Unit Plan
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Physical Optics: The Wave Nature of Light

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students are introduced to the wave nature of light. In groups, they discuss Young's experiment and how diffraction and interference demonstrate the wave nature of light. Using examples, they show constructive and destructive...
Lesson Plan
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Aurora Borealis

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discuss what causes the northern lights and the folklore attached to them. They discuss magnetic fields, and use various common materials to discover if ions conduct electricity.
Lesson Plan
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Understanding Waves

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students perform 3 hands-on activities to help them explain the terms "crest" and "trough" as related to sound, water, and light waves. All three waves types have troughs and crests. The activities use toys to demonstrate the properties...
Lesson Plan
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Heat Currents

For Teachers Higher Ed
Pupils using a slide made out of aluminum foil and pin holes observe visible light.
Lesson Plan
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Light Microscopes

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders study the parts of a light microscope, and its proper use. They identify each part and explain why it is important to know how to use this tool. They practice observing newsprint on a wet mount slide.
Worksheet
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Mission 6: Renewable Energy

For Students 5th - 6th
In these renewable energy worksheets, students learn about renewable energy and energy sources. Students complete a 23 page packet for the activity.
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Gotta Have Energy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore energy. They discuss the types and uses of energy and research an assigned energy source. They create a "benefits versus potential environmental impacts" chart that lists energy sources and possible impacts. They...
Worksheet
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School Survey

For Students 4th - 5th
For this school energy worksheet, students read the questions about school's energy sources, the way school's can recycle, and how energy can be wasted or saved in schools.
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Mixing Colors With Beams

For Teachers Pre-K - 2nd
Student learn about color changes through the use of light beams. For this color mixing lesson, students discover the difference between mixing colors with light and mixing colors with paint. Students gain understanding of how the eye...
Lesson Plan
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Too Bright at Night?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners explore the consequences of light pollution. They consider benefits and drawbacks of technology in order to acquire informed attitudes on the various technologies and their social, cultural, economic, and ecological consequences. .
Lesson Plan
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Making Clouds: Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in a Beaker

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students observe a teacher demo on how clouds form. In this earth science lesson, students discover how cloudiness affects relative humidity. They explain the scattering of light by clouds.
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Electromagnetic Spectrum

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders observe light being separated into a color spectrum.  In this electromagnetic lesson students use a diffraction grating to separate light and compare light sources. 
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Energy Is Everywhere

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars determine the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources and identify the different forms of energy. They discuss life without energy and where energy comes from before reading an article about the different...
Lesson Plan
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Experiments with Photovoltaic Cells

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils explain how sunlight is converted to electricity. In this series of physics lesson, students study how varying the characteristics of the light source affect photovoltaic cells. They research their different uses in other countries.
Lesson Plan
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Illuminating Climate Change: Connecting Lighting and Global Warming

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze energy usage and connect energy usage to fossil fuel consumption. In this global warming and pollution lesson, students what fuels are used to generate electricity and how much CO2 each fuel produces, then graph the...
Lesson Plan
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Cyanobacteria Races: Cyanobacteria Motility Experiment for a Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students experiment to determine the effect of light on cyanobacteria movement. They graph the data of the experiment for further analysis. They watch a time-lapse video of cyanobacteria motility at a NASA website.
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Everybody Needs a Little Sunshine

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Three activities introduce upper elementary ecologists to photosynthesis and food webs. In the first, an experiment is set up to determine how plants respond to different types of light. In the second, they connect organism cards with...
Lesson Plan
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Greenhouse in a Bottle

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Young atmospheric scientists create models of an atmosphere with and without clouds to determine the effect of cloud cover on Earth's temperatures, as well as figuring out whether dark or light surfaces absorb more energy. You may wish...
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How Do Plants and Animals Change the Environment Around Them?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
If you have elodea and snails in your classroom aquarium, or if you have access to a pond with these organisms, your young biologists can set up a controlled experiment to determine how certain ecosystems respond in light and dark...
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Attenuation of Light in Water

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore what happens to light intensity as depth increases using a light intensity logger. They construct a PVC model to hold water and identify what factors could influence the amount of light attenuation.
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Lights On!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners work together to build their own simple circuits. They discover how electricity is conducted through light bulbs. They compare and contrast the differences beween a parallel and series circuit.
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When the Lights Go Out!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students identify coal as the primary fuel used to generate electricity. After discussing coal's use in the generation of electricity, have students complete "When the Light Go Out" worksheet.
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Light in Art

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders investigate the effect of light and dark on the art viewer's perceptions and emotions. They consider black and white illustrations along with paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer. They conduct experiments with light and write...
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UV Radiation and the Developmental Stages of Red Flour Beetles

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students perform an experiment to compare the sensitivity of the various developmental stages of Red Flour Beetles to ultraviolet radiation. Larvae, pupae and adult beetles are exposed to a source of UV-B radiation. In groups, they...

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