Curated OER
Creating Craters
Students explore parts of an impact crater and compare and contrast craters found in Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Crater formation is modelled and the relationship of mass, velocity, and size of the projectile to the crater formation is...
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Plate Tectonics
Learners 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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A Whole Lotta Shakin'
Students read first hand accounts of earthquake survivors in order to begin the describe the different types of earthquake waves and the order in which they arrive. They engage in using earthquake waves as a means to indirectly study the...
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Seeing Solar Storms in STEREO-I
In this geometric calculations of solar storms activity, students use a diagram indicating the location of 2 STEREO satellites, the earth and the sun to calculate the distance between a Coronal Mass Ejection and the Earth. They use...
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Deep Sea Drilling
Students explore ocean vessels that drill the ocean floor. In this ocean drilling lesson, students watch videos about drilling the ocean floor and discuss. Students get into groups, go outside and use string to mark off the...
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Where Now Man Has Gone Before
Students examine the Apollo lunar landings and past theories about the creation and structure of the Earth's Moon as a springboard for investigating missions and milestones in space exploration since the creation of NASA in 1958.
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Dust in the Wind; Chemicals in the Water
Students explore mechanical and chemical weathering at stations. They articulate some mechanisms of chemical and mechanical weathering through exploration in a lab. Students stations describe how chemical weathering differs from...
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Air and Water in the Environment
Students explore the traits of water condensation and evaporation. In this water cycle instructional activity, students develop an awareness of the importance of water for sustaining life. Students participate in a hands-on activity in...
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Aqua-Thrusters!
Young scholars construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas - produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid tablet and...
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Ocean Currents and Sea Surface Temperature
Students use satellite data to explore sea surface temperature. They explore the relationship between the rotation of the Earth, the path of ocean current and air pressure centers. After studying maps of sea surface temperature and ocean...
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Saturn’s Moons
Students compare Saturn's moons to the Earth's moon. In this moon instructional activity students work in groups and complete a lab activity then answer questions.
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Seasonal Cloud Cover Variations
Students, in groups, access data from the NASA website Live Access Server regarding seasonal cloud coverage and the type of clouds that make up the coverage. They graph the data and make correlations between types, seasons and percentages.
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Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
Students identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth's history and explain how they were formed. They formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and...
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Distances Between Stars
In this distance between stars worksheet, students use the 3-dimensional distance formula and Cartesian coordinates to find the distances of 10 given stars from the sun. They also determine which constellation each star belongs to and...
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The Mass of the Moon
In this mass of the Moon worksheet, students use the lunar orbit and the orbit period to determine the mass of the Moon. They solve 4 problems including finding the mass of the Moon, determining the ratio of the Moon's mass to the...
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Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...
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Carbon Monoxide and Population Density
Tenth graders investigate the carbon monoxide level at a fixed latitude to determine if there is a relationship to population density. They download data sets and generate a graph, and find locations using the Earth's coordinate system....
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Jackie Gore
Middle schoolers identify the amount of heat given off by solar energy. In this solar energy lesson, students complete an experiment using soil and sand measuring the heat from solar energy.
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Internet Quest: Weatherman Walt-Why the Sky is Blue
Students analyze atmosphere and light. In this earth science lesson, students are introduced to an investigation about why the sky is blue. Students complete a WebQuest to answer the question.
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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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Temperature High and Lows
Students gather high and low temperature readings through email. In this temperature graphing lesson, students use a spreadsheet to input data for a graph. students interpret the graphs to compare and contrast the data from different...
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Welcome to My World!
Students use maps to locate information. They read the story, "It Looked Like Spilt Milk", view images of the continents and discuss the various continents. Afterward, they make their own Atlas to record information that they can later...
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Bacteria: Friend or Foe?
Students examine a variety of environmental and industrial roles of bacteria. explore where bacteria can be found and distinguish bacteria from other organisms.
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Newton Gets Me Moving
Students discuss Newton's laws of motion. The conduct motion experiments by building "Newton Rocket Cars" from assorted materials. They propel the cars with rubber bands and wooden blocks and record the distance traveled on data sheets.