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Let the Sun Shine!
Students investigate how the sun can be used for energy. They read a handout, discuss the pros and cons of passive solar building design, develop flashcard questions, and identify jobs that can be helped by solar energy.
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Ecosystem Field Trip
Learners investigate the different seeds and plants that are part of the Millcreek ecosystem. They take a field trip to the ecosystem and complete activities using the plants that are indigenous to the area.
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Badges of Pride
Fifth graders investigate jobs and how people identify with their job. In this labor instructional activity, 5th graders create a book from illustrations of various jobs. Students read an article about labor and answer questions about...
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Moon Phases
Sixth graders investigate the phases of the moon. In this moon phase lesson, 6th graders discover that the moon changes in a cycle as it orbits Earth. Students label pictures of moon phases and keep a moon phase journal. Students work in...
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Crash! Bang!
Young scholars study the physical force of linear momentum by investigating collisions. They analyze the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions. They calculate linear momentum.
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Light Your Way
Students investigate how a simple series circuit functions. They design and construct a working portable flashlight, develop a written plan for the flashlight, test their flashlight for functionality and reliability, and draw the series...
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Nutritional Needs
Students complete work at six stations as they investigate children's nutritional needs, kitchen safety, and snacks. First, they listen to Dr. Seuss', "Green Eggs and Ham" before discussing nutrition and the station activities. At each...
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Sun and Earth
Students explore the sun, its structure, how big it is and how far away it is. In this solar system lesson plan students complete a lab activity on dew point and weather.
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Building a Roller Coaster
Students describe the law of conservation of energy. They identify the conversion between potential and kinetic energy. They investigate and describe the application of Newton's Laws of Motion.
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Toting the Log and Lifting the Babe
Students use simple machines that demonstrate force, friction, work and power. They investigate and explain simple machines.
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Earthquakes Rock!
Students study the main methods to measure earthquakes; the Richter Scale and Mercalli Scale. They make a model of a seismograph and investigate which structural designs are most likely to survive an earthquake.
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Tornado Damage!
Young scholars explore tornadoes, the damage they cause, and how to rate tornadoes. They will investigate the Fujita Damage Scale of tornado intensity, and use it to complete a mock engineering analysis of damage caused by a tornado....
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Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...
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Dangerous Air
Students investigate how pollution is a global issue. They locate the countries affected by radiation from Chernobyl, sequence the progress of radiation transport from Chernobyl and plot the pollution points on a world map, and read and...
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TE Activity: Super Spinners!
Young scholars make spinners to investigate rotational inertia, rotational speed, angular momentum, and velocity. They make two sets of spinners that have different mass distributions and shapes. They complete a worksheet while...
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TE Lesson: Using Heat from the Sun
Students examine fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable fuels. They study investigate types of heat transfer such as convection, conduction, and radiation. They complete crossword puzzles based on the vocabulary. They design, construct and...
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String Telephones and Musical Straws
Fourth graders investigate pitches of sound. In this physical science lesson, 4th graders participate in two activities that help them explore pitch--one activity has them working with string telephones and the amount of tension applied...
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Life Means Water Environment
Learners investigate pH levels in bodies of water and experiment with acid/base reactions. In this water and pH lesson, students observe changes in pH levels of a sample solution and observe a Bronsted-Lowry reaction. Learners...
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Making Bouncing Balls
Students investigate the movement of balls and use different materials to make balls. In this bouncing balls lesson, students explore the movement of balls, they investigate the inside of balls and they design and make their own balls...
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Making a Rainstick
Students construct a rainstick. In this music lesson, students investigate the history of the rainstick by reading the book Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. Students express their feelings about the rain and create...
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Percussion Instruments and Pitch
Learners play string instruments to discover how the pitch changes on various string instruments. In this pitch lesson, students listen to video clips and play an online music game. Learners become familiar with music vocabulary.
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Legislation: Passing a Bill in the Senate
Students debate a bill. In this Senate lesson plan, students investigate the steps of the House of Representatives when amending a bill that has passed. Students role-play law-making.
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Stations of Light
Student groups rotate through four stations to examine light energy behavior: refraction, magnification, prisms and polarization. They see how a beam of light is refracted (bent) through various transparent mediums. Students investigate...
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Turning the Air Upside Down
Students analyze how engineers study temperature inversions and convection currents to understand why pollution levels may be higher in some areas than others. They participate in an experiment that allows them to build simple models to...