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Exploring the Celestial Neighborhood
Ninth graders study the origin and organization of the solar system. They investigate the Earth's place in the system and how planetary motions explain natural phenomena observable from Earth.
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Rocketry in Motion
Students investigate why a balloon flies in one direction as air escapes in the opposite direction, which helps them understand the nature of rockets and fireworks. Individually and in teams, students conduct research to create a...
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Natural Resources and Transportation in the United States
Students study thematic maps (included with the lesson) to determine possible relationships. They develop three hypotheses about the relationship. Students choose one of their hypotheses to explain. The explanation is to include reasons...
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Ecosystem Services - Water Purification
Students see that ecosystems provide services to people that are essential to life as we know it. Reporters (drops of water) could interview the trees and soil in the surrounding ecosystems for news stories on how they helped keep the...
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Water and Ice
Students participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Students understand that air is densest near the ground....
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The Case of the "Lost Gorge:
Students examine the case of a map making expedition. In groups, they read a case study on "The Lost Gorge" in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. They examine maps and determine where the error in the map-making occured to end...
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Cloud Poems
First graders make daily observations about clouds, write in their cloud books, make cloud charts, and make a poem about clouds.
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Theories
Students view a series of videos that explore the development, formation and arguments for the geocentric model of the solar system. Studenst investigate the heliocentric model of the solar system and consider how scientific theories...
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Air Pressure is Powerful
Students make a barometer and write a paragraph describing how they did it.
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Dark Matter In The Universe
Young scholars investigate the concept of dark matter and how it occurs in the universe. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Students use the information by reading at least two articles about dark matter. They also...
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Top Quark Lab
Students find the mass of the top quark. In this physics lesson, students create a vector diagram from a given set of data. They discuss their calculations and findings in class.
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Urban Ecosystems 2: Why are There Cities? A Historical Perspective
Second in a series of five lessons, this lesson encourages preteens to consider cities as urban ecosystems. First, they keep a food diary for a few days. They visit the Natrional Agricultural Statistics Service website for current data...
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Eyewitness Accounts
Students use eyewitness accounts to gather and evaluate information about the events of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. They play the following roles: reporter(s), eyewitnesses, and scientists who are investigating the...
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Walking Magic
Students conduct experiment with water striders by placing the insect in two different solutions and discuss their observations. They discover that weight and surface area are important factors in their experiment.
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What in Our World Affects the Way People Live
Sixth graders study various maps that show geographical features and population. They compare the maps and make inferences about how various geographical features influence the population and human activities of an area.
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Urban Ecosystems 4: Metabolism of Urban Ecosystems
Cities are compared to living, breathing, metabolizing organisms. Fourth in a five-part series of lessons, this one focuses on the flow of materials through a city. Links to interesting websites and images make your delivery of...
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Curricular Correlations
An interesting lesson on different types of soils is here for you. In it, learners discuss what soil is, and consider three piles of soil - clay, sand, and loam. During the rest of the lesson, third graders discover all sorts of...
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Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?
Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa. In this seasons instructional activity students access data and import it into Excel.
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The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Lesson
Introduce your class to one of the ways that technology is benefiting humanity. The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission involves the data collected by nine satellites from different countries with a united focus on studying world...
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What Role Does Light Play Within the Vision Process?
Students are introduced to the relationship between light and vision. In groups, they participate in experiments to discover how different wavelengths are divided in the visible spectrum. They record their answers and discuss their...
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What Happened?
Students read legends about volcanoes. They develop their own legend and shares them with the class. They practice their writing skills as well.
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Wonderful Water
Students identify the various states of water and its natural flow downward. As a class, students take digital pictures of different forms of water and create a multimedia presentation describing their photographs. Groups of students...
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(S-4) The Magnetic Sun
Young scholars explore magnetism and magnetic phenomena on the Sun.
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A Model of Three Faults
Young scholars investigate faults. In this science lesson plan, students explore the many stresses and strains in the earth's layers and research the types of faults in their state.