Virginia Department of Education
Historical Models of Atoms
What does the past have to do with today? Young scientists find that answer as they learn more about past chemists and their significant contributions to the field. Pupils use the Internet to research historical figures...
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How Does the Moon Affect Tidal Range?
Eighth graders study the phases of the moon. In this tides lesson students use the Internet to retrieve information.
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Science Safari: Energy Resources
Students pick a topic that is related to energy and power companies, tools, and careers. They organize information, photos, illustrations, video, or other graphics into a presentation.
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How To Keep Gelatin From Melting
Students investigate the concept of heating and prevention of temperature increase while they design a platform made to hold gelatin that is exposed to heat from melting. Students make observations and rate the effectiveness of their...
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Daylight or Darkness: Mealworms
For this mealworms worksheet, learners test if the mealworms like daylight or darkness. Students complete 5 questions total on this worksheet.
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Current Thinking About Magnets
Young scholars construct their own magnet and wire device. In this inquiry lesson, students investigate the factors affecting the strength of magnetic forces. They manipulate different variable to determine their effect.
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What Really Matters When it Comes to Sound?
Students conduct experiments to learn about sound wave vibrations in objects and pitch. Students test how varying the volume of water in a vessel changes frequency and pitch.
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What is a Sound?
Second graders explore the concept of sound. In this sound activity, 2nd graders discover what sound, vibrations, and pitch are through several experiments. Students watch a Power Point presentation that allows them to complete a graphic...
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Getting Through the Day Duck Style
Students observe ducks at a local wetland. They answer various questions about the ducks behavior and write the answers on a downloadable worksheet.
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Structures and Behaviors of Planarians
Students investigate planaria of the phylum platyhelminthes. They use DigiScope technology to observe and describe the structure and movements of planarians.
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Improving the Building Envelope System
Students explain the different heat transfer mechanisms and how they influence the building envelope. They develop ways in which the building envelope can be improved and test hypotheses about building envelope designs.
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Ozone and Temperature Data Analysis, South Pole Antarctica
Students discuss the layers of the atmosphere, and the history of the ozone hole. They discuss the chemistry of the ozone formation. Students compare seasonal data collected with ozonesondes. They compare Antarctic and Arctic ozone hole...
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Bat Ecology
Students, through hands on games and activities, discover how bats live and how bats benefit ecosystems. They play a game designed to show them how echolocation works and another to show how mother bats locate their young through their...
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Mountain Creation: A Drama Exploration
Students explore mountain formation. In this cross curriculum earth science and legend writing lesson, students listen to the poem "The Way to make Perfect Mountains" by Byrd Baylor and identify examples of vivid language used. Students...
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Planetary Diversity
Students explore the infrared radiation and the part of the spectrum that is not always visible. In this electromagnetic lesson plan students complete a lab activity on the different wavelengths.
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Plate Tectonics
Students research separate elements of the theory of Plate Tectonics, then share that information with each other, drawing conclusions from the culminated information.
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Insects
Third graders research an insect and creates a brochure on that selected insect. Each student develops a Venn Diagram comparing similarities and differences between moths and butterflies.
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Elements of Myth
Students read and act out myths. In this world mythology instructional activity, students read and analyze myths from various cultures and then recognize their attributes as they prepare presentations of myths that explain natural...
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Graphing Your Motion-Day 1
Ninth graders explore the concepts of motion, velocity and acceleration through graphing their own movement using LoggerPro. They become more familiar with the computer technology. Students explore graphing in real time and graph on...
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Who's the Baddest?
Students are introduced to the realm of social insects, their role in the environment and the biological features that make them unique.
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Pulsar Stars And Black Holes
Students explore the discovery of pulsar stars, and the characteristics of pulsar stars. Theories and ideas behind black holes are discussed. The issues of women's historical role in science are also touched on.
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The Measurement of All Things: Atmospheric Detectives
Students identify the characteristics of aerosols. Using remote sensing, they participate in an experiment in which they determine how the sun's radiation and elements in the atmosphere interact with one another. They also research the...
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Celebrating A Century of Flight
Students investigate the Wright Brothers. They complete an online Webquest, explore various websites, use a flight simulator, answer discussion questions, and locate newspaper articles on the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers'...
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Climate Change: What's Hot? What's Happening?
Students conduct a web-based project to analyze recent or on-going climate change research in the North. They are exposed to the application of science in current research on climate change.