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Bounce Back Ball
Fifth graders work in teams of four to measure the rebound heights of a tennis ball dropped from four different heights. They investigate with the bouncing balls to measure changes in the type of energy they possess.
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Temperature School
Pupils observ the cooling and warming of room temperature, hot, and ice cold cans of water by measuring the change in temperature over time. They then attempt to develop explanations for the observations made and apply their findings to...
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And the Survey Says...
Eighth graders evaluate whether a certain argument is valid or invalid. In this science lesson, 8th graders discuss the importance of using unbiased evidence. They design an experiment that they can test in school.
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Careers in Science
Students learn the trends in the current job market for scientists,
find where the jobs are, the range of salaries, and the job requirements.
They discover that scientists do some very interesting things, then
write a letter of...
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Plot! Analyze! Draw your Conclusions!
Students download data reported from the Global Sun Temperature Project website. They graph and analyze the data looking for trends and patterns. They prepare a class report with their observations and post it to the website.
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Measuring the Speed of a Wave
Students create an experiment in which they measure the speed of a wave and record the data in a graph. They work in small groups to write the procedure for the experiment and share it with another group for cross checking of the...
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Insect Monitoring
Students participate in an interactive lesson plan using the scientific method to study biodiversity. In this insect monitoring lesson plan, students simulate the layers of soil and the insects that would live there. Students design...
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US Historical Climate: Excel Statistical
Students import US Historical Climate Network mean temperature data into Excel from a station of their choice. They are guided through the activity on how to use Excel for statistical calculations, graphing, and linear trend estimates.
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Stream Chemistry Monitoring
Students become familiar with real-world gathering of chemical data. The experience how the science is done: the nature of analysis, data collection, interpretation, and presentation. They study a nearby body of water for their experiment.
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The Big Bang Theory
Students will use scientific reasoning to formulate ideas about the formation of the universe using the Big Bang Theory. The use of critical thinking skills is part of the activity and the foundation of the scientific method will serve...
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Do the Elephants Need Sunscreen? A Study of the Weather Patterns in Etosha
Learners analyze the weather patterns in Namibia. They create a graph of the yearly temperatures and use the internet to gather information. They discuss how the weather goes in cycles in the area.
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The Universe
Students describe what scientists mean by an "expanding universe" in their own words. They explain how scientists comprehend the universie is expanding. Students comprehend the vast scale of the universe. They comprehend how theory...
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Stellar Observations
Ninth graders study the uses of spectroscopy and the operation of the Hubble space telescope. In this astronomy instructional activity students complete a lab activity that includes graphing star color and temperature.
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Fishkill
Students analyze data to determine the effect of thermal pollution on a certain species of fish. They graph temperature and dissolved oxygen and make inferences on the impact a change in temperature could have on the fish. As a class...
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Discovering a Law of Space Physics
Learners use data collected by an astronomer to determine the relationship between the time it takes the planet to orbit the sun and the average radius of the planet's orbit around the sun. Students use trial and error to find the...
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Sea Surface Temperature Trends of the Gulf Stream
Students use authentic satellite data to produce plots and graphs of sea surface temperature as they explore the seasonal changes of the Gulf Stream.
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Sea Surface Temperature Trends of the Gulf Stream
Students explore the importance of the Gulf Stream. Using a NASA satellite images, they examine the sea surface temperature. Students collect the temperature at various locations and times. Using spreadsheet technology, they graph the...
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Coral Bleaching in the Caribbean
Students use authentic satellite data on the NASA website to determine when the sea surface temperature meets the criteria to induce coral bleaching.
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Sea Floor Spreading II
Students import ocean bathymetry data from text files. They then graph these observations along with model predictions to assess the model's ability to simulate observed topographic features of the North Atlantic. Students use Excel to...
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You Gotta Have Heart
Ninth graders investigate the concept of relations and interpret graphs and tables. They analyze given data and look for a pattern to determine if the numbers represent a function. Students practice solving scientific word problems that...
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Plants Under Attack
Third graders will identify the four needs for plant survival and gain skills and confidence in using scientific measurement tools, probes as well as the spreadsheets and graphing capacity of a computer to represent and analyze data.They...
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When is Dinner Served? Predicting the Spring Phytoplankton Bloom in the Gulf of Maine (College Level)
Students are able to explain the ecological importance of phytoplankton. They describe the components that influence a phytoplankton bloom. Students interpret satellite images in order to correlate buoy data.
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Looking into Earth with GIS
Students work with data from a seismic wave model in a freely available GIS (geographic information system) program, ArcVoyager SE. Using a GIS, they examine maps and produce graphs to explore variations in seismic wave velocities at...
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The Breathtaking Nature of the Urban Explosion, Part 2
Learners explore ozone levels. They measure the concentrations of ground-level ozone in the atmosphere. Students observe changes in the concentrations of ozone over time. Learners complete a data sheet to record ozone readings over a...