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Packing Materials
Students observe the effects of water on four different packing materials to determine which ones are more soluble. They then decide which material would be a good packing material to use for the environment and which may be a bad...
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Designing Local Studies
Students think about and identify significant aspects of local weather patterns by reflecting on their own observations. They design local weather studies by deciding which information to collect and how to collect and record it...
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Field Trip!: A Visit to the Grocery Store
Students discover that foods are organized into groups of similar items by developing vocabulary to enhance verbal discussion i.e., real experiences provide the foundation for thoughtful discussion and critical thinking. They then...
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Aristotelian and Newtonian Motion
High schoolers use a quotation from Einstein as a reference to categorize their descriptions as either Newtonian or Aristotelian. They discuss the idealized nature of the Newtonian approach. Students describe the events they observe...
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Plant and Animal Cells
Students investigate the difference between plant and animal cells. They observe a variety o plant and animals cells by looking at a piece of cork, an onion, elodea, prepared slides of paramecium, human bone, frog blood, and human...
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Winogradsky in a Bottle: Beginning a Winogradsky Column
Students study changes in the environment using a microscale experiment. In this environmental science lesson, students construct a modified "Winogradsky Column" to observe bacteria activities. They record observations and formulate a...
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Vitamin C Testing
Students determine which of three beverage samples contains the most vitamin C. They then apply their knowledge to an additional situation. Students use beverages that have a large, definite difference of vitamin C content to...
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Reading Maps of the East Pacific Rise
Students make qualitative and quantitative observations and use various maps to investigate the features of the East Pacific Rise The study actual bathymetric maps of the EPR region. They identify key features of the ridge and explore...
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Activity 4: Alvin Dive, A Mysterious Encounter and Change Over Time
Students receive copies of the Time Series Observations to use for note-taking. They work in small groups to discuss what they see when the outside lights of Alvin are turned on, and off, where the bacteria may have come from. They view...
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Weather Instrument Use and Application
Eighth graders measure temperature, wind speed and pressure using Skymaster SM-28. In this earth science instructional activity, 8th graders collect data and record observations taken from outdoors. They explain why numerical values are...
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Cosmic Collisions and Risk Assessment
In groups, young scholars create their own scientific impact experiments using ordinary materials, and observe and measure results with a variety of impacting bodies and velocities.
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Atlatl Lessons Grades 4-12
Young scholars examine motion and how to describe it qualitatively. In this investigative lesson students see how aboriginal people were environmentally responsible.
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Color Dots 3
Learners make simple observations, test mixtures, and make generalized inferences from their observations. They observe bleeding of colored inks with water.
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Pulse
Learners determine a baseline pulse rate then chart the changes in rate with exercise. They describe the changes and develop a rationale for their observations. The task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, determine...
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How Psychologists Do Research
Students discover how psychologists complete their research on different topics. In groups, they describe the elements of an experiment and the importance of sampling during research. They identify ethical issues in their research and...
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Water and Ice
Students explore what happens to water as it goes from solid to liquid and back. For this state of matter lesson, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state.
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Physical and Chemical Changes
Eighth graders distinguish between physical and chemical change. In this chemistry instructional activity, 8th graders observe a series of demonstrations showing physical and chemical changes. They identify the signs that a chemical...
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Coulomb's Law
Ninth graders observe the relationship between electrical charge and force. In this electrical charge lesson students experiment and find the quantitative relationship between force and the center to center distance between objects.
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Using A Winogradsky Column to Analyze Microbial Communities
Students use easily obtained materials to study ecological succession in a microbiological community. They collect water samples from outdoor sources in plastic bottles to observe and record changes.
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Craters!
Eighth graders examine the formation of craters. In this craters lesson, 8th graders discover the various energies involved in the formation of a crater, where you can find a crater in the Solar System, and observations of craters on the...
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Heat Loss and Gain in Physical Changes and Chemical Reactions
Young scholars compare and contrast exothermic and endothermic reactions. In this chemistry lesson plan, students perform experiments to determine whether heat was released or absorbed in a reaction. They share their observations in class.
NASA
Here Comes the Light!
Look beyond the light! An engaging activity introduces young scholars to the application of a spectroscope. The lesson is the fifth in a series of six and focuses on the analysis of the elements of the sun.
Perkins School for the Blind
Conductors of Heat - Hot Spoons
Why is the end of a spoon hot when it's not all the way in the hot water? A great question deserves a great answer, and learners with visual impairments will use their auditory and tactile senses to get that answer. A talking...