Curated OER
Changing Rocks
Young scholars shake a box containing Plaster of Paris "rocks", gravel, and sand, to measure the effects of erosion. They work individually during this exercise. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations,...
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Probing Under the Surface
Eighth graders use a measuring stick to determine the shape of the inside of the bottom of a box, then apply their knowledge to an additional situation. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, collect and...
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Teaching About the Properties of Water
Learners use video, Internet research, graphs and tables, worksheets and hands-on experiments to investigate the properties of water in a lake environment. They work under direction or through an inquiry process.
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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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Teaching the Scientific Method Using Adhesives
Learners research on the history of adhesives. In this science instructional activity, students select one test to use in finding the stickiness of adhesives. They collect data and formulate a conclusion.
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Marine Protected Areas
Students design a research project about a Marine Protected Area they chose. In this marine biology instructional activity, students gather fish count and catch data then graph them. They create an information poster about their findings.
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Human Populations Studies: the Ghost of Populations Past
Students compile data on population distribution and develop survivorship curves using information from cemetery tombstones and obituaries. They develop inferences on the changes in population age distribution in their area over time.
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Cave Formation Age Estimation
Learners investigate growth rates of flowstone formations. They view a virtual field trip and discuss how flowstones form. They observe the cave fieldtrip and predict the growth rate for a cave formation. They graph growth rates and...
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Art and Anatomy: The Vitruvian Teen
Students are introduced to the history of showing the human anatomy. In groups, they measure their height and arm spans to create a graph and determine if their measurements support Vitruvius' work. Individually, they make their own...
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How Effective is Perspiration at Cooling?
Students collect data on the cooling of water in two different test tubes, one that is wrapped in wet newspaper and one in dry newspaper. They then relate this cooling effect to the body's perspiration.
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Tree I.D.
Students explore various tree species. In this tree species lesson, students collect leaves on nature walks and use Internet sources to identify the trees that the leaves belong to. Students graph their data as well.
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The Effect of Math Anxiety on Cardiovascular Homeostasis
Students examine the effect stress due to test anxiety may have on the heart. As part of the experiment, students hypothesize, collect data, graph data, analyze data and formulate an understanding of their personal level of stress and...
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Who's Got Your Power
Students examine and map local sources of energy. They conduct Internet research on their local utility company, identify where their utility company obtains energy, graph the data, and label a map of power plant locations in their state.
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Everything's Connected
Learners explore how trash decomposes. In this ecosystem lesson, students discuss new vocabulary words, such as producers and consumers, and think critically to answer how landfills work.
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Transpiration
Students interactively explore the term transpiration. In this science/ecology activity, students discuss what they would do if they were thirsty while conducting research in Brazil. Additionally, students write descriptive words to...
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Observations and Inferences
Students examine coral skeletons. In this science lesson, view real coral skeletons. Students explain the differences between an observation and an inference. Students draw a coral skeleton.
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Implementation Schedule
Students observe a schedule for sharing computers in the classroom. When using the computers, students perform specific instructions in various curriculum areas. For example, in math, students visit a given website to find the area,...
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Daily Weather Calendar
Third graders use the internet to record the daily weather conditions. Using symbols, they take the information they gathered and create an easy to read chart. They share their charts with the class to end the activity.
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Intro to 1D Kinematics with Physlets
Twelfth graders examine illustrations and animations on a Physlets CD in which they must describe motion, analyze graphs, and calculate initial velocity. The Physlet assists in providing active class participation in discussion.
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Trends in Precipitation
Eighth graders study about precipitation and graph the information. They look for patterns in a scatter graph and make inferences based on what they see. They need to see a relationship between location and the amount of precipitation.
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2nd Grade - Act. 28: Calendar & Weather Book
Second graders will track the weather patterns throughout the school year. This project spans the school year and takes five minutes per day or less. Measuring, data collection, and predictions are all explored throughout this relevant...
Physics Classroom
A Critical Lab
Physics lab groups finagle with laser lights to determine the critical angle of refraction for both water and Lucite. Because there are no detailed steps or an answer key for this enlightening exercise, an inexperienced physics...
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Exploration of 'pill bugs'
Fifth graders define words. They create a dichotomous key. After carefully examining pill bugs, 5th graders record observations. They compare and contrast habitats of pillbugs.
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Sampling the Ocean Floor
Students sample goodies from an unseen ocean floor and try to accurately describe their composition. This simulation helps students explain the limitations of sampling and the problem of obtaining representative samples of sea floor...