Curated OER
Pendulum Motion Experiments
Students experiment with simple pendulums to determine the validity of an equation for all angles. Students discover the usefulnes and limitations of approximations in science. Using spreadhseets and a java applet, students observe the...
Curated OER
Charles’s Law
Students describe the relationship between temperature and volume. In this chemistry lesson, students perform an experiment and record their their results. They use Charles' law to explain their observations.
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...
American Museum of Natural History
Nobody's Perfect
Even Einstein made mistakes, you know. A remote learning resource explains how scientists are sometimes unsuccessful. Pupils learn about Einstein's failed quest to find a unified field theory that explained the entire universe.
PHET
Science and Engineering Conference
Young scientists present their experimental designs from the previous experiment. The ninth activity in the series outlines what learners should present, what class discussions should happen, and the solution NASA came up with for the...
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....
University of Colorado
Terra Bagga
One way to identify possible volcanic activity on other planets is by testing the planet for magnetism. A science lesson begins with pupils constructing their own planet from a dead battery, magnets, paper, and tape before labeling...
Curated OER
Men of Steel
Students explore early 20th century steel making. For this U.S. history steel making lesson, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry. Students listen to a poem...
Curated OER
Opposites Attract
Learners demonstrate the attraction of small pieces of paper to a charged plastic rod and conduct experiment with other objects to determine whether they can hold a charge. They then use online applets to apply their experiments to...
Curated OER
A Focus on Mechanical Friction
Young scholars explore mechanical friction. They perform experiments to observe the direction of mechanical motion and the difference between rolling and sliding friction. Data results on the experiments are recorded and students...
Curated OER
Electromagnets: Winding Things Up!
High schoolers explore solenoids and electromagnets. After building an electromagnet, students use a TI Graphing calculator, a CBL 2 interface and a magnetic field sensor to measure the strength of a magnetic field. They create a graph...
Curated OER
Gadget Anatomy
Fifth graders examine and identify different simple machines that make up complex machines. They analyze and discuss different gadgets and appliances brought in from home, then in small groups examine one of the machines in detail. ...
Curated OER
Study of Projectile Motion using Straw Rockets
Students design and launch their own rockets. For this experimental lesson students launch their own rockets and record the various angles and distance that they go. Each student has time to redesign their rocket and have a...
Curated OER
Magnetism
Students study magnetism. In this science lesson, students participate in an activity to discover how electrons in a magnet move. Students identify items around the classroom that are magnetic.
Curated OER
Flipping Coins: Density as a Characteristic Property
Young scholars explore linear functions in a crime solving context. They collect and analyze data using linear equations, then interpret the slope and intercepts from a linear model.
Curated OER
"Graphing Your Motion"
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...
Curated OER
Rat Round Up
Students build a device that captures and carries a pet rat safely back to its cage with out "harming" the rat or themselves. They build and experiment with wind-up or battery operated rat cat toys after predicting the outcome of their...
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
NASA
Dark Matter NASA Conference
Young scholars calculate the escape velocity of planets in our solar system and use that knowledge to calculate the escape velocity for NGC 2300 group. They then suggest reasons for the escape velocity to be higher than possible given...
EngageNY
Why Are Vectors Useful? 1
How do vectors help make problem solving more efficient? Math scholars use vectors to represent different phenomenon and calculate resultant vectors to answer questions. Problems vary from modeling airplane motion to the path of a...
University of California
Marble Rollercoasters
Don't let your classes coast through school! Engage them in their learning as they build their own roller coasters to study potential and kinetic energy. Young scholars complete several challenges that require them to consider the...
Curated OER
Crash Course in Flight
High school physicists demonstrate Bernoulli's Principle by blowing on different items and finding that they do not move in the expected direction! They apply Bernoulli's equation to the flight of an airplane. This well-organized lesson...
Colorado State University
Why Do Hurricanes Go Counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere?
Test your class' coordination as they model the Coriolis Effect. Forming a large circle, learners move to the right as they try to toss a ball to the person across from them. The movement of the circle represents the rotation of the...
Cornell University
Splitting Water with Electricity
Explore how electricity splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Learners begin by calculating the voltage necessary to separate the water. They then perform the experiment and measure the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen bubbles.