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Alice Magic Cake
Using a famous children's story as the hook, learners explore the concept of changes in matter. First, they make a cake similar to the one made by Alice in the story Alice's Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Next, they let their...
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Who Done It?
Pick and choose which activities to include in this crime scene investigation. Junior detectives can examine fingerprints, DNA, blood samples, or bone structure. The plan suggests you have teams solve a mystery, but it does not...
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Walking Magic
Students conduct experiment with water striders by placing the insect in two different solutions and discuss their observations. They discover that weight and surface area are important factors in their experiment.
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Marine Animals on the Move
Young scholars work with partners to track tagged animals using real-time data from satellites. Students gather and analyze data, compile information and conclusions and then prepare a final presentation of their research.
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Don't Slip!
Students measure, record, and graph the force of moving a block of wood along sand paper. In this friction lesson plan, students read a spring scale, collect data, construct a graph, and propose a model to explain how fiction works.
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Lesson 2 - Design Process-Measuring Wind Speed
A terrific lesson focused on the design process. It begins with a presentation, "Design: Solve a Problem," which lists the steps of the process and then introduces the specific challenge: to build a device that measures wind speed....
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Drugged Out Daphnia
Ninth graders participate in experiments to investigate the the effects of nicotine, caffeine, aspirin, alcohol, and sleeping pills on the heart rates of Daphina. They describe the relationships between common drugs and heart rates....
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Fertilizer Frenzy
Ninth graders design and conduct an experiment. They evaluate other's experiments. Students describe relationships between biological systems and the environmental contaminants. They work as a team to solve a problem.
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Hare vs. the Tortoise
Seventh graders identify and create questions and hypotheses, dependent and independent variables and form a conclusion that can be answered and tested through scientific experimental investigation. In this relationship lesson, 7th...
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Mountain Building
Fourth graders identify variables that influence rates of change. They, through group consensus and using the assigned materials, design and build what they believe to be the strongest mountain possible.
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With Liberty and Top Soil for All
Students describe the need of plants to have water, soil and sunlight to grow. They use the scientific method when completing experiments. They identify the core democratic values that are needed for a democracy to grow and compare them...
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Induction: Inquiry in Action
Learners investigate the factors that affect the induced current in a loop of wire. They discuss Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law. Students identify the different variables that affect the magnetic flux and calculate the magnetic flux...
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Revised “Understanding Nutrition” Activity
Learners evaluate their current food choices. In this health science lesson, students test different drinks to rate the amount of Vitamin C content. They discuss results in class.
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Testing the Accuracy of a Rain Gauge
Students identify and test variables that may affect the accuracy of a rain gauge.
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Batteries in Series: Voltage and Light Intensity
Students participate in a hands-on activity to explore the relationship between the number of batteries in a series circuit and its voltage. Students identify the relationship between two variables and plot points on a graph.
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Biodegradable Plastics
Students prepare a type of biodegradable plastic. They design method(s) to compare its properties with some common plastics that are readily available in the market. They later advance to identifying variables in an experiment and fair...
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Using the Scientific Method to Determine Which Conditions Best Favor Plant Growth
Seventh graders examine how the environment can affect biological processes. They identify the best conditions for the germination of bean seeds. They record and analyze their data. They write about their observations in an essay.
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An Investigation into Effects of Rhizobium Soil Bacteria on Nitrogen Availability
Students identify the control and the variables in the experiment. They describe the growth of plants with and without nitrogen fixing bacteria, then name the bacterium responsible for making nitrogen available to the plant.
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Soil Organisms
Students work together to collect soil samples from different locations. In the samples, they identify the macroorganisms and classify them. They identify the conditions that affect how macroorganisms grow. They also analyze and identify...
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Gathering Weather Information
Students watch a video of a recent weather disaster. Using the internet, they work together to examine the weather forecast for tomorrow and next week and discuss why it is important to know the weather. In groups, they use weather...
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Sound
Second graders study how sound is produced by vibrations and is transmitted through matter in all directions. They observe how sounds are produced and identify the ways in which sound travels.
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Getting To Know the Activists Among Us
Students discuss what it means to be an "activist." They identify various types of activist organizations and brainstorm the names of local people and organizations that might fit these categories. They research one of these...
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Nebraska's Geology, Soils, Groundwater Regions, and Topographic Regions
High schoolers examine the distribution of geology, soils, groundwater, topography, and geography in Nebraska. They identify various regions and characteristics on a map, and develop a plan to manage the soil and groundwater resources of...
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Gases
In this gas worksheet, students convert within units of pressure and temperature, they solve problems using the various gas laws, they explain concepts as they related to the kinetic molecular theory and they discuss details of a...