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Day and Night
Learners discuss why day and night occur after visualizing a teacher-led demonstration.
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Animating Motion
Students apply what they recall about objects in motion by animati ng sequences of pictures that model a set of physical conditions. They animate the orbital motions of the Earth, the space shuttle, and the Moon based on calculations of...
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Satellites
Eighth graders explore the history of space travel and satellites. Through a teacher demonstration, 8th graders observe how a satellite revolves another object. They identify natural and artificial satellites, explore how satellites...
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Our Universe: Always Moving, Always Changing
Students explore the main concepts of astronomy through the eleven lessons of this unit. The past, present, and future methods of studying the science are examined in this unit.
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Our Home in the Milky Way
Young scholars gain appreciation of the vastness of our galaxy by viewing an applet about the Milky Way. Students hypothesize about how long it would take to get from Earth to Pluto.
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Making Craters
Students study craters and identify the different things that characterize craters. In this crater lesson students create a model of an impact crater.
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Look Mom, No Wings!
Students explain how drag, weight, lift and thrust work together to make something fly. In this physics lesson, students measure their jump height and record data on the table. They reason out why they can't remain airborne for long.
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Unveiling the Secrets of Saturn
Students read and study an article then answer questions on Saturn. In this investigative lesson students identify ways space exploration has helped humanity and then they search the Internet for space pictures and sketch a drawing of...
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Modeling Day and Night
Students complete a science experiment to study the role of night and day on sleep patterns. In this sleep patterns lesson, students brainstorm about night and day and the causes for the rotations on Earth. Students work in groups to...
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Energy Defined
Fourth graders complete activities to study the sources of energy and forms. In this energy lesson, 4th graders discuss the origin of energy and define it. Students participate in several experiments to further study energy including a...
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The Undiscovered Planet
Learners find a planetary object using star fields. In this investigative lesson students determine the distance to an object using trigonometric parallax.
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Solar System Fun Facts
Students read facts about the Solar System. In this solar system lesson plan, students read facts on the dimensions, planets, and workings of the solar system. There is a big emphasis on Saturn.
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Precession
Students explain how Hipparchus, around 130 BC, used a shift in the predicted location of a lunar eclipse to detect a slight shift in the path of the Sun around the sky. They examine the elliptical orbit in which the Earth travels around...
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Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
Learners examine the relationship between temperature and brightness. In this astronomy lesson students will correlate the evolution of stars to the HR diagram plotted.
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A Flag for Mars
Students investigate the historical use of flags on Earth, debate ownership issues for interplanetary exploration, and design a flag for Mars. The implication of placing a flag at a location forms the focus of the lesson.
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Cassini gets Ready to run Rings Around Saturn
Fourth graders study an article about Saturn. In this investigative lesson students discuss the article and complete an activity that asks them what question they would pose about Saturn.
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The Intertidal Zone: Tides and How Creatures Survive
Young scholars study the properties of ocean water and tides and learn about animals that live in intertidal zones. In this intertidal zone instructional activity, students participate in classroom stations to learn about fresh water and...
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What Shape Is It?
Students predict the shape of an unknown object by bouncing a ball on it. For this physics lesson, students relate this activity to how dolphins use echo-location to navigate. They analyze their lab result and discuss findings.
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Rocky Intertidal Field Trip
Students investigate tides and the land submerged under them. In this intertidal field trip, Students visit the intertidal zone and observe the habitats and animals that live there. Students view the pools under rocks where lobsters...
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Growing plants
Students explore plants and recognize that they are living things that require light and water to grow; students identify, name and match the parts of plants.
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Friction
Students explore friction as a force that slows moving objects, explain conclusions in terms of the roughness or smoothness of surfaces, relate results to predictions, and begin to know how to plan a fair test.
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Health and growth
Learners examine ways for people to stay healthy, such as exercising and eating right.
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Teeth and Eating
Young scholars examine pictures of different animals and decide if they eat meat and/or plants. They inspect models of pairs of upper and lower teeth and discuss which teeth are most useful for cutting grass and tearing meat.
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Rocks and Soils
Students compare the properties of rocks and relate these properties to their use. They perform a virtual experiment to describe and group rocks on the basis of their characteristics.