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Living in a Watershed
Fourth graders examine watersheds. For this ecosystem lesson, 4th graders discover what a watershed is and identify the local watershed they live in. Students investigate the attributes of a watershed as well.
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Retrograde Motion of Mars
Students investigate the motion of Mars. In this space science lesson, students use transparencies to trace the path of Mars through constellations. Students discuss the characteristics of the planet.
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Making Thunderstorms
First graders investigate the causes of thunderstorms and create the sounds of a thunderstorm.
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A River Ran Through It
Students research how water is used to generate electricity. They investigate water's potential-to-kinetic energy transfer in hands-on activities about falling water and waterwheels. They take measurements, calculate averages and graph...
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Solar Power
Students discover how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings. They investigate the thermal properties of different materials. They evaluate the usefulness of each material.
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Strawkets and Thrust
Students investigate the effect of thrust on rocket flight. They construct two paper rockets, one with a smaller exit nozzle, and compare/contrast the distances traveled by the rockets.
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Oceanography: Understanding the Relationship Among Ocean Food Chains
Fourth graders explore relationships among organisms involved in ocean food chains to investigate interdependence of the organisms.
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Waterwheel Work
Students investigate the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They construct an experimental waterwheel using a two-liter plastic bottle, measure the rate of revolution of a waterwheel, and complete a...
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Environment: Understanding Climate Impacts
Students investigate the potential environmental consequences of climate change. They conduct Internet research to discover how climate change may impact certain species of animals and present their findings in a poster or skit. Students...
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Water Under the Bridge
Students consider how much water they use on daily basis by investigating and recording their own patterns of water use over two weeks, and discover ways to begin conserving water in their own homes. Culminating field trip to local creek...
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Ants In Motion
Students brainstorm ants and their characteristics in a class discussion. They observe the ants and answer question pertaining to their behavior; then they apply the scientific method in creating and investigating a problem.
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Transformation of Energy: Heat
Sixth graders investigate how heat is transferred and the concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation. They define key vocabulary terms, and observe teacher-led demonstrations of conduction, convection, and radiation.
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Sun Path: Interactive On-line Mac or PC
Students use SunPath in the yearly mode to investigate seasonal changes in sunrise, sunset, length of day and sun altitude at their own latitude. Sun Path JAVA applet uses equations for a spherical Earth to calculate the sunrise and...
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NASA Robots
Students investigate how robots are used in space. For this space science lesson, students participate in an experiment using a blindfold and complete assigned tasks. The students demonstrate how robots are "thinking" machines.
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The Ozone Between Us
Students investigate how ground level ozone occurs in many areas of the country. They study the ozone problems that are associated with population centers.
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Our Solar System
Students explore the solar system on the internet and video programs. They investigate the names of each planet and their places in the solar system. They chose their favorite planet and design an advertisement to sell a vacation to...