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Why did the can crush?
Students watch a demonstration to ascertain why a soda can crushed. They make observations and hypothesize about why a soda can crushed and relate the difference in pressure to its affect on objects around us (soda can). Explanation is...
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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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His and Her-bariums
Students collect and identify plant species from campus, create a home herbarium, and compare with the plant species from school.
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Alcohol and Pregnancy Don't Mix!
Seventh graders learn about John Kellerman, a youngster who was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. They learn how alcohol and pregnancy doesn't mix.
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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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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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Gallery Walk Questions on Earth's Radiation Balance
Questions that can be used in a lesson plan on Earth's radiation balance are suggested in this resource. It is not a lesson plan, per se, but it is a list of questions for stations within a "Gallery Walk" lesson plan. The link to how...
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Global Water Cycle & Heat Flow
Young scholars experiment to discover how different variables affect the water cycle. They do hat flow experiments and construct a computer heat flow model.
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Antlion Pit Building Investigation
Students design and perform an experiment related to comparing and contrasting antlion pits. Given a set of parameters, students select a hypothesis and perform observations on antlion pits. They record data and use this date to support...
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Farming Fantastic Friends
Seventh graders demonstrate scientific inquiry to design and perform an experiment involving Grow Creatures. They participate in a class discussion, and in small groups design an experiment that determines how to change the materials to...
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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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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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Germinating Seeds on Gelatin
Students germinate seeds in unflavored gelatin to which liquid house plant food has been added. Students observe and record plant growth in this medium with a variety of variables in a number of experiments.
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The Human Pendulum
Young scholars examine how length, amplitude, and mass affect the period of a pendulum. They conduct an experiment that analyzes the variables affecting how a pendulum works, and identify the proportions that exist between the variables.
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Acids And Bases -- Universal Indicator
Eighth graders design and perform an experiment that uses a Universal Indicator Color Guide to measure the strength of acids and bases. They also determine happens when acids and bases are mixed together. They decide which of three...
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Investigating the Biosphere with Planetary Models
Young scholars model the biosphere and manipulate variables affecting change and plan their experiments with the help of others. They describe their question, hypothesis, and methods of investigation.
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Bubbles
Students complete experiments with three different bubble solutions to determine which one creates the largest bubbles. Before conducting the experiments, they discuss the ingredients in each solution, and make predictions on which will...
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Sow Bug Habitats
Students conduct an experiment to determine what type of environment sow bugs prefer. They use petri dishes with partially wet paper towels to assess whether they prefer wet or dry habitats.
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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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What Do Plants Need to Grow?
Fourth graders control variables to determine the effect on plant growth. They collect information by observing and measuring and construct simple graphs, tables, maps and charts to organize, examine and evaluate information.
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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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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 Sample Lab 2
Students examine each soil sample and record observations. In this biology lesson, students design an experiment to test soil flow rate. They write a lab report about the experiment.
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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.