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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gas Pressure, Volume, and Temperature

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Physical science learners conduct a simple experiment using the heat of their hands to affect the fluid pressure. They place a balloon atop a freezing cold bottle and observe what occurs as it warms up. Both activities demonstrate how...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Science is magic that works. Magical color-changing beads and a coffee can that follows voice commands are just two examples of magic tricks that rely on science. After completing a hands-on activity and an experiment investigating the...
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Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

Sensors in Chemistry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency monitors sensors to track air pollution and set clean air standards. Enthusiastic young scientists use similar sensors to gather data in their area and then apply the gas laws and conservation of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy Transformation

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students identify different kinds of energy such as heat energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, and magnetic energy. They investigate the concept of conservation of energy.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sum of All Thrills

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students make a bungee cord. In this potential and kinetic energy lesson, students work in groups to create a bungee cord for an egg. Students evaluate and test their cord. After performing the experiment the students answer questions...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bounce Back - The Long and Short of It

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Upper elementary scientists test basketballs with differing amounts of air to find if inflation affects bounce height. The lesson introduction poses the question of whether or not the composition of a ball determines bounce height, but...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Hard is Chocolate?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct an experiment mimicking a hardness test. They determine the hardness of chocolate bars. Students examine indentations to determine the hardness of chocolate bar and infer reasons for the differences in hardness. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

DOWNHILL DISCOVERIES

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students studykinetic energy, friction, drag and acceleration by relating it to the Winter Olympics.  In this physical properties lesson students create tracks and determine how the course conditions affect bobsled, luge and downhill ski...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breaking Energy

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students experiment with the amount of work required to break a piece of wood by hanging masses from a string attached to a thin dowel of wood. At the completion of activity, students calculate if a fast moving hand could break the dowel.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bombs Away!

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students design and build a device to protect and accurately deliver a dropped egg. They review and study a number of vocabulary words that are associated with this lesson. They work in a small group in order to develop a successful...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kinetic and Potential Energy

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students calculate kinetic and potential energy in the lab. In this physics lesson, students demonstrate how energy can be transformed from one form to another. They collect data from the experiment and write a detailed lab report.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy Conversion

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students describe how energy can be transformed from one form to another. In this physics lesson, students calculate kinetic and potential energy using mathematical equations. They give real life applications of this lesson.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy: Light -- Spinning Color Wheel

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders make spinning color wheels to determine how energy effects what colors look like. They paint or color a color wheel with the seven colors of the spectrum. Next, the spin the wheel to determine what happens. In order to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can Races

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students participate in an experiment dealing with kinetic energy. They predict which cans they believe will win the can race and why. They answer questions based on the experiment.
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Lesson Plan
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Science 4 Inquiry

Investigating How Heat Flows

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rockin Roller Coaster

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students discuss gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, and the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. They create a working roller coaster from provided materials and criteria then evaluate each roller coaster. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students prove the validity of the Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem by analyzing the Car and Driver website which lists qualitative and quantitative data about an assigned car. They decide whether or not they would purchase the car based on...
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Lesson Plan
University of Georgia

Freezing and Melting of Water

For Students 9th - 12th
Examine the behavior of energy as water freezes and melts. An engaging activity provides a hands-on experience to learners. Collaborative groups collect data and analyze the graphs of the temperature of water as it freezes and then...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

The Rate of a Chemical Reaction

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
If your pupils think a catalyst is a list of their cats, then this might be the lesson plan for you! Young chemists study the effect of temperature, catalysts, concentration, and particle size on reaction rates during four different...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mechanical Energy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars discover the difference between kinetic and potential energy in an experiment using toy cars and tracks. In small groups, they set up the experiment to determine the distance milk cartons will travel when hit by toy car....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Young scholars participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Hilly Ride

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders investigate situations that show how kinetic and potential energy are exchanged. They determine how friction is a source of energy transfer from kinetic to thermal energy by experimenting with a car and track. They answer...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Attributes of Accuracy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explain necessity in using accurate instruments when measuring, and how measurements can be checked for accuracy. They make a six-inch ruler, design, test, and evaluate a system to measure work, and produce a table and graph to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waterwheel Work

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They construct an experimental waterwheel using a two-liter plastic bottle, measure the rate of revolution of a waterwheel, and complete a...