Kenan Fellows
Half-Life
Scholars shake their way to understanding half-life with the help of candy. They observe and record which side candy lands on to graph the exponential decay in the fifth lesson of seven integrating chemistry and algebra. Combining...
Virginia Department of Education
Radioactive Decay and Half-Life
Explain the importance of radioactive half-life as your high school biologists demonstrate the concept by performing a series of steps designed to simulate radioactive decay. Pupils use pennies to perform an experiment and gather data....
Curated OER
Get a Half-life!
Students explore decay functions and the half-life of a substance. Through an M&M activity with calculators, students collect and graph data. They determine the linear, quadratic and exponential functions of the graph. Students...
Curated OER
Half Life Lab
Seventh graders model radioactive decay using pennies, collect data from their model, apply scientific visualization techniques to their data and create animated models explaining the concept of radioactive half-life.
Curated OER
Get a Half Life!
Eighth graders use M&M's to experiment with data. They use a graphing calculator to determine the best equation for their data; linear, quadratic or exponential. They analyze the data to find the half-life of their M&M's.
Curated OER
Get a Half-Life!: Student Worksheet
In this math/science worksheet, students will work in pairs to conduct an experiment based on a decay function which is often used to model radioactive decay. Students will shake M & M's in a cup to rub off the M and then record...
Curated OER
NUMB3RS Activity: A Matter of Half-Life and Death
Students investigate exponential decay. Students explore the biological half-life of Cesium-137. Students investigate the Goiania Accident of 1987 which is considered one of the worst incidents in the history of the Atomic...
Discovery Education
Submarines and Aircraft Carriers: The Science of Nuclear Power
As physics masters view this presentation, they learn how nuclear power is used in submarines. They use Google Maps to plot a course through the ocean and calculate the time required for surfacing and traveling. They learn about fission,...
Curated OER
Carbon Dating
Simulate C-14 decay using M&M and Reese's Pieces candies. In this scatter-plot lesson, high schoolers perform an experiment to simulate the half life of C-14. Information is plotted on a scatter-plot. Students answer four...
Curated OER
Carbon 14 Dating, Variation 2
Your archaeologists begin this task with a table of values to estimate the time passed based on the half-life of Carbon 14 remaining in a plant. They then move on to find when a specific amount of Carbon 14 is present in the same plant,...
Curated OER
Radiation Reassessed
Learners investigate the dangers of radiation by exploring recent nuclear tragedies. In this scientific debate lesson, students define the idea of radiation "half life" and determine if low doses of radiation are truly damaging to...
Curated OER
Radioactive Decay: A Sweet Simulation of a Half-life
Students demonstrate rates of decay of unstable nuclei can be measured. They understand ratios and multiplication of fractions. They simulate radioactive decay. They read about the accomplishments of scientists.
Curated OER
Get a Half-life!
Students use m&m candies as their sample set. They begin by counting the total number of candies to determine their sample size. Students put the candies into a cup and shake them gently before pouring them onto a paper plate. Count...
Curated OER
Genetics
Become familiar with the basic concepts of inheritance. Your junior high students work through mulitple examples of crosses and calculate probabilities of trait occurance. The explain the concept that each parent contributes one half of...
Curated OER
Chromosomes
Students study chromosomes and how molecular half life affects them. In this chromosome lesson students complete several lab activities on calculating half life, and cracking alkanes.
Curated OER
Radiation
Students distinguish between natural and man-made radiation. They measure radiation using a Geiger counter and investigate footprints of radiation.
Curated OER
Earth Structure and Materials
Students explain what is meant by term nuclear radiation, describe in detail electromagnetic spectrum, differentiate between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, understand half-life of isotopes, differentiate between processes of...
Curated OER
Exponential Functions: Half Life and Doubling Time
Students investigate the concept of exponential functions and how they increase in size over time. They simplify the functions in order to find the solutions that are possible and perform analysis of the curved line that is produced when...
Curated OER
Determining the Age of Fossils
Students examine the concept of radioactive dating. In this radioactive dating lesson, students investigate how to determine the ages of fossils and rocks as they learn about half-life radioactive decay.
Curated OER
Interpret Clock Time
Save yourself a few minutes of planning with this elementary math instructional activity on elapsed time. Through a series of collaborative and independent learning activities, children explore different real-world situations as they...
Curated OER
Catch, Tag, and Release
Learners discover how fish tagging is used by marine biologists and fisheries to estimate fish populations. Participating in a simulation, students use estimation to determine the whole population from a small number of items.
Curated OER
Fractions in Everyday Life
Students apply understanding of fractions by converting a recipe to feed the class and the whole grade level. They calculate how many cookies the class would eat and multiply each fraction in the recipe accordingly.
Beyond Benign
PPM
The 15th lesson in the series of 24 helps your classes understand the ppm (part per million) unit of measure. First, scholars experiment with food coloring to determine concentrations before applying their findings to calculate...
Curated OER
Using Radioactive Decay To Determine Age
Students explore the process of carbon dating fossils to determine their age. They simulate radioactive decay using pennies in a shoe box. Heads represents a decayed atom each time they shake the box. They use the data to calculate the...