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Parts of a Solar Panel-Part I
Students examine electrical contacts, solar cells, and rechargeable batteries and compare and contrast the characteristics of a solar cell to a rechargeable battery in a hands-on activity. Students complete a worksheet as they...
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Indoor Environment: A Magazine Publication Project
Learners demonstrate knowledge of Indoor Air Quality by creating a class magazine. A link to order a free Action Kit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is provided so teachers can build background knowledge. Performance...
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Unit Plan Template
Learners research the adaptations of desert animals and build their research skills. In this the adaptations of desert animals lesson, students describe major factors that desert animals have on their habitat. Learners explore how to...
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Simple Machines: Levers
Students discover the fundamentals and daily applications of simple machines. They practice basic engineering theory through their hands-on demonstrations of levers.
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TE Activity: You're in Hot Water
Students study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.
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States of Matter
Students discuss a given set of questions based on Chemistry and matter and review a glossary of terms. They conduct experiments on each state of matter: "Dry ice and water, Dry ice and soap and Dry ice and Isopropyl Alcohol." and...
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Floodplain Modeling
Students simulate the impact of fluctuating river volumes on structures and landforms. They experiment with table top-sized riverbed models and water. Students consider how human design can help mitigate the effects of a flood.
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Mineral Scavenger Hunt
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!
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Simple Machines
Students explain how simple machines work and design their own machine. They use the Internet for research.
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Wheeling It In!
Students use everyday materials (milk cartons, water bottles, pencils, straws, candy) to build a small-scale transportation device that incorporates the wheel and axle and the lever. They race their carts/trucks, measure distance, time...
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Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...
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Falling Water
Students drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. In seeing how falling water can...
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Stations of Light
Student groups rotate through four stations to examine light energy behavior: refraction, magnification, prisms and polarization. They see how a beam of light is refracted (bent) through various transparent mediums. Students investigate...
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Weather
Students explore the earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate. They begin class with a discussion about weather patterns, atmosphere, and the layers of the earth. After the class discussion, students rotate through four stations to...
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Funny Putty
Students are introduced to the properties of solids, liquids and gases. They see that colloids are mixtures which display the properties of more than one of these states. They engage in an excellent experiment which demonstrates this fact.
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Contours, Curves & Lines
Students discover how straight lines and curves function in both art and the science of conservation tillage by building model "hills" and experimenting on them.
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How Does Your Garden Grow?
Young scholars construct and maintain a school garden. In this gardening lesson, students plan the construction of the garden by writing letters to local businesses asking for supplies and materials; young scholars build the garden using...
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Making a Rainstick
Learners construct a rainstick. In this music lesson plan, students investigate the history of the rainstick by reading the book Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. Learners express their feelings about the rain and...
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From Rags to (Paper) Riches: Explore Colonial Papermaking
Students explore Colonial papermaking. In this Colonial America U.S. history instructional activity, students analyze two poems written in the 1690s about the Rittenhouse paper mill to learn about papermaking. Students produce their...
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Simple Machines
Fourth graders discover the principles and uses of gears noting that they can be used to change the direction of motion or the speed of an object. They may also change the force and/or distance through which an object turns. They then...
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Simple Machines V - Wheels and Axles and Gears
Fourth graders investigate the principles and uses of gears, and examine how gears can be used to alter the direction of motion or the speed of an object. They observe two cars with different sized wheels roll down an inclined plane,...
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Alka-Seltzer Cannons
Fourth graders observe what is happening when an Alka-Seltzer tablet is placed in a clear cup of water. They observe the release of carbon dioxide gas. Pupils answer the question of how much as is released by observing the experiment...
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Poetry for the Elementary Classroom
Use Shel Silverstein's poem "Batty" to introduce poetry to young readers. This lesson is not formatted well, but the plan does suggest learners memorize a poem, recite the poem individually, and then recite the poem as a class. Poetry...
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Harvesting Oil from the Earth
Fourth graders research sources of fossil fuels especially oil while determining how scientists take core samples from an Earth model. They look at oil consumption and production in the US and throughout the world.