Curated OER
Fish Eyes - More than Meets the Eye
Inform your class about the adaptations in fish eyes: cones, lens size, endothermy, and speed of vision. The adaptations are related to diving behavior. Junior marine scientists compare the adaptations of four different fish species to...
Columbus City Schools
Earthly Waves
How did scientists discover what lies beneath the earth's surface? Dig a hole? X-ray vision? Guide your class through the types of seismic waves and how these waves helped shed light on Earth's many layers. The included resources provide...
It's About Time
Slinkies and Waves
Slinkies® are a great tool for visualizing waves. Pupils work in groups to create both transverse and longitudinal waves before using a polarizer to analyze the ways they are able to travel.
Curated OER
Aurora Borealis
Students discuss what causes the northern lights and the folklore attached to them. They discuss magnetic fields, and use various common materials to discover if ions conduct electricity.
Curated OER
Bending Light
Sixth graders read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, discuss refraction, identify example of it from novel, and perform classroom experiments demonstrating refraction and reflection.
Curated OER
Super Gelatin
Students investigate the refraction properties of gelatin to calculate its index of refraction. They discover that as the light travels through the gelatin, its speed and wavelength also change. Students find th indes of refraction of an...
Alabama Learning Exchange
How Are Rainbows Created?
Students describe how the sun's rays produce colors. They describe how water causes the sun's rays of light to bend, producing a rainbow.
It's About Time
Communication Through Space
If humans do find aliens, how would we communicate with them? An intriguing lesson walks through some of the challenges associated with this question. How long would a message take to reach a specific destination, what language...
American Museum of Natural History
The Milky Way Galaxy
Just how big is the galaxy? Learners read information about the size of the Milky Way galaxy to better comprehend its size. Pupils develop an understanding of the number of stars in the galaxy by finding just how big a billion is and...
Santa Monica College
Flame Tests of Metal Cations
Scientists used flame tests to identify elements long before the invention of emission spectroscopy. Young chemists observe a flame test of five metal cations in the fourth lesson of an 11-part series. Individuals then work...
Curated OER
World's Strongest Manduca
Students test the strength and speed of their Manduca. They keep their insect in a small dish and wiegh it down with pennies. They share their observations with the class.
Curated OER
Looking Out Is Looking Back...
Students explore the size of our Universe by understanding how long it takes to travel around from object to object in it - even if you travel at the speed of light! In making our exploration, we will examine ways of measuring distance,...
Curated OER
Fermi Observatory Measures the Lumps in Space
For this gamma-ray worksheet, students read about the Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory and how it measures the invisible lumps in space. Students solve 3 problems using an equation to determine the time that gamma-rays travel in space and the...
Curated OER
Data Corruption by High-Energy Particles
In this data corruption by high-energy particles, students solve 4 problems about the solar flare that corrupted the imagers measuring them. Students find the speed of the arriving particles and the percentage of light-speed the...
Curated OER
Super Gelatin
Students measure angles of refraction as the light travels through gelatin. In this experimental instructional activity students complete a refraction lab and plot their data.
Curated OER
Black Holes...Hot Stuff!...VIII
In this black holes worksheet, students solve three problems about black holes using given equations for determining the temperature of the gases in a black hole and the visible light from the black hole at given temperatures.
Curated OER
Aurora to Magnetosphere Global Exploration
In this magnetosphere global exploration instructional activity, students read about the instrument on board a satellite launched by NASA called the Radio Plasma Imager. This imager detects echoes from plasma clouds. Students calculate...
Curated OER
ESOL Transportation and Travel
Pupils copy and practice familiar transportation vocabulary words. They write senteces using contractions for simple directions. They listen to a traffic hews report and summarize the report in their own words. They compare and...
Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
Curated OER
Physics Final Exam, Part A
Here is a comprehensive and cohesive final exam for your high school physicists. A variety of question styles are incorporated, such as multiple-choice and problem-solving. Topics are too many to list, so you will want to review the exam...
Curated OER
Equations with one Variable II
In this single variable equations worksheet, high schoolers solve 5 problems using different equations to solve for one unknown. They use Hubble's Law to find the velocity of a galaxy knowing the distance it travels.
Curated OER
Details from an Exploding Star
In this nebula worksheet, students read about the Crab Nebula and calculate the average speed of the expanding gas. They determine the size of the smallest clumps of gas and they draw the diameter of the solar system to scale.
Curated OER
Falling into a Black Hole
In this black hole worksheet, high schoolers solve 3 problems given the equation used to determine the speed of a falling body using its mass, the constant of gravitation and the distance it will travel.
Curated OER
Refraction Through a Triangle
In this refraction through a triangle worksheet, students use a given diagram of light striking a triangular piece of plexiglass to determine the light ray's angle of incidence, the ray's angle of refraction, they use Snell's Law to...