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Constructing Earthquake-Proof Buildings
Students examine different materials and design options that can affect the durability of a building. In this investigative lesson plan students conduct several earthquake experiments.
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The Wheels on the Bot Go Round and Round, Part I
Students determine how speed is measured. In this physics instructional activity, students design an experiment to find out if the robot's drive wheel size affects its speed. They collect data and discuss results.
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Science is Alive
Students explore the scientific method. In this science lesson plan, students create and conduct a science investigation for the science fair.
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Quadratic Relation and Parabola
Students identify the vertex and intercepts of a parabola. In this algebra lesson, students graph parabolas and factor quadratic equations. They perform transformation on the parabolas.
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Upside-Down Wings
Young scholars use FoilSim to demonstrate that the graphic analysis of the airflow around one object can be used to hypothesize airflow graphs for objects as they are elongated from a sphere to an airfoil shape.
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Design of Airfoil for Given Lift
Students use FoilSim to design an airplane wing that generates a given lift. As they change parameters such as airspeed, altitude, angle of attack, thickness and curvature of the airfoil, and size of the wing area, the software...
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Lift Relationships
Students use FoilSim (downloadable) to determine how lift is affected by varying parameters on the Airfoil simulation.
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Actual Airflow vs. Ideal Airflow: Stalls
Learners use 3-D modeling techniques to observe the characteristic signature of the stall condition apparent on an airfoil at high angles of attack. They use FoilSim to compare the above with ideal airflow.
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Ice Melting
Students design investigations to test various materials to prevent heat gain in frozen water. The task assess students' knowledge of scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection, measurement,...
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Insulators
Students design and carry out an investigation to test which materials is the best insulator: they predict which way heat energy flows in a system and analyze the flow of energy in a system from one point to another and from one form to...
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Unknown Liquids
Students must design and conduct an experiment to determine which unknown liquid has a greater density based on basic information about the liquids and containers. Students are given specific materials to work with.
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Friction of a Block Weight
Fifth graders hypothesize and design an experiment to study the relationship between a block weight and the number of washers it takes to pull a block across various surfaces. Students graph results and apply their findings to a...
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Velocity
Students determine the average speed of a toy car as it travels six different distances set up by Students. Three trials are done for each distance. The only requirements is that the longest distance must be at least three times longer...
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Starch and Sugar Testing 2
Students design and conduct an experiment to determine which of three solutions contain starch or sugar. This task assess students' ability to make simple observations, design simple experiments, utilize indicators, and make generalized...
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Pond-water Populations
Young scholars design and conduct and experiment on algae, for a two week period, to answer the question "In your investigation, how does changing one factor affect the growth of organisms?"
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Stimulus/Response in Invertebrates
Students design and conduct and experiment to determine how invertebrates react to an outside stimulus such as light and other stimuli. Student must develop a clear plan of action, collect data in an organized manner and analyze their...
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Erosion
Students design and conduct an open-ended investigation using a variety of earth materials to answer a questions posed by the teacher: How does the erosion of sand compare with the erosion of gravel? After producing evidence that...
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Chemical Weathering
Students measure the effect of water temperature on the rate of a chemical reaction, similar to the interaction of a weak acid and carbonate rock, using hot water and effervescent antacid tablets.
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Water-holding Capacity of Earth Materials
Students design and conduct an experiment to test their ideas about how to speed up or slow down the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. They have access to an array of physical and chemical factors that might influence enzyme...
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Barometer Investigation
Students construct a barometer to use in an experiment that they design to measure the air pressure on a daily basis. These observations of air pressure allow students to determine how weather is affected when a storm is approaching and...
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Acid-Base Titration
Students determine the concentration of an unknown solution. This task assesses students' abilities to state hypothesis, develop procedures for investigation, plan for recording and organizing observations and data, collect data, create...
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Electric Circuits
Students determine the power dissipated in the combination of two resistors connected in series to a 6 volt battery. This task assesses students' abilities to develop procedures for an investigation, develop a plan for recording and...
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Coffee Cooling
Students explore the factors that affect how long coffee stays hot. They develop a question and a testable hypothesis for one factor such as initial temperature or size of opening of the container. Then they design and conduct an...
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Friction Force
Students investigate friction force on a variety of objects such as bricks and cardboard boxes. They use a force probe to collect data on the changes in force required to drag the objects across a variety of surface types.