shares nine indelible inquiries that you can choose from to ignite understanding of spectra and the relationship between light and heat. The assessments that follow...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Heat Transfer

For Students 5th - 8th
Answer short answers and fill-in-the-blank questions after reading a briefing of how heat energy is transferred between objects. This straightforward learning exercise can be useful as homework the evening before you do demonstrations of...
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Activity
NASA

Feel the Heat

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Heat water up like a NASA engineer. Using the engineering design process, investigators create a system to trap and move heat through a water-filled tube. Designers participate in a post-activity discussion that highlights the role of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Atmospheric Processes - Radiation

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students investigate how different surfaces absorb heat, and how the physical characteristics of a surface have a powerful effect on the way a surface absorbs and releases heat from the sun.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Radiation Energy

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders experiment with a Geiger counter and a dosimeter to test the amount of radiation in a room and the amount of radiation received in a day. In this radiation energy lesson plan, 8th graders test the shielding effect of...
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Activity
It's About Time

The Electromagnetic Spectrum and Your Community

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Do you have blossoming astronomers who seek to understand the electromagnetic spectrum? Assist them with exploring electromagnetic radiation and the electromagnetic spectrum as the class conducts various activities to demonstrate...
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Lesson Plan
Messenger Education

Sensing the Invisible: The Herschel Experiment

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
The electromagnetic spectrum includes everything from very powerful gamma rays (which are used to treat cancer) to much weaker radio waves (which include microwaves). Through a hands-on activity, scholars explore the temperature...
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Unit Plan
Columbus City Schools

Keeping It Hot!

For Teachers 7th Standards
Hot off the presses, this collection of thermal energy activities, lessons, and printables is sure to amaze. Demonstrate how thermal energy moves about in a system using simple materials. Pupils demonstrate their understanding...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Cosmic Microwave Background

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Begin your next class with a BANG! Pupils discuss the formation of our universe and its expansion before proceeding with an activity designed to demonstrate what most likely occurred billions of years ago. They conclude with a discussion...
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Sometimes You Behave Like a WAVE, Sometimes You Don't!

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Electromagnetic radiation behaves like both a wave and a particle. Help classes explore this concept through a lab investigation. Young scientists create optical interference patterns on a glass slide using a carbon layer. They analyze...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Heat and Thermal Energy Transfer

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How does radiation affect our daily lives? Answer that question and others with a lesson that discusses radiation and its use in thermal energy transfer through electromagnetic waves. Pupils investigate vaporization and evaporation while...
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Assessment
Science Matters

Post-Assessment Energy

For Teachers 6th Standards
After nine lessons and activities about energy, here is the final assessment. The 20-questions include multiple choice, multiple choice with justification, short answer, answer analysis, and labeling diagrams to challenge learners.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Radiation: To Worry or Not to Worry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners distinguish safe forms of radiation from those that are dangerous. Students watch a video about sources of radiation encountered every day. Learners estimate their own annual radiation exposure.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Radiation: To Worry or Not to Worry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students distinguish safe forms of radiation from those that are dangerous. Students watch a video about sources of radiation encountered every day. Students estimate their own annual radiation exposure.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Radiation: To Worry or Not to Worry

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pupils distinguish safe forms of radiation from those that are dangerous. Students watch a video about sources of radiation encountered every day. Pupils estimate their own annual radiation exposure.
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PPT
Curated OER

What Wavelength Was That?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
A combination of informative text, photos, and graphics comprise this sharp show on electromagnetic radiation. Some slides mention hands-on activities for demonstrating concepts, so if you want to include them you will need to figure out...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Photoelectric Effect

For Teachers 9th - 12th
After some online instruction, chemistry aces use their creative abilities to produce a poster describing the photoelectric effect and one type of imaging technology that uses electromagnetic radiation. This simple, straightforward...
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PPT
Curated OER

Microwave Telescopes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Discovery of microwaves and other trivia starting this PowerPoint will help interest your class in the application and behavior of these radio waves. Great images to show real-life experiments and equipment help understanding of how the...
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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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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Light, Matter and Energy

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Let Einstein's work shine the way. Pupils read about Einstein's iconic equation, E=mc^2, using a remote learning resource and see how ideas from other scientists such as Kepner, Curie, Galilei, and Newton led to its discovery. They...
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Lesson Plan
Messenger Education

Give Me a Boost—How Gravity Assists Aid Space Exploration

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...