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The Angle of the Sun's Rays
Students study elevation of the Sun above the horizon and the angle of the rays and their heating power.
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Newton's 3rd Law
Students examine how the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. They also examine how the informal, qualitative version: Each action has an equal and...
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Accelerated Frames of Reference: Inertial Forces
Students examine how when applying the laws of motion to an object in an accelerating frame, using coordinates defined in such frame, one must always add an "inertial force", representing forces caused by the frame's acceleration.
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Kepler's Third Law
Students use Kepler's third law to derive the velocity in a circular orbit of any radius, and identify the Earth escape velocity.
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How Far Away is SOHO?
Students create a scale model of the Earth and the sun that demonstrates where the SOHO satellite is in relation to the Earth.
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Map Field of Current
Pupils determine that moving charges create a magnetic field. They discover that the speed and direction of motion, the amount of charge, and the deflection angle observed are closely linked. A voltmeter, pendulum, and a constructed...
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Comparing Amount of Rainfall in Different Geographical Areas
Students construct rain gauges and use them to log rainfall in their school zone, local city, and region and then compare and discuss them by plotting this information.
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Imaginative Picture Writing
Students create a book about clouds after the teacher reads the book, "It Looked Like Split Milk".
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LIGHTNING MYTHS AND FACTS
Students compose lightning safety rules and explore facts and fiction about lightning. They examine the cause of lightning when a channel nears an object on the ground, a powerful surge of electricity from the ground moves upward to the...
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Twisters
Students build a tornado in a bottle and do various readings to explore tornadoes.
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Wacky Weather Stories
Young scholars observe, identify and creatively express their ideas through literature and dramatize an original story that features a type of weather in the plot.
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Understanding Cloud Formation
Learners explore air and clouds by watching demonstration. They perform an experiment to measure air pressure changes.
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Weather Predictions
Fourth graders explore meteorologists. They explore symbols on a weather map and make five day forecasts.
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Weather Myths
Fourth graders relate myths to weather phenomenon. They write and illustrated a weather myth and present it to the class.
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What is a Cloud?
Third graders identify a cloud and explore how they form. They create an acrostic poem about clouds.
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Fahrenheit vs Celsius
Students make a thermometer and write a paragraph about how they did it.
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"Use an Anemometer," said the Meteorologist
Students participate in an hands-on construction of an instrument to measure wind speed.
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Creating a Bar Graph with a Graphing Program
Students use the S'COOL data base to create a bar graph.
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Estimating Altitude of Water Cloud Base
Young scholars perform an experiment to find the dew point at ground level and then make a chart to determine where a cloud would form.
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Timing the Transit of Venus
Young scholars calculate elapsed time and look for patterns.
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Make Your Own "Weather" Map
Students create their own "weather" map using data from x-ray sources. They analyze and discuss why it is important to organize data in a fashion in which is easy to read. They compare and contrast different x-ray sources using a stellar...
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An Eclipsing Binary System with a Precessing Accretion Disk
Students work together to complete an experiment over binary sources. They determine values for the orbital period of certain objects and interpret intensity changes. They also calculate a value for the period of precession of an...
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Sunspot Classification
Students study classification schemes for identifying sunspots. They distinguish between sunspot unbrae and penunbrae, measure sunspots, and compare them to the size of the Earth. They complete a worksheet showing classification of...
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Solar System Distance Activity
Students examine the distances between the Sun, planets, and smaller objects in the Solar System. They design a model using beads that shows the scale distances of the Solar System using astronomical units converted into a 10 centimeter...