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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chemical Sleuthing

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students engage in a lesson which includes flame tests and the construction of a simple diffraction spectrograph with which to measure sodium ion emissions. They use the Bragg equation to compute the wavelength of the line spectra produced.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plant Pigments

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate the components of chlorophyll. They use paper chromatography to separate the many pigments of chlorophyll from one another.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is Your Blue Really Blue? [Metamerism]

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students examine color perception and how it relates to metamerism.  In this color lesson students complete a lab activity that shows them the three basic components of color perception. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Falling Into Leaves

For Teachers K
Students investigate why leaves change color. In this chlorophyll lesson, students examine how chlorophyll effects the color changes in leaves. Students take pictures of changing leaves, and create a class quilt showing the changes of...
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Worksheet
NASA

Auroras

For Students 7th - 9th
In this auroras worksheet, students define 11 terms related to space phenomena such as auroras, coronal mass ejections and auroral ovals. Students use a given website to help them define the terms and they write a 500 word essay about...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Science Experiment: Take a Rainbow's Temperature

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this science experiment worksheet, students gather materials and perform an investigation using thermometers and prisms. Students are asked if red is hotter than blue. They answer 6 questions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's the Frequency, Roy G. Biv?

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students examine the concept of frequency and wavelength. They analyze how frequency and wavelength relate to each other by conducting an experiment involving measuring and timing wavelengths by pulling adding machine tape through an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Piece of Cake: Ocean Communities

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students explain habitats. For this model based lesson students create a model to help describe a habitat that is typical of deep-water. Students will describe how organisms such as coral and sponges add to their habitat.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stellar Fingerprints: the Spectra of Stars

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students explain how an element can be identified using emission spectra. They relate the emission spectrum of hydrogen to its absorption spectrum and identify hydrogen absorption lines in the spectrum of stars.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Classification of Clouds

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students view progressive slides of cloud formations and identify which type of cloud is shown as it forms. They estimate the cloud's height while viewing each image.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Big Bang Theory

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Students explore the Big Bang Theory and discover how it can be used to explain the origin of the universe. For this Big Bang Theory lesson plan, students use a balloon with colored paper inside, blow it up and pop it, group the colored...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Group Foraging

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore co-operation by researching ocean life. In this fish science lesson, students identify many vocabulary terms associated with oceanography and discuss what group foraging means among fish. Students utilize paints and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mixtures

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders experiment with mixtures. In this chemistry lesson, 6th graders determine which mixtures are considered heterogeneous, a suspension, a solution or a colloid. Students create a data sheet of what they discover.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sky and Cloud Windows

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students monitor the weather, clouds, and sky. In this weather lesson, students create a sky and cloud window to focus their sky observations. They write observations in a notebook and include the date, time, cloud cover, types of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Over the Rainbow with Isaac Newton

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders study rainbows and do an interdisciplinary assignment that includes poetry and a science experiment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Three Switches

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students describe the types and parts of a circuit. They discover three types of electrical switches and create a chart showing the many uses for each type of switch.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Clouds as Art: Torn Paper Landscape

For Teachers K - 5th
Students create a torn paper landscape and use it to study clouds. In this cloud study and art lesson, students make a background art image from torn paper. Students create a torn paper landscape and use cotton balls to illustrate...
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Activity
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: Ology: See the Light

For Students 3rd - 8th
Reflection, refraction, and the colors that make up white light is explored through lab activities after reading a brief background about light energy.
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Unit Plan
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Neon Lights and Other Discharge Lamps

For Students 9th - 10th
Produce light by bombarding atoms with electrons. See how the characteristic spectra of different elements are produced, and configure your own element's energy states to produce light of different colors.
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Quantum Dots and Colors

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students are introduced to the physical concept of the colors of rainbows as light energy in the form of waves with distinct wavelengths, but in a different manner than traditional kaleidoscopes. Looking at different quantum dot...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Absorption of Radiant Energy by Different Colors

For Students 6th - 8th
In this science fair project, use an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of differently colored paper exposed to sunlight, and calculate energy emission using the Stefan-Boltzmann equation. Find discussion questions, a list...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: The Energy of Light

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this introduction to light energy, students learn about reflection and refraction as they learn that light travels in wave form. Through hands-on activities, they see how prisms, magnifying glasses and polarized lenses work. They also...
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Handout
Science4Fun

Science4 Fun: Light

For Students K - 1st
What is light? Illustrated discussion of the speed of light, how we see colors, and how light helps us.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Chemistry Simulation: Neon Lights

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Neon lights are a type of discharge tube. Observe how electrons create colored light in a hydrogen gas discharge tube. Can you figure out why hydrogen's emission spectrum contains more than one color of...