Lesson Plan
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Rockets on a Shoestring Budget

For Teachers K - 5th
Students, operating under simulated budget constraints, build pop-rockets and launch them. Working in pairs, they complete budget worksheets and use their "Blast Off Bucks" to pay for the construction. They then redesign their rockets...
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Stations of Light

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Student groups rotate through four stations to examine light energy behavior: refraction, magnification, prisms and polarization. They see how a beam of light is refracted (bent) through various transparent mediums. Young scholars...
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Walk, Run, Jump!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. They compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space. They list the three types of...
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TE Activity: Yogurt Cup Speakers

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders build a speaker as they investigate the roles of electricity and magnetism. They discover the properties of magnets, create an electromagnet, and determine the direction of a magnetic field. They show cause and effect...
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Investigating Electrical Circuits

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders draw and construct a complete circuit. In small groups they develop a list of questions about electricity, listen to a teacher-led lecture, construct a complete circuit, test circuits, and create an illustration of a...
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Introduction to Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students calculate the mean, median, mode, range, and interquartile range for a set of data. They create a box and whisker plot using paper, pencil and technology.
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Conditions at Sea Data Activity

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Students study how to forecast sea conditions.  In this oceanography lesson students complete a class activity on wave making. 
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Sound

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students identify sources and importance of sound, discuss sounds heard on way to school, explain why sound waves can be "seen", and participate in various classroom activities and experiments that illustrate how sound travels.
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Weather

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Learners explore the earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate. They begin class with a discussion about weather patterns, atmosphere, and the layers of the earth. After the class discussion, students rotate through four stations to...
Lesson Plan
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What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
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Rock Solid

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students investigate the three types of material stress related to rocks. They watch a PowerPoint Presentation, view an online animation of the three types of rock stress, identify the various types of rocks, answer true or false...
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Using Fulcrums

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students engage in a lesson that concentrates on the use of a lever and fulcrum. They define how a lever is used to lift a load. The lesson has background information to justify it. Students demonstrate how to use the lever while lifting...
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"Graphing Your Motion"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study the concepts of motion, velocity, and acceleration through graphing their own movement using LoggerPro. They explain the difference between speed and velocity using the weather vane example. They discover the difference...
Lesson Plan
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Drought Threatens Huge Man-Made Lake

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students locate Lake Mead, then read a news article about Lake Mead drying up and how that would effect water and power supplies to the region. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a map and vocabulary...
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Ships to a New World

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learners experiment with buoyancy as a force. In this buoyancy lesson, students access an assigned website to examine the sailing vessels that came to the New World. They work as teams to build boats out of aluminum foil to see which...
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Electrical Circuits

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders make an electrical switch. For this electricity lesson, 6th graders will make an electrical switch, a series circuit, and a parallel circuit. They explain an open and closed circuit and give examples of  series and...
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States of Matter

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students discuss a given set of questions based on Chemistry and matter and review a glossary of terms. They conduct experiments on each state of matter: "Dry ice and water, Dry ice and soap and Dry ice and Isopropyl Alcohol." and...
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Ramp Builder

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students plan and build a ramp designed for maximum distance a car can travel. In this physics and data collection math lesson, students work in groups to design a ramp using various household materials. Students test small cars on their...
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Superhumans & Bionics; Electronic Eyes

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars examine the anatomy of the eye and the physiology of vision. Students participate in a modeling activity to demonstrate the difference between a healthy eye and an eye affected by macular degeneration. Young scholars...
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Dead Body Math

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students solve the mystery of dead Mr. Potato Head using physics and algebra. They discuss Newton's Law of cooling as it applies to the mystery scenario involving a cooling baked potato as the "victim". They manipulate algebraic...
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Where Is The Juice?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are introduced to the component's of Ohm's Law. In groups, they practice their problem solving skills by reviewing problems solved earlier. They participate in activities that help them gather information on the importance of...
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Biomedical Imaging

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use guided questions and research to compare two biomedical imaging methods. they effectively present their findings to the class. Students use new technical knowledge to summarize and compare new techniques with those they...
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The Energy of Light

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discuss different ways engineers use light. For this engineering lesson, students are introduced to the properties of light and the way light is used. They view a demonstration of light waves using a slinky, and practice using...
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You Drive Me crazy

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students calculate the distance and acceleration of an object. In this algebra lesson, students collect data and create table and graphs to analyze it. They complete a lab as they collect and analyze data on acceleration and distance.