Curated OER
Capturing Wind Energy
Students investigate technology and make a correlation between technology and the weather. In this science activity, students experiment with the weather and climate using technology to help them understand forces and motion. They...
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Pasta Bridges
Students analyze the correct use of technology as it relates to math and science. In this science lesson, students investigate force and weight as it relates to building an object. They build a bridge and draw conclusion based on the...
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Convection Activities
Students conduct a series of hands-on activities to demonstrate that heated air expands and that warm air rises because it is less dense.
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Electromagnetism
Students explore the generation of magnetic fields from currents in wires and measure the magnetic field directions. They measure magnetic fields in their own environment. They also examine how moving magnetic fields can create currents.
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Gravity
Students perform inquiry in response to the question "Do objects fall at the same rate?", teacher candidates discuss a model experiment for secondary students to discover the answer, including recording and analyzing data.
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Boomerangs Keep Coming Back
Students investigate the flight of paper boomerangs. In this flight lesson plan, students examine the flight variables of paper boomerangs, which they make, by investigating the concepts of lift and drag. They examine what happens when...
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Rising Water!
Young scholars observe water change from a liquid to a gas state when heated and then return to its liquid stage when cooled. They learn that gas molecules move faster than liquid molecules. They discover physical properties that...
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Magnetism
Students examine the concept of magnetism by doing several activities using magnets and compasses. They explore poles and polar repulsion and attraction.
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Truss Strength
Students are introduced to the design of Old Faithful Lodge at Yellowstone Park including its use of trusses. They work in groups and use straws and modeling clay to design and test a variety of building supports.
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Applied Science - Technology (2A) Post Lab
Second graders explore simple machines. In this technology instructional activity, 2nd graders look at pulleys and gears and what the uses are for each. They complete a worksheet comparing the two.
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Magnets
Learners explore how the earth is a magnet and that magnets have two "poles". In this magnetic lesson plan students complete an activity by designing their own compass.
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Sports Science
Students explore athletes and how they perform. In this physics instructional activity, students investigate how physics is involved in sports. Students go online to interactive sites that explain physics and biomechanics. Students...
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Communications
Middle schoolers incorporate different disciplines into this lesson. For this science lesson, students investigate the use of communicating without words, and how it is different than communicating with words. They discuss the pros and...
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Snack Attack: Food Packaging Activity
Students design and create packaging material for food. For this snack attack lesson, students design a package to protect a food item from heat and water. Students consider costs of materials, design, and test the package to see if it...
University of Colorado
Terra Bagga
Earth's magnetic poles switch positions about every 200,000—300,000 years. In the activity, groups create a planet with a magnetic field. Once made, they use a magnetometer to determine the orientation of the planet's magnetic field....
Virginia Department of Education
The Particle Theory of Matter
Demonstrate the particle theory of matter to high school scientists with an engaging experiment that allows them to visually see the results as substances change from one state to another. The class concludes with a discussion about how...
Curated OER
Rover Landing Design Challenge
Students examine the concepts of forces and motion. They work together to design protective devices for their egg rovers as they are dropped from a specific height. They record their observations and discuss.
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Building Bridges
Students identify the different types of bridges. Using the internet, they research information on how they are built by completing a scavenger hunt. Locating a specific area, they determine which type of bridge would be appropriate and...
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Typical Numeric Questions for Physics I - Magnetism
Most of these questions are actually not numeric in nature as the title indicates, but they are pertinent to a high school physics curriculum covering magnetic fields. Young scientists must be adept at handling the right hand rule in...
Curated OER
Phases of Matter
Students are introduced to the basic states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. Through experimentation, students determine that liquids and solids have definite volume, that gases do not have definite volume, and that solids have a...
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Tree House Escape!
Students participate in a role play in which they use simple machines to do the work of retrieving their sibling from a tree which lost its ladder. They investigate how work is accomplished when an object moves in the direction of the...
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Double Toss
Young scholars experiment with potential and kinetic energy. They design a device that will toss a ball at least 30 centimeters, catch it and to the ball up again.
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Spuds in Space
Young scholars explore the effects of velocity on an object when it collides with another object. They design and outfit a potato astronaut in a spacesuit to withstand the hazards of high velocity impacts from space debris and meteoroids.
Curated OER
Friction: Friend or Foe?
Using a hands-on approach, learners explore the effect of friction on objects. Learners use toy cars, shoes, wood, metal, and more to experiment with the causes and effects of friction. Afterwards, they conduct experiments in which they...