LABScI
Potential and Kinetic Energy: The Roller Coaster Lab
Ron Toomer, a famous roller coaster designer, suffered from motion sickness. Pupils design their own roller coasters, learning about potential and kinetic energy in the process. Labs focus on the importance of drop height, energy...
LABScI
Acoustics: The Sound Lab
If the delay between a sound and its echo is less than 1/10th of a second, the human ear can’t distinguish it. Through the use of a Slinky, rubber band guitar, and straws, scholars explore where sound comes from and how it travels....
LABScI
Circuits Lab: Lightbulbs
Electrons flow from negative to positive, but the general consensus is that current flows from positive to negative. Scholars explore current through construction of circuits in both series and parallel. The focus is on voltage,...
Berkeley Lab
Virtual Frog Dissection Kit
Fluffy is one of the most common names for a pet frog. Fluffy, the digitized frog in this dissection kit, opens up quite literally to allow scholars to see what's inside. The basic kit encourages pupils to click on various organs to see...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Goldilocks and the Three Planets
Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon. Here is an interesting lesson that explores three planets — Venus, Earth, and Mars — specifically their surfaces and atmospheres. Through an analysis of their spectra,...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Are All Plants Created Equal?
Photosynthesis requires energy and produces food, and cellular respiration produces energy and requires food. An interesting lesson analyzes the factors that affect the rates of photosynthesis and respiration. Classes spend one day...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
Ice core samples give scientists access to climates of old—those from more than 800,000 years ago. Through an analysis of various temperature graphs from ice cores, tree rings, and weather stations, scholars compare historical climates...
Biology Corner
DNA The Blueprint of Life
Engage learners with an intriguing presentation on DNA and its role in organisms. Individuals see its structure, what genes are, how the code works, and then explore DNA replication. For advanced classes, the presentation introduces...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
Unplugging from technology for one day per week will decrease your carbon footprint—are you up to the challenge? Part two in a series of three allows individuals to explore their personal carbon footprints. By first taking a quiz at home...
Chicago Botanic Garden
The Carbon Cycle
There is 30 percent more carbon in the atmosphere today than there was 150 years ago. The first lesson in the four-part series teaches classes about the carbon cycle. Over two to three days, classes make a model of the cycle,...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate on Forest Succession
Part two in a series of four explores the effects of climate on succession or the changing of plant species in a forest. Groups review how to identify trees and then spend a day in the field collecting extensive data on trees to...
University of Texas
Matter and the Periodic Table Chemical Families and Periodic Trends
Is assembling the periodic table as simple as Tetris? Scholars arrange colored cards into a logical order and then make connections to the arrangement of the periodic table. Hands-on activities include adding trend arrows and analyzing...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Atomic Structure
Learners explain historical findings such as Rutherford and Bohr's contributions, explain wave particle duality, and formulate Heinsenberg's uncertainty principle. They also draw s, p, and d orbitals, explain more historical findings,...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Mole Concept
Learners explore atomic measurement in the first activity in a series of 36. Through readings, activities, and questions, classes review standard SI units, learn about Avogadro's constant, and use it to help them calculate moles. They...
National Wildlife Federation
Branching Out – Exploring Dendrochronology
Tree rings from North America give a continuous history of El Nino intensity over the last 1,100 years. Scholars learn how scientists use tree rings to create timelines demonstrating variations in weather patterns. The cumulative...
PHET
Conductivity
Human bodies can conduct electricity—that doesn't sound like it would feel good! Learners explore conductivity through the use of this simulation. They see why metals conduct electricity and plastics don't and why some materials will...
PHET
Bending Light
Different colors of the spectrum travel at different speeds through media, causing them to refract at different angles—which allows humans to see their colors. Through a simulation, pupils see how air, water, and other media bend light....
Normal Community High School
Chemical Equations
Viewers learn how to identify the substances in a chemical reaction, how to balance it, and the different types of chemical reactions by watching a presentation that also includes a review of monomers and polymers. The presentation...
University of Colorado
Are All Asteroids' Surfaces the Same Age?
Did you know scientists can tell the age of an asteroid by looking closely at its craters? This final lesson of a six-part series focuses on two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, in order to demonstrate the concept of dating asteroids. Scholars...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
Messenger Education
Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight
It takes less than 10 minutes for energy from the sun to travel 90 million miles to Earth! In the first installment in a series of four, groups measure the amount of solar radiation that reaches Earth. They then discuss how this is...
PHET
Capacitor Lab
The first capacitor was a Leyden jar, invented in 1745. Physics scholars explore capacitors in an engaging simulation. They may view one or set up circuits which contain two to three either in series or parallel. Other views include...
PHET
Battery Voltage
Pupils explore modern batteries and how they work by viewing a simple simulation. It shows electrons moving around the insides and if the voltage is changed, little people move the particles from one end to the other — an entertaining...
PHET
Battery-Resistor Circuit
Don't be resistant to physics! A simulation shows classes how a resistor works. Change the battery voltage and resistance to show how this affects the flow of electrons. Temperature and amps measurements are shown for the system as...