Curated OER
Appliance Energy Use and Cost
In this energy usage worksheet, students use a chart comparing the average monthly kilowatt-hour use of different household appliances to complete 4 short answer questions.
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Exothermic vs. Endothermic
The PowerPoint opens with video footage of the decomposition of nitrogen triiodide and then explains it with diagrams. Graphs of exothermic and endothermic reactions are exhibited, as well as one for the effect of a catalyst on reaction...
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Electrical Circuits And Switches
Learners design and draw circuits with batteries, small light bulbs and common household conductors. They build and test the circuit then modify it so someone who couldn't use their hands could turn the circuit on and off.
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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...
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Parts of a Solar Panel-Part I
Students examine electrical contacts, solar cells, and rechargeable batteries and compare and contrast the characteristics of a solar cell to a rechargeable battery in a hands-on activity. Students complete a worksheet as they...
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How Hot Is Hot In Namib?
Students research and demonstrate the temperatures of the Namibian Desert. They watch and discuss a video, conduct an experiment to demonstrate the desert temperatures, record their results in the form of a graph, and compare/contrast...
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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Students consider how to cut their energy use. In this physical science instructional activity, students investigate the connections between energy use and climate changes. Students compute the actual electrical energy consumption of 2...
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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Students compare two products that provide the same function but require different amounts of energy. In this energy efficiency lesson students research and demonstrate energy efficiency in action and how it applies to different...
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African American Inventors Study
Students learn about African American inventors. In this inventing lesson, students are assigned an African American inventor to research. Students work in pairs to complete their research. Students write a compare and contrast paragraph...
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Colored Shadows
Students explore how different colors are seen through the cone cells in our eyes. In this light lesson students complete a lab activity with light and record their observations.
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Series and Parallel Circuits
Students study simple circuits. After a demonstration of parallel and serial circuit designs, students work in teams to predict the difference between two circuit designs. They build examples of two different circuits and test...
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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...
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A Tour in Sustainability
Students explore two LEED certified green buildings. They examine what is the LEED certification process and what constitutes a green building. They tour via the internet two LEED certified green buildings, while comparing and...
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Generate a Calibration Curve for Chlorophyll a
High schoolers measure and graph the absorbance of light by chlorophyll at a specific wavelength versus chlorophyll concentration. They are given an unknown and determine its concentration from their calibration curve. Students become...
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Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Students research and compare two products that provide the same function but require different amounts of energy to do the job. They examine and demonstrate energy efficiency and discover how it applies to different technologies and...
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Learning Lesson: Moonlight Serenade
Students complete experiments as they act as the earth. They observe how different angles affect the phases of the moon seen by us. They discuss the differences in light and dark.
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Frozen Water Before? I'm Sure You Have; But I Bed You've Never Frozen Salt Water! Water!!
Students examine what happens to salt water when it freezes. In groups, they measure density and salt concentrations in different samples of water and record its freezing time. They discuss the relationship between water density and...
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Underwater Vision
Young scholars use colored lights and fabric to study an underwater ocean scene. In this light study lesson, students draw a picture using colored markers and hypothesize what their drawing will look like using filters. Young scholars...
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Underwater vision
Students hypothesize what they expect to see on the fabric under each different color or light. For example: under what color light do they expect the fish to be brightest before looking at an ocean scene.
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Two Kinds of Circuits
Fourth graders examine parallel and series ciruits. They experiment what happens if a bulb is removed from both a parallel and series circuit. They understand the differences between parallel and series ciruits,
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Grating Spectrometer
Students calculate the Balmer series. In this physics lesson, students observe hydrogen lamp spectra using spectrometers. They calculate wavelength and compare them with their theoretical calculations.
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Simple Circuits
Students investigate how series and parallel circuits work. In this physics lesson, students build their own simple circuits and compare their characteristics. They explain the importance of circuit breakers in household circuits.
Cornell University
Characterizing a Solar Cell
Young classes are sure to get a charge out of this lesson! Learners experiment with circuits of a solar cell. They practice determining current, voltage, and power for the circuit and maximize the voltage and current of the cell.
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Exploring Electricity - Four Activities
These are four classic activities used for instructing upper elementary electricians. The first involves experimenting with the Van de Graaff generator. The second is a series of hands-on experiences with static. In the third activity,...