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In-Line Inertia
Students practice calculating the moment of inertia when discussing a skater and the position in which it is best to spin. After class discussion, students practice calculating inertia on their own.
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Snack Attack: Food Packaging Activity
Students design and create packaging material for food. In 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 is...
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Flambe Elements
Eighth graders discuss atoms and electrons as well as atoic structure. They view atomic structure via the computer. Students watch a demonstration in which the teacher demonstrates glass tubing turning yellow in a Bunsen Burner flame....
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Cruising the Mantle
Learners explore the plate boundaries of the earth. Through the use of video, internet and hands-on activities, students examine the types of plate boundaries. They create a model to illustrate the movement and interaction of the...
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Simple Machines
Students investigate simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students construct two simple machines and describe what they do. Students show that simple changes help machines do work with less effort. Students use a paper clip...
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Human Machine
Students explore the human body by conducting an exercise in class. In this human anatomy lesson plan, students view a diagram of the human body and identify the specific bones and joints that allow us to perform specific exercises like...
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Ice Floats
Students explore the changing density of water. In this physics lesson, students investigate how an object's density determines whether it will float or sink in water. They explain why this unique property of is important to living things.
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Magnetorheological Fluids
Students conduct a series of experiments on magnetorheological fluids. In this physics lesson, students explain how these fluids behave in varying magnetic field strength. They give practical applications of magnetorheological fluids.
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Cosmic Ray Momentum
Students describe how cosmic rays achieve high kinetic energy via conservation of momentum.
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Let's Take a Rock Apart!
Students examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.
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Levers: What Can Leverage Do For Me?
Students determine the identity of the three classes of levers while explaining how each works. They wait a video clip that shows uses for different types of levers and work as a class to write a KWL chart. Finally, they make a model fo...
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Characteristics of Energy
Fourth graders view a video and create a KWL to identify energy sources. For this energy sources lesson, 4th graders explore the meaning of energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, thermal energy, radiant energy, and electrical energy....
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What is the Attraction?
Second graders investigate the law of polarity. In this magnets lesson, 2nd graders discover how magnets are used in everyday life and which objects in our environment are magnetic. Students experiment with bar magnets and record...
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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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Earthquake Proof Structures
Eighth graders build a structure that is able to withstand a simulated earthquake. They research earthquakes, earthquake measurement, and society's preparation for and reaction to them. Pupils build models and present them to the...
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Me And My Shadow
Students investigate the concept of a shadow. They design a tool to create shadows for an experiment. They make observations and record the size and shape of shadows. The lesson contains background information for the teacher to deliver...
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Go Car, Go!
Learners design and build their own car. In this physics instructional activity, students collect data to determine the speed of the car. They plot the data on the graph analyze the relationship between variables.
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The Physics of the Planets: How 16th and 17th Century Physicist Helped Us Understand Our Solar System
Eighth graders draw the paths of the planets in the solar system. In this astronomy lesson, 8th graders calculate speed of objects using distance and time information. They research about the work of scientists in the 16th and 17th century.
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Sleet and Hail Have Their Own Seasons
Second graders explain the definition of hail and sleet. In this precipitation lesson, 2nd graders discuss when hail and sleet fall and the results of hail falling.
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Speed
Students explore speed by calculating the average speed of several snowmobiles, and predicting which of them is the fastest. They watch a race to verify their calculations.
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Aerodynamics And Me
Seventh graders design, construct, refine, and test cars that they build on the computer screen. They find the density of several objects using the techniques used to find volume. They measure various common objects to become more...
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Bottle Rocket
Students construct and launch a simple bottle rocket. Working in teams, they construct a simple bottle rocket from 2-liter soft drink bottles and other materials.
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Designing Machines
Young scholars explore simple and compound machines. In groups of four students, they design a compound machine using K'NEX that has a stated purpose and consists of at least two simple machines.
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Mystery Minerals
Students minerals and how they form. They investigate the classification of minerals according to physical properties. Students watch a video about mineral characteristics. In groups, students participate in hands-on activities and...