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Up, Up, and Away
Middle schoolers investigate the laws of physics that govern the flight of helicopters and airplanes. They build and launch a model rotor, simulating rotors used on helicopters to provide lift.
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Electron Sqare Dance
Students participate in an Electron Square Dance in which they act the part of atoms. They follow the structure of different atoms suggested by the teacher.
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Know Your Watershed
Students investigate the importance and the location of their own watershed by visiting and EPA website and also work in groups to create an action plan on how to protect their local watershed.
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Population Dynamics
Young scholars investigate the causes and consequences of population growth and the envrionmental factors that contribute to it. They discuss what they think the world's population will be in 2050.
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Effects of the Southern Pacific Railroad Causeway
Fifth graders describe the appearance of a substance before and after a physical change. They re-create the Southern Pacific Railroad Causeway across the Great Salt Lake. They determine for themselves how the water is exchanged...
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Forces and Energy Study Guide
Sixth graders use prior knowledge to create a tri-fold study guide using Microsoft Publisher (if available). They include real world examples that show balanced and unbalanced forces, kinetic and potential energy, and vocabulary. The...
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Get to Know: Plants
Students complete a research activity in a schoolyard or park to learn about plants. In this plant lesson, students learn the name of the one of more plants. Students describe or draw the plant, pointing our features that distinguish the...
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Physical Principles in Living Systems
Seventh graders experiment with white light, plane mirrors, and curved mirrors in order to demonstrate the physical principles of living systems. In this physical principles lesson plan, 7th graders take 3 days to discover what happens...
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Rockin' Minerals
Third graders view a clip of the video Backyard Safari, "Rocks and Minerals," and discuss properties of rocks and minerals. They view and discuss a clip on where rocks and minerals are found.
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Reflecting Light
Students are introduced to the reflective properties of light and use mirrors to make light from a source reflect onto a specific target. They take turns and record the amount of time it took to correctly reflect the light.
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Icebergs Ahead!
Students examine icebergs and how they are suspended in water, why ice floats, the melting process of an iceberg, and the floating behavior of ice compared to that of a cork through a lab activity.
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Solve the Case!
Students discover the habits of panthers by solving fictitious crime mysteries. In this animal life lesson, students utilize their research from previous lessons to solve mysteries in a panther activity. Students answer...
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Colored Dots 1
Learners observe that colored markers are a mixture of many different colors by performing a chromatography experiment. They make observations, record information, and make generalized inferences from their observations.
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Magnifiers
Students describe how several different objects magnify a provided sentence and decide if they are good magnifiers or not. They then write a sentence describing two properties an object must have in order to be a good magnifier.
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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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Acid and Base Testing 2
Students design and conduct an experiment on unknown solutions after studying descriptions of indicators and the way in which they identify acids and bases. Students must gather, organize, and analyze data as well as make inferences...
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Density of a Sinker
Eighth graders determine the density of a sinker by first finding the mass and then the volume using a graduated cylinder. Students must write the procedure they use to find the volume of the sinker then apply their data to follow-up...
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Sand in Bottles
Eighth graders calculate the speed of bottles as they roll down a ramp with varying amounts of sand inside. Using their data, 8th graders estimate speed of three labeled bottles with different amounts of sand and compare those results...
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Identifying Elements
Students use diffraction glasses to find similarities and differences between observed spectrum of fluorescent light and an incandescent light They work in groups of 4-6 for the experiment/activity part of this exercise.
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Environmental Quality in Our Own Backyard
Students research an environmental issue and decide on a course of action. They write a reseach paper and present an oral presentation based on the research.
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Hypoxia and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico
Students investigate the causes of hypoxia, the characteristics of a watershed, and how the actions and management practices of people can both negatively and positively affect aquatic ecosystems.
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Water 3: Melting and Freezing
Students understand that most substances may exist as solids, liquids, or gases depending on the temperature, pressure, and nature of that substance. This knowledge is critical to understanding that water in our world is constantly...
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Toxicology and Living Systems
Pupils investigate how toxic chemicals affect biological systems. They determine the toxic dose of a chemical that inhibits seed germination in a Brassica rapa. They investigate the effect of environmental tobacco smoke on human lung...
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The Rotten Truth
Fourth graders watch a video about how much solid waste is produced by each person and how it is disposed of. Using the internet, they identify and interpret data on the type of trash thrown out the most. They offer possible solutions...