Curated OER
The Atmosphere
In this atmosphere worksheet, middle schoolers complete 20 fill in the blank questions about energy concepts, different types of winds, and air pollution.
Curated OER
Chemical Sleuthing
Learners 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.
Curated OER
Simulating the Greenhouse Effect in a Terrarium
Students identify what factors effect global warming and how the greenhouse effect occurs. In this environmental lesson students view videos then complete an experiment using a terrarium to observe greenhouse gas.
Curated OER
UV Rays, sunscreen effectiveness
Students identify and define that invisible UV rays can be harmful. Then they explore the effects of UV radiation on objects that react UV rays and what products are most effective in blocking UV rays. Students also make predictions...
Curated OER
NIGHT AND DAY: DAILY CYCLES IN SOLAR RADIATION
Students examine how Earth's rotation causes daily cycles in solar energy using a microset of satellite data to investigate the Earth's daily radiation budget and locating map locations using latitude and longitude coordinates.
Curated OER
Remote Sensing and Landsat Satellite Imagery
Learners comprehend how satellites use remote sensing to produce images. They use supervised classification with Landsat images. Students recognize that the earth's surface has different basic land surfaces that reflect/emit different...
Curated OER
Melting the Ice: Energy Transfer
Students study thermal energy and energy transfer to sea ice processes. In this energy transfer lesson, students make their own ice cream and discuss energy transfer and thermal energy. Students view a radiation overhead and its role in...
University of Colorado
Space Travel Guide
Neptune takes 164.8 Earth years to travel around the sun. In the fifth of 22 lessons, young scientists create a travel guide to a planet in our solar system. They provide tips for others on what to bring, what they see, and their...
Curated OER
Measuring the Speed of Light
Students explore physics by completing measurement problems in class. In this speed of light lesson, students discuss the importance of knowing the speed of light and how it affects many aspects of human life on Earth. Students identify...
Curated OER
Heat Absorption and Radiation
Students experiment with the concepts of absorption and reflection of radiant energy.
Curated OER
What's it Like Inside the Sun?
Students perform experiment in which they model convection as it occurs in our Sun. They also explain that convection acts where the effect of gravity and heat are present (low density fluids can rise and cool, and high density fluids...
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth lesson in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with connections to the...
Oceanic Research Group
Heat Transfer and Cooling
Astronauts train underwater to simulate the change in gravity. An out-of-this-world unit includes three hands-on activities, one teacher demonstration, and a discussion related to some of the challenges astronauts face. Scholars apply...
Curated OER
Fusion Confusion
Learners are introduced to three types of energy transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. They model the scientific process of fusion to become with the sun and how it produces energy.
Curated OER
Check Out Lights and Shields with Beads
Learners explore Ultraviolet detecting beads and conduct several investigations with them. In this investigative lesson students participate in an experiment to see the harmful effects of UV light and discuss their findings.
Curated OER
Star Wars Activity
Students investigate radiant energy by completing discrepant events and identify various temperature changes through absorption and how radiant energy can be used for solar panels. They experiment with different color fabrics in order...
Curated OER
The Effect of Rain on Morning Temperatures
Eighth graders study the effects of the water cycle. They create a graph of the air temperature versus solar radiation on a rainy and clear 24 hour period using data from a provided link. Afterward, they answer questions to determine the...
Curated OER
Canned Heat
Students demonstrate that light and dark colored objects absorb the sun's radiation at different rates. They experiment with the temperature change of water in two locations and discuss the results.
Curated OER
The Measurement of All Things: Atmospheric Detectives
Young scholars identify the characteristics of aerosols. Using remote sensing, they participate in an experiment in which they determine how the sun's radiation and elements in the atmosphere interact with one another. They also...
Curated OER
Energy from the Sun
In this energy worksheet, students conduct an experiment and observe the various ways in which heat energy can be transferred. They explain what happened to the wooden block when it was placed in direct sunlight. Students also explain...
Curated OER
What the Sun Can Do
Young scholars develop and test a unique, personally-relevant hypothesis about the consequences of exposure to UV radiation based units on a living organism, common baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
Colorado State University
Why Does it Get Colder on a Clear Night than a Cloudy Night?
Clouds are nature's insulator! A lab investigation asks learners to use an infrared thermometer to measure differences in infrared temperatures. They find that pointing the thermometer at a cloud has a much different result than pointing...
Science Matters
Post-Assessment Energy
After nine lessons and activities about energy, here is the final assessment. The 20-questions include multiple choice, multiple choice with justification, short answer, answer analysis, and labeling diagrams to challenge learners.
Space Awareness
Climate Zones
The climate at the equator is hotter than the climate at the poles, but why? The lesson goes in depth, explaining how the angles of illumination relate to the heating rate at different latitudes and seasons. Scholars use a strong lamp,...