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Heat Unit
Young scholars define thermal equilibrium. They distinguish between internal energy and heat. Students describe how the quantity of heat that enters or leaves a substance is measured.
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Deep Freeze
Young scholars practice various sampling methods for retrieving data under water, ice, and soil. They use the sample material to make temperature measurements, chart contents, and draw their own conclusions as to what is happening in the...
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Colored Drops
Students examine the properties of a liquid that contains water and food coloring and a liquid that contains water, food coloring and a liquid detergent. They interpret their data, describe properties, and make reasonable explanations...
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Warming the Earth
First graders investigate how the sun warms the Earth and examine the rotation of the Earth and the sun. They create an illustration of the sun, examine a solar system model, and listen to the book "The Sun: Our Nearest Star." They also...
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Energy/Light/Heat/Sound
Fourth graders study the properties of heat in this series of lessons. They discuss sources of heat and experiment to determine its properties. They identify insulators and conductors by measuring temperatures, and graphing their data....
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How Does Whale Blubber Work?
Students perform an experiment to find out how whale blubber keeps whales warm in cold temperatures. They use Ziploc bags lathered in shortening to simulate whale blubber. They put their hands in cold water, both with and without the bags.
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Thirsty for A Liter or Milliliter?
Second graders work with liters and milliliters for measurement.
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Weather Facts
Students study weather and weather measurement tools. In this weather lesson, students read and discuss weather myths and superstitions as well as weather terminology. Students then work in groups to complete weather stations for wind,...
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Solar Hot Box or Cooker
Students brainstorm about solar energy then construct a solar cooker to test the maximum temperature that materials can reach. In this solar energy lesson, students experiment and record temperature of water in their hot boxes...
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Rain Reasons
Students explore how climatic factors influence the growth of plants. They create an experiment to find how variations in water, light, and temperature affect plant growth and describe how precipitation and geography can affect the...
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Rate of Cooling Experiment
Ninth graders measure the insulation properties of different fabrics by immersing cans of water covered with fabric "socks" in an ice bath and measuring temperature changes. They then calculate heat loss and graph the data individually.
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Weather
In this weather learning exercise, learners review what causes different weather patterns including the more severe weather patterns like tornadoes and hurricanes. Students also calculate relative humidity by using dry and wet bulb...
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Investigating Convection Currents
Students examine how differences in the temperature and salinity of the water help create ocean currents. They perform an experiment which shows how temperature affects the circulation of ocean water.
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How Much Energy Does the Earth Receive from the Sun?
Students explore energy. In this science lesson, students conduct an experiment in which they measure how much energy is produced by the sun. Students build a calorimeter to measure the amount of energy.
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Earth Science: The Structure of the Earth
Young scholars identify and complete activities about the structure of the Earth. In this Earth structure lesson, students view a Powerpoint about the Earth's layers and complete a diagram. young scholars compare temperatures in the...
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Transforming Food Energy: A Balancing Act
Young scholars explain their role as consumers. They use a purchased calorimeter or make their own simple calorimeter to measure the energy content in selected foods. This interesting lesson really gets students thinking about what they...
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Sun Seeking Plants
Students investigate the story "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle. This story is used to introduce the children to the concept that seeds change and grow into plants when conditions in the environment including temperature, light, water and...
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Enzymes and Jell-O
Students test for the presence of enzymes in fruit and the specificity of those enzymes. They identify the susceptibility of enzymes to certain environmental factors such as temperature and pH in the enzymes environment.
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Heat And Heat Transfer
Students role play molecules in a container as the container is heated to develop a definition of heat and temperature. They also observe demonstrations of conduction, convection, radiation, and phase transfer. Using these observations...
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Weather Watchers
Students study basic meteorology concepts. They build a simple barometer to measure air pressure. They explore the concepts of relative humidity, air convection currents and temperature inversions and to discover their connection to...
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Cooling With Sunshades
Students conduct research in order to find the effects of properties exposed to heat and how they change temperature. They consider the effect of sunlight upon objects that are placed outside with the help of an experiment. They also...
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Density of Liquids
Young scholars explore the density of liquids. In this scientific inquiry lesson plan, students discover the density of water, corn syrup, and cooking oil through an experiment. In addition, young scholars will draw and label pictures of...
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The Climate in Class
Students consider the implications of global warming. In this current events lesson, students visit selected websites to discover information about temperature rises in the world and discuss how to solve some of the issues associated...
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Learning From Leaves: A Look at Leaf Size
Young scholars measure and analyze leaves from various environments. They discuss the environments, and make inferences about environmental variables that could have contributed to the differences in leaf size and texture.